To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.” [Gen 3:16]
Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’” [Jer 22:3-5]
‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’ [Ezek 34:10]
How long will the conservative Evangelical church continue to abuse without impunity and still remain? I don't know. The church should be defending the powerless and weak, and yet instead it sides with the oppressor. How can that be, you ask. The hypocrisy of submission.
The church teaches that authority has limits, but it also teaches that we should submit to authority in the Lord. Someone who demands obedience beyond those limits is a sinner. That person is usurping authority. So, we can divide a command from someone in authority into three categories:
Lawful commands within the sphere of authority: I can require my child to stay inside during a tornado warning. As his God-given protector, I have a responsibility to keep him from harm, and that may require me to issue commands for his own protection. These can always be worked backwards to a positive need. It is dangerous to be outside if a tornado hits, and it is my responsibility to keep you safe from harm, so I need you to stay in the basement. Another one might be, "Put away that fireplace lighter!" - you don't yet have the skills necessarily to handle accidents that might arise from use or misuse of a fireplace lighter, so you may not use it without my active supervision. Or "Take your medicine." You could get more sick or even die if you don't take this medicine, and it is my responsibility to keep you reasonably healthy, so you need to drink this medicine. When I am acting with proper authority, there is always a path from God to me as a parent, etc., to the person under authority.
Lawful commands without authority: I could command my child to sing karaoke at the next church talent show. In this case, there is no clear scriptural warrant for my command, yet my child is not sinning by obeying, so this is a lawful command. Yet, it is usurpation. When my child inevitably asks "why?", what is my answer. Well... "I love hearing you sing and it would be great for you to sing to the church." See this answer starts from my personal preference, not from Biblical command or warrant. How about "Because I'm your father and I said so!" Well, again, it starts with me and ends with obedience. How is this proper authority from God? If you can't walk your command back to God then perhaps you don't have the authority to require it. Jesus says "render to Caesar that which is Caesar's." He doesn't say "render to Caesar everything he commands you." I don't believe God requires us to obey commands without authority, lawful or not.
Unlawful commands: These are clearly to be disobeyed. If I ask my son to steal a candy bar from the grocery store, he is required by God to say no. This has mostly been settled since the "Divine Right of Kings" era where the king thought that he could command things that were sinful for his subjects, yet have them be required to ignore their consciences, because, after all he WAS the king.
Church abuse: I believe that churches abuse those under authority, whom they should protect, when they require submission to "lawful commands without authority". So, let's say my son is terrified on being on stage at church, and while he loves singing at home, he doesn't want to get up in front of so many people. Perhaps a loving and gracious father might find ways to encourage and work through that fear, but for the sake of argument. I just double down. "You WILL sing for the talent show." When he refuses, I punish him. He still refuses. Finally, I take him to the pastor. "Pastor Harry, Nick is refusing to obey me. I told him that he has to sing for the church talent show and he is refusing. Could you help me out?" Well, our good conservative pastor reminds Nick that "children are to obey their parents!" and tells him that he must obey whatever I say.
What just happened? Well, first, I abused my son. I commanded him to do something that wasn't my right to command. My authority is limited in this case. When he refuses, (if I don't have the right to command, then why does he have the responsibility to obey?) I punish him (wrongly and thus abusively). Then when that doesn't work, the pastor commands him to obey me (the pastor has no right to require that which the Bible doesn't). If that still doesn't work, he might be disciplined for insubordination. But, there's more. Nick was just abused and the church sided with his father's abuse. Nick knows it is unjust and he now faults the church with injustice.
Submit.... to what? The RPCNA is hypocritical when it comes to submission. The Bible talks about authority and submission interchangeably. Wives submit to husbands. Children submit to parents. We submit to our government. We submit to our elders. The church submits to Christ. Christ submits to the Father. The words submit and obey are generally used interchangeably, although submit is generally seen in the sense of a higher order - we submit to the plans and dreams rather than submitting to make dinner.
