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Majority
rule is rooted in American democracy and, as a result, has often been
incorporated unthinkingly into the church.
The first misgiving about majority rule is noted by Yale
University Professor Marshall Edelson, who writes how an excess of
consensus, or an overenthusiasm for democratic principles, can render an
organization impotent in terms of actually doing anything. The
second misgiving about majority rule, and one far more serious, is that
the Bible speaks of the church as a family.
(See Galatians 6:10; Hebrews 2:10-12; 1 Peter 4:17.)
In most family structures, the immature members (children)
outnumber or at least equal the mature members (parents).
In my family, there are two parents and four children.
If we voted on everything, we would have ice cream for dinner
every night, never go to bed, and live at Disney World. A
church is a family and, as a result, contains members who are at
different levels of spiritual maturity.
If every decision is made by the majority instead of the most
spiritually mature, then there is a very strong chance that the majority
could mislead a church. This
is precisely what happened with the Israelites.
Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to report back to
the people if it was everything that was promised.
All twelve agreed that the land was flowing with milk and honey,
but the majority said that the land could not be taken.
Only two, Caleb and Joshua, were convinced that God wanted them
to possess the land. If
Moses had gone with the majority, the Israelites would have never
entered the Promised Land. Gleamed
the following from some reading I was doing: |
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