Elders must rebuke Covid anger dividing the church

Η εξέγερση είναι ως αμαρτία της μαντείας

It’s like watching Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo.

At home in Romeoville.

I agree rebellion is Satanic.

I confess our T. We are all rebels. :fist:t3:

I recognize that using God’s vocabulary our own way is one of the trendiest rebellions in our generation.

We do not get to define marriage, female, male … or rebellion.

God did not grant us jurisdiction to define His words.

Paul told the Philippian magistrates “No.” He was not rebelling. Jesus before Herod and Pilate was not rebelling. Peter leaving his guards to be slaughtered was not rebelling. Micaiah mocking his king in front of another king was not rebelling.

I think the schism in our congregations is over jurisdiction.

And I exhort you to ask yourselves whether calling a conflict a rebellion is any less rebellious than calling a man a woman.

You can’t have a conflict over jurisdiction without rebellion being at stake. Those who refuse to submit to human institutions rebel against God because He is the one who requires we do so. To pretend like rebellion is not at stake in questions of jurisdiction is to deny the basic meaning of words.

Regarding Paul and the Phillippian magistrates, you and I agree that he held them accountable for overstepping their bounds. They broke the law’s requirements concerning the treatment of Roman citizens. He held them to the law. In other words, what we learn from Paul in this circumstance is that if your state constitution prohibits mask mandates, you should hold the governor to the law.

What you have not done is demonstrate that mask mandates violate either Ohio or Kentucky law, much less US law.

Nor have you demonstrated that elders that expect their congregation to obey those laws are doing anything more than Paul does in Romans 13.

Nor have you demonstrated that elders do not have the authority to ask their congregation wear masks for whatever other reasons they might have. In fact, as I already pointed out, you acknowledged that the founding docs of most congregations and denominations give wide latitude for such leadership decisions for the sake of order and peace.

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