Mr Peters responds to the Committee for the Women of the CRC

 

AI summary of above: 

The text is a letter to the editor from LEO PETERS in East Grand Rapids, dated June 15, 1993, which criticizes the Committee for Women of the Christian Reformed Church (CW-CRC) for seeking to change what the author believes are God's rules regarding male governance in the church.

• The author calls the CW-CRC's approach "childish, tragic and phony" for blaming the church for obeying God's teachings.
• The letter argues that God established a rule, through the Bible, that men should govern the earthly church.
• Peters suggests the CW-CRC's real adversary is God, not the church, and they must "overthrow the rule of God" to achieve their goals.
• The letter was published in "The Public Press" [or Pulse?] section of the GR Press.

AI TRANSCRIPT

Group seeks to alter God's rule

On the June 7 front page of The Press was a beautiful color photo of Joan Flikkema, executive secretary of the Committee for Women of the Christian Reformed Church (CW-CRC). She displayed a sculpture of a bird with a broken wing as a symbolic representation "CRC women whose spiritual gifts are denied or restricted" by the CRC.

How childish, tragic and phony! Childish because the CW-CRC is like a petulant child in its approach. Tragic because it blames the CRC for simply obeying what God has taught. Phony because it uses glitzy, theatrical glitzy advertising to accomplish a purpose that only God's word in the Bible can accomplish.

All creatures, great and small, including the CW-CRC, are born with "broken wings" - gift of God. By "broken wings" they mean being "denied" the use of their self-defined "gifts"; defined in defiance of God's teachings. Among the creatures on earth, one species is denied unique "gifts" that another species possesses. Even within a species the male is denied the unique gifts of the female, and vice versa. Each is created by God with its own "broken wings".

In His Word, the Bible, God laid down the rule that men should govern his earthly church. He taught this rule with massive works, not words. The pedagogy of works established the rule. A rule is a practice that permits God to make an exception. If there is no exception, the rule becomes a law. God's rule for men to govern his earthly Church is so extensively taught throughout the Bible that, for all practical purposes, the massive pedagogy of works makes it a de facto law. The CW-CRC must understand that it is God, not the CRC, who is their adversary. They must overthrow the rule of God if they wish to rule in the CRC. If they can break rule of God they'll repair their broken wing and have their own level playing field free of restrictions from God.

LEO PETERS
East Grand Rapids.