The Bible does not give one person authority to govern a local church.

Hopefully, he will keep his comments to the topic in the next rounds so that we can focus on the concepts at hand. The entire first part of his explanation seems to point to an elitist view of faith, as if he is the only one who has been awakened to truth by the Holy Spirit. A very dangerous view indeed, responsible for the formation of many a cult. But, I digress. .. The only content that actually addressed this debate is the final paragraph of his soliloquy where begins by telling us what we "must understand". He did not provide any actual references nor did he substantiate any part of his argument, but I will address each remark as thoroughly as possible. OPPONENT: "The first thing you must understand is that the church is NOT a democracy. It is a dictatorship and that dictator is God. " Actually, the proper term is a Theocracy, not a dictatorship. Theocracy is a form of government in which clergy have official recognition as the civil ruler[citation needed] and official policy is either governed by officials regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group. Dictatorship is a form of government where political authority is monopolized by a single person or political entity, and exercised through various mechanisms to ensure the entity's power remains strong. (Wikipedia) Even then, Jesus disagrees: Luke 22:25-26: "And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. " Matthew 23:-11: "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. " OPPONENT: "If you like that or not that is your own problem but that is the reality. We are here to follow the commands of God and God alone. " It has nothing to do with what we like. Most people are perfectly fine sitting under a spiritual "master" and being told what to do. That is not what the scripture teaches, so you are just wrong. OPPONENT: "Now the reason there is an important need for leaders to have authority and to govern the church is because Satan is always trying to pull people back into sin and sometimes Satan is successful at doing so and the leaders must be there to restore order and make it clear what is of God and what is not of God. " This is an illusion created by my opponent. He is using Satan as a justification to "save people from themselves. " Apparently, some people (curiously those who claim to have authority) are immune from being "used" by Satan. They are best entrusted with the authority, powering, influence, and money of the collective Body of believers. Apparently, those guys are just stupid sheep. Yet, the Bible contains none of that insulting opinion. This is in stark contrast to the following: 1)The Word "leadership" is avoided in the NT. Instead, the word "diakonia" (sevrant, service) to label people in leadership far more time than any other term (for example, Rom 11:13;16:1;1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 3:6;6:4; 11:23; Eph3:7;6:21; Col 1:7,23; 4:7,12; 1Th 3:2; 1 Tim1:12; 2 Tim 4:5,11). 2)We see leadership taking on the form of CHARACTER and EXAMPLE as opposed to COERCION and AUTHORITY. There is a call for mutual submission and community life. Elders and overseers are actually CHOSEN from among men of preexisting good standing within the community of faith. Leadership in the Church is not about manipulating and controlling people to be good. It"s about service and support to the Body of Believers, the new kings and priests. OPPONENT: "We see this as being true by the actions of Paul all throughout the New Testament where he corrected Peter or when he corrected churches for not doing the will of God. " This is a common misconception. There is no indication that Paul had authority over any of the churches he planted. In fact, he did not return to most of them. To others, he only return once or twice. Once eldership was established, there was no need for Paul. This was the way all of the Apostles felt, echoed by John"s own words: 1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. " Apparently, John did not feel his leadership was perpetually necessary, unlike the militaristic philosophy of my opponent. OPPONENT: "Now where the grey area comes in is when you say one man should not lead but a group. Now this is true and not true at the same time. " It is either truth or not. My opponent has failed to provide one example in scripture where a local assembly was led by a single pastor, or that a pastor has been given such authority. OPPONENT: "Meaning if the is only one person that is truly follow Christ the right way and their is only one person that is able to clearly hear the will of God then you follow the directions of that one person but if you have a group of leaders that are truly following Christ the right way and they are able to clearly hear from God then you should follow the direction of all of them but if they are all being led by God they will all be saying the same thing anyways but that do not change the fact that they are the leaders and that they do have authority and the power to govern righteously over the church. " This is the worst of my opponent"s statements. He is implying that he is the sole judge of who is "truly" listening to God. The reality is that there is no need for that. The only jobs listed for leaders within a community of faith are to (1) be an example, (2) teach and defend the doctrine of the Apostles, (3) and preserve the unity, helping believers resolve disputes among each other instead of the courts. Beyond that, the Bible has no teachings around "visionary" leadership that tells people what God is telling them to do. Jesus lived, died, and rose again to give us all direct access to the Father. No man is the door, gateway, or gate keeper. My opponent has failed in the first round to provide any basis for his argument other than a fragmented collection of opinions that have no solid Biblical basis. I look forward to a stronger second round.