tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post4446805064394450598..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Simple Majority or ConsensusPastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-11604236398937789282010-07-14T00:59:36.832-05:002010-07-14T00:59:36.832-05:00Though I agree with the benefit of and preference ...Though I agree with the benefit of and preference for consensus, especially when it comes to voluntarily 'walking together,' there is scriptural precedence to a simple majority over a rather weighty issue: 2 Corinthians 2:6. I, too, long for the day of consensus and pray that the day of simple majority is brief. That won't happen until we're really one in doctrine and practice. Were we one in doctrine and practice, simple majorities in structural issues wouldn't cause the division they do.Pr. D Bestulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-20359688421750550642010-07-13T10:25:00.691-05:002010-07-13T10:25:00.691-05:00Ayn Rand also wrote in a similar vein saying that ...Ayn Rand also wrote in a similar vein saying that individual rights should not be subject to a public vote, and that the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and that the smallest minority on earth is the individual).<br /><br />The problem with Calhoun's concurrent majority is that (as we are discovering in 21st century America) a minority can also hold a tyrannical hold on the majority. <br /><br />No form of governance is better than the people who form its constituency. The framers of the U.S. constitution knew this and I'm pretty sure the founders of the Missouri Synod understood this as well. <br /><br />I wonder at times if we're not echoing the zietgeist of our national political scene. What we're discovering as a nation is that the surest way to give someone we don't trust too much political power is to first give too much political power to someone we do trust.Rev. Allen Bergstrazernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-17078632951719198612010-07-13T09:34:02.319-05:002010-07-13T09:34:02.319-05:00John C. Calhoun wrote a great deal on the dangers ...John C. Calhoun wrote a great deal on the dangers of pure majority government and discusses a more sophisticated concept called concurrent majorities. While he was referring to the political realm - it seems that kingdom has already mixed itself a great deal with our synod.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com