Why is this important? Because we need to understand that submission is always within the context of authority. In order to submit, I need something to submit to. I don't submit to a person, I submit to an authoritative role. A policeman. An elder. My parent. My boss. That authoritative role is limited. My boss cannot claim spiritual oversight, just as a policeman can't make me clean my room.
The reason the RPCNA is hypocritical is that they reserve certain roles: parent, husband and elder, and say that their authority is absolute - meaning that one must obey any lawful command given by one of those three people. Yet, there is no difference between the submission we are told to give the government. What is different? It's not hermeneutics. It's simply that it's nonsensical.
Everyone knows that a policeman has no authority to demand entrance to your house without a search warrant. There are other extenuating circumstances, but those are not pertinent. So, a policeman shows up to your door tomorrow and commands you to let him into your house. That is indeed a lawful command, because police can request entrance any time. What would you say, well NO of course. If you want to search my house, you need a warrant. That is a very clear example of a lawful command without authority. Policemen who then use physical force to obtain entry are breaking the law. Okay, so we get that.
But... here's the problem. It is the same for fathers, husbands and pastors. We can say NO... But we really can't. That's because the RPCNA wields and supports abusive power. Let me clarify. The RPCNA is a haven for child abusers, spouse abusers and spiritual abusers. The RPCNA doesn't stand alone. You see, Nick is all alone. He has been abused and the church says it's his fault. He didn't obey his dad. Just like the wife. When her husband hits her, well, yeah, that might be a little wrong, but she should submit to the fact that he wants to take money out of her bank account.
Don't be fooled. There are many godly and wise leaders in the RPCNA, but they are so completely absorbed in their desire to enforce submission (their definition) that they will completely humiliate and destroy anyone who stands in their path. The ones that aren't so godly or wise are going to take the path of least resistance, which means abusing the powerless. If you are a leader, you need to repent and seek to change this before God takes away the lamp stand. If you are a member. You've been warned. If you are a child... be strong and wait. What feels unjust to you is probably unjust. There are other churches where you can find godly leaders who understand authority and heal, but for now you must endure.
Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’” [Jer 22:3-5]
‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’ [Ezek 34:10]
How long will the conservative Evangelical church continue to abuse without impunity and still remain? I don't know. The church should be defending the powerless and weak, and yet instead it sides with the oppressor. How can that be, you ask. The hypocrisy of submission.
The church teaches that authority has limits, but it also teaches that we should submit to authority in the Lord. Someone who demands obedience beyond those limits is a sinner. That person is usurping authority. So, we can divide a command from someone in authority into three categories:
Lawful commands within the sphere of authority: I can require my child to stay inside during a tornado warning. As his God-given protector, I have a responsibility to keep him from harm, and that may require me to issue commands for his own protection. These can always be worked backwards to a positive need. It is dangerous to be outside if a tornado hits, and it is my responsibility to keep you safe from harm, so I need you to stay in the basement. Another one might be, "Put away that fireplace lighter!" - you don't yet have the skills necessarily to handle accidents that might arise from use or misuse of a fireplace lighter, so you may not use it without my active supervision. Or "Take your medicine." You could get more sick or even die if you don't take this medicine, and it is my responsibility to keep you reasonably healthy, so you need to drink this medicine. When I am acting with proper authority, there is always a path from God to me as a parent, etc., to the person under authority.
Lawful commands without authority: I could command my child to sing karaoke at the next church talent show. In this case, there is no clear scriptural warrant for my command, yet my child is not sinning by obeying, so this is a lawful command. Yet, it is usurpation. When my child inevitably asks "why?", what is my answer. Well... "I love hearing you sing and it would be great for you to sing to the church." See this answer starts from my personal preference, not from Biblical command or warrant. How about "Because I'm your father and I said so!" Well, again, it starts with me and ends with obedience. How is this proper authority from God? If you can't walk your command back to God then perhaps you don't have the authority to require it. Jesus says "render to Caesar that which is Caesar's." He doesn't say "render to Caesar everything he commands you." I don't believe God requires us to obey commands without authority, lawful or not.
