Wednesday, July 30, 2008

What is the Church . . II

As the 60s faded into the 70s like so much bad tie-dye there emerged a feminist movement that was more about the uber-fem menhaters club than it was about equal rights and pay for pay equity.
Rabid, foaming disgruntaloids roamed the streets of Vegas seeking whom they could slander.
Some of them came to church.
It was about that time that I realized a spiritual gift of teaching had been bestowed on me.

The wonderful hippy group that we had been in fellowship with were ALL moving to Salinas, CA.
We prayed and didn't go. Glad we didn't, that is a story of it's own.
We were led to a little Baptist meeting place called Homesite.
The new pastor, a 41 year old recent theo-grad, ex moto cop from LA,
did not believe that the group should hire someone to fill the pulpit when he wasn't in it.
The elders should teach just as Paul says.

I had been given the opportunity to teach on several occasions and the pastor was asking me if I would consider / pray about going to Theo skool. Heady stuff for a 23 year old new dad with one on the ground and one in escrow, and who had only been a Christian for 3 years.
Did I mention lousy student and the lack of education?

Enter the Equal Rights Amendment.
A very bad, vague law that was being put forth as the fix-all for every sort of inequity.

Simply put, and I mean simple, this change to our Constitution would eliminate gender differentiation, completely. The fembots and their Congressional helpers told us that there was no way that it could happen like that, but the wording, again, was too vague. There would no longer be male or female. I told my wife and pastor that if this thing went through, they were going to need some bail money, cuz I was walking into the UNLV women's athletic locker room to take a shower. Then we were going to the Supreme Court to test this new Amendment.
I do not have the right to stop anyone of another race from using a drinking fountain.
With this amendment no one could stop a man from being in the women's shower.
The sexes would not exist.

Side note:
I grew up thinking that gender had to do with language
and sex was reserved for humans.
Is that right, teach?

Well, that statement got around through a few folks and back to our resident ERA supporter.
Little did I know that the American Baptist Convention was also supporting the ERA.
Peg decided that it was her duty to inform the ABC that I was against the ERA and therefore since I didn't follow ABC authority, I was a "False Prophet and a False Teacher" and should never be allowed in the pulpit again!!!!

Their first response was "Who?".
They had no idea who EdwardBear was but they had heard from Peg many times and that played in my favor. They asked the pastor to 'please try and stop this woman from writing us.'
They left me alone.

Now, what has any of that got to do with the Church?
Exactly.
The ERA was not an issue that should divide the believers, it had nothing to do with God's Word or plan. These types of situations happen all over the world every year and should not even be an issue, but the Church has forgotten what it means to be the Church. We major in the minors and get tangled in the minutia. I tried to reconcile with Peg, was kind and loving toward her, as we should be, but she was an angry bitter woman who thought I had usurped the authority of Her church and bewitched the pastor. She was actually afraid of me and would never meet with Patty and I, finally leaving the group. Homesite just wanted to dine on the pure Word of God and to my knowledge, I never allowed for politics in the pulpit.

Boy, did I exercise my free speech in the streets.

The Church has one main ministry, the Ministry of Reconciliation.
That is all of our jobs, regardless of skill or confidence.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now I am curious about the hippy group that moved to Salinas, CA!!! I'm glad you didn't go!
I didn't know that you had to battle ABC over the ERA. Yikes!
I agree with the church's ministry of reconciliation. It is a tough road for both parties, but it's God's way.
I remember at the Ralph Bell crusade training that I went to years ago they said we should practice these words: 1. I'm sorry. 2. I was wrong. 3. Please forgive me. I think Linda G. and I turned it around and said, I'm sorry, you were wrong, and I forgive you. :) Either way there is forgiveness. How's grandpa doing?