Sovereign
Grace Church of Coulter, Iowa confesses, together with all true churches
throughout the ages,that the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only perfect authority by
which we may knowwhat man is to
believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.
Sovereign
Grace Church notes that the Scriptures specify, in Numbers 1: 2-3 that
Moses was to "take acensus of all
the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their
fathers' households,according to
the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and
above - all who areable to go to
war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies." We find
in this passage thesimple
principle that warfare is the responsibility of qualified
males.
From the
Garden of Eden, the Lord God differentiated the roles of men and women.
The primary sphere ofresponsibility
for the woman is domestic. This truth is repeated throughout Scripture,
being especiallyemphatic in
the New Testament (see Ephesians 5,6; I Timothy 2 and Titus). This
teaching, we believe, hasat its center,
a design intended to protect women, whom the Bible denominates as the
weaker sex (I Peter 3:7). God's holy
Law always provides greater protection to the vulnerable. The churches of
Jesus Christmust insist
upon this without compromise.
Warfare, as a
result of sin in the world, is a horror, yet an occasional reality for
which every sovereignnation must be
prepared. We fully recognize the responsibility of Christian men to take
part in just wars ofdefense on
behalf of the nation of which God has providentially made them members. We
regard as an abomination,
however, the forced inclusion of women to be among the ranks from which an
army is to bemustered.
Those who would point to Jael (Judges 4: 17-21) as an imagined
justification for femalesubscription,
fail to note that this exceptional woman of valor performed her courageous
and noble deedwhile
interrupted in her fulfillment of her domestic duties. She was at home in
her tent, not in combat onthe field. The
testimony of Scripture remains uniform. Warfare, as such, is the
responsibility of qualifiedmen.
We have no
quarrel with policies which permit women voluntarily to engage in support
and ancillaryactivities
appropriate to their sex, outside of combat providing the authority of
their husbands/fathers in thematter is
given due consideration. However, even these activities must be done in a
manner which protectstheir dignity
as women and does not expose them to abuse or unwarranted risk of assault
or injury. It is theresponsibility
of man to bear whatever sorrows may be necessary to protect their women
and children.
The Council of
Sovereign Grace Church of Coulter, Iowa, with the authority it has
received from Christ ourKing,
instructs its members to submit to the testimony of God Himself and to
instruct their families inaccordance
with the truths herein expressed. Our wives and daughters may not be
subject to military draft,may not be
regarded as proper participants in any pool from which armed combatants
are to be drawn, andought not to
be placed in any environment or circumstances which would otherwise
compromise their highand holy calling as women
of the covenant community.
