Church Boards,Pluses and Minuses.

[jfrog]

Baldassare Castiglione writes this in the Book of the Courtier... "Yet it seems to me that since liberty has been given us by God as a supreme gift, it is not reasonable that we should be deprived of it, nor that one man should have a larger share of it than another: which happens under the dominion of princes who for the most part hold their subjects in closest bondage. But in rightly ordered republics this liberty is fully preserved: besides which, both in judgments and in councils, it more often happens that one man's opinion singly is wrong, than that of many; because disturbance from anger or scorn or lust more easily enters the mind of one man that that of the many, who are almost like a great body of water, which is less liable to corruption than a small one."

However he does not conclude here, he later writes..."Now as to what you said about liberty, I reply that we ought not to say that true liberty is to live as we like, but to live according to good laws."

A little further on he writes, "And since you said that it is an easier thing for the mind of one man to be corrupted than for that of many, I say that it is also an easier thing to find one good and wise man than many."

To me these same arguments are all applicable to the discussion of the pros and cons of a church board. On one hand we have resistance to the corruption of one man, on the other hand we can more easily find greater virtue in one man than in many. Which to choose...? That is a hard question. I think this, that with a good and righteous pastor, things will be far better without a church board. Of course not all pastors are righteous, but neither do they have power outside their church to force us to stay under them. Therefore we already have a remedy for unrighteous pastors, that is we can leave their church and testify of their deeds. Though we should never speak down of them lightly lest it is us that are in error and angered not at any unrighteousness on their part but instead are angered that we cannot live as we like. And one final note, if it can ever be shown that there are many many pastors on a large scale that have become corrupt in their leadership, then we should revisit this issue and say assuredly that we need church boards to help hold all pastors accountable so that they do not become corrupt.