Law

Question posed by Sarah, friend of Doug who is a friend of mine: Are governments the ultimate authority for creating laws?

Answer: Now that depends of the government. If we are talking about the governments of today, then the answer is no. However, if we are referring to the Theocrisy of ancient Israel, then yes in that case the governing power was the final authority upon the law. The reason that ancient Israel is the only real place in which this sort of statement could be true is that they were ruled by God. God, by nature, is all powerful and perfect, thus making Him he ultimate authority. Yet as soon as God is rejected as the ultimate authority and humans step in to try and fill that role, pride becomes involved so that man believes himself to be the ultimate power. In Exodus 16, God is talking to Moses about what the Israelites are to believe in. He is showing kindness to Israel, even when they choose to complain of his cruelty. Only God knew what was best for them. That concept is true with us today. Governments are faulty because of the human factor. What is the human factor? The human factor is man's innate sinful nature due to the Fall. The moment Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the human factor came into existence. Part of the human factor is to be unbelievably cruel to one another. This we see exemplified in totalitarian dictatorships, monarchies and oligarchies. How so? We see that when a single man, or even a small group of men, are given unlimited power they become greedy and cruel. Examples of this are Julius Ceasar, Fidel Castro, Sadam Hussane and many others. These men were entrusted with unlimited power. With time they became greedy and began to abuse their powers in order to further their greedy needs. Man will never be able to be the ultimate authority when it comes to governing other men. God must somehow fit into the process in order for the society that is being created or reformed to stand free and honest.

Feminism

Question posed by the honorable Mr. Dyck: How should Christian's respond to feminism?

Answer: Christian's should respond the same to feminism as they should to homosexuality: with patient love. Granted, feminism does seem to go against the Biblical view of male and female roles, but that doesn't give us the right to go bashing on it. Just because they believe something that we may not think is true doesn't give us the authority to cram it down their throats. Come on, lets be honest, how many "Bible bashers" do you know that are successful? Sure, we have the truth, but how could shoving it in someone's face help them understand it? The same applies to feminist. If all's we do is cram our ideology down their throats, their going to view us as enemies and we'll get absolutely no where in arguments. However, if we were to patiently listen to them and what they believe, then we would be able to understand where their coming from. This approach also opens up for them to want to listen to what we have to say. As for their ideas, there are some flaws such as calling themselves a minority. There is just over 1.5 million women in the United States alone. That's just about half of the population. Now I wouldn't call that being a minority. As for oppression, sure there are the guys who beat their wives and that kind of thing, but honestly are you really going to apply that stereotype to all guys? Not every man expects his wife to stay at home. Not every man abuses her. Therefore, this argument is not entirely valid. As for the "I'm oppressed because I can't do what I want to do" argument I'll say this: no one is making you stay home and take care of the kids or forbidding you to go and get a career. A lot of the time women stay home because they want to be around their children. Men aren't forcing them to. I say go ahead and get a career if you want to. Now don't get me wrong, there are some situations where the man is overbearing and does try to force a women to stay at home. To this there is a simple solution: leave. However, if the man makes enough to support the woman and their children, then I don't see why the woman would need to get a job. Sure, extra money is nice, but most kids that grow up without some sort of solid mother figure become messed up later on. A lot of them go on to commit crimes and abuse women. I know that's kind a dirty trick, bring the kids into this, but it's true. In closing, I think the proper response to feminism is to listen patiently to what they have to say before trying to cram your own ideology gown their throats.

Sexist? Homophobic?

Discussion topic posed by the honorable Mr. Dyck: One of the charges frequently made against followers of Christ is that the church is sexist and homophobic. While there are some who this may be true of, how would you respond to the charge that the Bible teaches this?

Response: The Bible certainly does not teach either of these philosophies. Granted that it calls woman mans helper, but in the Bible it teaches husbands to cherish their wives. The teachings of the Bible also frown uppon abuse of the family, especially of a wife. As for homosexuality, God is very firm in His stating it as a sin. However, that does not make Christians homophobic. Leviticus 19:18 says, "You shall not take vengenance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."(NKJ) Jesus qoutes this passage in Matthew 22, when he is asked what the greatest commandment. He first lists that we should love the Lord our God. But then he says that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. He didn't say only if their straight. Or only love your neighbor if he's a man. He didn't say, love your neighbor unless he/she is homosexual or chooses to live a sinful lifestyle. He simply says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Who then is my neighbor? A neighbor is someone who has a problem, of which I am aware and have the means to fix. Therefore, homosexuals are our neighbors because they have a need, of which we are aware and we have the means to help them. But what if they scare me? That's good. They should scare you because of their deviation from the norm of human sexuality. However, that does not give you the right to reject them completly. We are called in Matthew 28 to, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." Therefore, Christians cannot claim to be so and hold to sexism or homophobia, for it is directly against the words of God.