Unlawful commands: These are clearly to be disobeyed. If I ask my son to steal a candy bar from the grocery store, he is required by God to say no. This has mostly been settled since the "Divine Right of Kings" era where the king thought that he could command things that were sinful for his subjects, yet have them be required to ignore their consciences, because, after all he WAS the king.
Church abuse: I believe that churches abuse those under authority, whom they should protect, when they require submission to "lawful commands without authority". So, let's say my son is terrified on being on stage at church, and while he loves singing at home, he doesn't want to get up in front of so many people. Perhaps a loving and gracious father might find ways to encourage and work through that fear, but for the sake of argument. I just double down. "You WILL sing for the talent show." When he refuses, I punish him. He still refuses. Finally, I take him to the pastor. "Pastor Harry, Nick is refusing to obey me. I told him that he has to sing for the church talent show and he is refusing. Could you help me out?" Well, our good conservative pastor reminds Nick that "children are to obey their parents!" and tells him that he must obey whatever I say.
What just happened? Well, first, I abused my son. I commanded him to do something that wasn't my right to command. My authority is limited in this case. When he refuses, (if I don't have the right to command, then why does he have the responsibility to obey?) I punish him (wrongly and thus abusively). Then when that doesn't work, the pastor commands him to obey me (the pastor has no right to require that which the Bible doesn't). If that still doesn't work, he might be disciplined for insubordination. But, there's more. Nick was just abused and the church sided with his father's abuse. Nick knows it is unjust and he now faults the church with injustice.
Submit.... to what? The RPCNA is hypocritical when it comes to submission. The Bible talks about authority and submission interchangeably. Wives submit to husbands. Children submit to parents. We submit to our government. We submit to our elders. The church submits to Christ. Christ submits to the Father. The words submit and obey are generally used interchangeably, although submit is generally seen in the sense of a higher order - we submit to the plans and dreams rather than submitting to make dinner.
Why is this important? Because we need to understand that submission is always within the context of authority. In order to submit, I need something to submit to. I don't submit to a person, I submit to an authoritative role. A policeman. An elder. My parent. My boss. That authoritative role is limited. My boss cannot claim spiritual oversight, just as a policeman can't make me clean my room.
The reason the RPCNA is hypocritical is that they reserve certain roles: parent, husband and elder, and say that their authority is absolute - meaning that one must obey any lawful command given by one of those three people. Yet, there is no difference between the submission we are told to give the government. What is different? It's not hermeneutics. It's simply that it's nonsensical.
Everyone knows that a policeman has no authority to demand entrance to your house without a search warrant. There are other extenuating circumstances, but those are not pertinent. So, a policeman shows up to your door tomorrow and commands you to let him into your house. That is indeed a lawful command, because police can request entrance any time. What would you say, well NO of course. If you want to search my house, you need a warrant. That is a very clear example of a lawful command without authority. Policemen who then use physical force to obtain entry are breaking the law. Okay, so we get that.
But... here's the problem. It is the same for fathers, husbands and pastors. We can say NO... But we really can't. That's because the RPCNA wields and supports abusive power. Let me clarify. The RPCNA is a haven for child abusers, spouse abusers and spiritual abusers. The RPCNA doesn't stand alone. You see, Nick is all alone. He has been abused and the church says it's his fault. He didn't obey his dad. Just like the wife. When her husband hits her, well, yeah, that might be a little wrong, but she should submit to the fact that he wants to take money out of her bank account.
Don't be fooled. There are many godly and wise leaders in the RPCNA, but they are so completely absorbed in their desire to enforce submission (their definition) that they will completely humiliate and destroy anyone who stands in their path. The ones that aren't so godly or wise are going to take the path of least resistance, which means abusing the powerless. If you are a leader, you need to repent and seek to change this before God takes away the lamp stand. If you are a member. You've been warned. If you are a child... be strong and wait. What feels unjust to you is probably unjust. There are other churches where you can find godly leaders who understand authority and heal, but for now you must endure.
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