| Editor: David E Marlett Th.D. | |
| June 25, 2001 | Vol II, #28 |
In a previous issue of TCCN I touched on the question of state marriage licenses and received very few comments on the subject. However, I have received multiple requests for information on pastors who will perform marriages without a state license. There are some troubling aspects to these requests.
Why are so many pastors in error about the nature of marriage? Is marriage a state licensed institution, or is it a God ordained institution? If it is God ordained, why do so many pastors require the state's approval?
The church is God's instrument for carrying out His work on earth. The church has the authority to join man and woman in "holy" matrimony, not the state. The local church should examine, counsel and approve or deny the right and privilege of marriage and then issue a marriage certificate. This certificate should be recognized by all as more binding than any license issued under ungodly state laws.
On the other hand, why are so many people looking for a pastor, other than the one under whose authority they are supposed to be submitted, to perform their marriage? Where is their submission to pastoral authority? If their pastor is not willing to marry them properly, is he going to recognize the union? If he does not recognize the marriage, what then?
I would not recommend going to a strange pastor to have a marriage performed of which the local pastor did not approve. If you are truly in disagreement with your pastor about state licensing of the church and/or marriage, maybe you should look for a pastor under whose authority you can sit in agreement. There are many good men who have enough backbone to stand up against state control of the church. Find one and get under his God ordained authority.
Rom 11:4 "But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."
~~ Doc
A coalition of Orthodox Jews and Christians is warning that the freedom of speech and belief is being destroyed in the name of tolerance.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin announced Sunday that Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based faith centered advocacy group of Christians and Jews, will place an advertisement in the opinion section of Friday's New York Times in an attempt to show how the modern usage of the word 'tolerance' risks the erosion of fundamental freedoms of speech.
Lapin believes that some of the current applications of tolerance in American culture constitute a form of "Stalinism" because the political Left has adopted the word as a means of attacking its opponents.
"There is an old Stalinist tactic of adopting terminology for political purposes," said Lapin. "And tolerance has been turned into the ultimate virtue."
The word 'tolerance' is often used in the context of accommodating and accepting people in terms of their race, faith or ethnicity, but it has increasingly been used in advancing arguments for certain sexual behaviors and political policy.
Conversely, 'intolerance' is a charge that has increasing been used against those who disagree with certain positions.
Lapin claims the manner in which the Left uses tolerance amounts to censorship of opinions it dislikes. "The secular fundamentalists would be horrified to hear that they are practicing a form of censorship, but I think that is exactly what they are doing," said Lapin. "In all areas in which the political left has decreed a position, departure from that doctrine is viewed as intolerant. "
"It used to be that we were asked to tolerate ideas with which we disagreed. Today, we are asked to accept those ideas as good and right for fear of being called intolerant," Lapin said.
Lapin said the New York Times advertisement will specify how tolerance is being used as a censorship tool by liberals.
"Lately, accusations of 'intolerance' have chilled free speech. Armed with baseless charges of 'racism,' 'anti-Semitism,' and 'homophobia,' the enforcers of 'tolerance' intimidate civic and religious leaders, and the rest of us too, who tremble lest we violate its dictates," the ad reads.
According to Lapin, the advertisement also will take aim at the role left-wing Jewish groups play in censoring traditional opinions in the name of tolerance, and he worries that Jewish involvement in the censorship of traditional opinion could provoke a backlash against all Jews.
"Anti-Semitism used to mean depriving Jews of opportunity, property, even life itself," Lapin said. " Now, we Jews use that word to destroy the reputation of people whose beliefs we don't share."
[ CNSNews.com ]
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