But does not experience teach us that every group needs a framework within which to operate? “From earliest times,” notes The World Book Encyclopedia, “some kind of government has been a vital part of every society.” It explains that “every group of people​—from a family to a nation—​has rules of conduct to govern the lives of its members.” How else could it accomplish its purposes for the benefit of all its members?

Most people will therefore readily accept the notion that certain institutions have a legitimate right to exercise authority and to make decisions for the common good.

[Box on page 6]

Writing of the governmental authorities that rule down to this present time, the apostle Paul wrote: “Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities.” (Romans 13:1, 7) Thus, Christians who follow the Bible’s guidance conscientiously obey all laws of the land in which they live, unless called upon to break God’s laws, which are supreme.