Article February 27, 2017 Issue

The authority of spiritual law

Steve Warren

In a recent random Bible opening, my eyes fell upon a verse that reads: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up” (Daniel 3:5). The verse refers to a time in Babylon during the Hebrew captivity when King Nebuchadnezzar enacted a law he expected everyone to obey.

After I read this verse, the thought occurred to me that every symptom or pain presented to us from the body, from media advertisements, or voiced by others, is an attempt to influence us to bow down and submit to the mortal body. These symptoms are like the musical instruments sounding off and requiring people to bow down to the golden image.

Thinking further, I realized there was absolutely no cause-effect relationship between the music and the necessity to bow down to the golden image. Indeed, that so-called cause-effect connection was humanly imposed by Nebuchadnezzar, and I knew his personal whim had no true causative power. It was dawning on me that mortal belief, like the king, imposes false laws, and yet has no divine authorization to do so. Therefore, we can refuse to give in to such beliefs on the basis that they are without any real authority.

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