Every story has an author. The author conceives an idea – characters, plot, setting, etc. – and weaves the elements together to create a story. The outcome of the story is determined by the will of the author, the storyteller.
Today I want to continue our study of story, but examine it from a different perspective that I think will give us an even clearer picture of the stories we encounter in life.
Have you ever noticed that the word “authority” is the word “author” modified by the suffix “-ity”? Both share the same Latin root word, “auctor,” which basically means “invent, create, advice, opinion, influence, command.”[mfn]http://wordinfo.info/unit/261/s:author[/mfn]
It’s no accident that these two words share the same roots. But we must ask the question, why? What is the significance of this fact?
From cradle to grave, we encounter many types of authorities: in the home, in the educational realm, in the workplace, and as citizens living in the United States. Each of these authorities is authoring a story. That story dictates how they “rule,” and their purpose for existence is to get those under them to buy into their story.
We’ve seen from the conflict between God’s story and the anti-story just how important it is to buy into the right story. At the most foundational level, we could say that every person or authority institution has bought into one of these two big stories.
As we begin to wrap up this series on story, I want to delve into just how the stories handed down from these authorities play out in and influence our day-to-day lives.