Teachers, doctors, law enforcement officers, pastors, child protective service workers, deacons, judges, and lawyers can't escape the ravages of sin that others push the garage door close button to keep at bay. Take child abuse, for instance; we see it in the eyes before the mouth ever speaks. We choose to ignore it or to ask the hard questions depending on whether or not we fear God. That's pastors, deacons, and teachers. The others have no choice. They're told the gruesome facts, whether they like it or not, and it's their job to clean things up as best they can. Or can't.
This past year the following inquiry came across an e-mail list for attorneys...
Has anyone heard a sermon or read a pastor or elder condemning this oppression of children? Such oppressor-fathers are in our congregations, but also the teachers, daycare workers, judges, CPC workers, policemen/women, and lawyers who have the responsibility of liberating and protecting these children. On the other hand, maybe you say there's nothing to liberate them from? If that's your thought, maybe you're a libertarian? Or a celibate gay in a spiritual friendship who sees no reason why he, too, can't get a child to take to MOPS?
Read this question from an attorney and ask whether your preaching is helpful to the souls in your congregation in the way that the Apostle Paul condemning their idols was to the men of Athens? This is our world.
This issue came up yesterday in a consultation and I'm curious whether others have run into it and whether it is legal... For myself, I have a huge problem with the ethics of it but I am interested in your esteemed opinions! Thank you!
Man wants a child so he buys an egg, hires a surrogate and inseminates the egg and the surrogate carries it and upon birth it is man’s child. Am I naïve or does this seem problematic to anyone other than me? I see all kinds of potential for unethical behavior. I do know that DCS has been called by day care for this child and father then pulled her from that daycare. Opinions? Thanks,
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
Want to get in touch? Send Tim an email!
