Calvin on disobeying authorities and deferral to the judgment of women.

Those, whom the fear of men withdraws from the right course, betray by their cowardice an inexcusable contempt of God, in preferring the favour of men to his solemn commands...for many would be preposterously wise, whilst, under the pretext of due submission, they obey the wicked will of kings in opposition to justice and right, being in some cases the ministers of avarice and rapacity, in others cruelty; yea, to gratify transitory kings of earth, they take no account of God; and thus, which is worst of all, they designedly oppose pure religion with fire and sword. It only makes their effontry more detestable, that whilst they knowingly and willingly crucify Christ in his members, they plead the frivolous excuse, that they obey their princes according to the word of God; as if he, in ordaining princes, had resigned his rights to them, and as if every earthly power, which exalts itself over heaven, ought not rather most justly be made to give way. But since they only seek to escape the reprobation of men for their criminal obedience, let them not be argued with by long discussions, but rather referred to the judgement of women; for the example of these midwives (Exodus 1) is abundantly sufficient for their condemnation; especially when the Holy Spirit himself commends them, as not having obeyed the king, because they feared God.
Calvin's Commentaries Vol 2: The four last books of Moses in the form of a harmony Baker p35


So, ministers of avarice and rapacity anyone? Good to see the good old CofE taking the side of those in power for once

Lying is ok if you a)do it as a group and b) can make a buck

We now live in a culture where corporate lying is seen as normal.

When a company attempts to manipulate it's public image, by say, spending a small amount on environmental projects, when the majority of it's business has extreme negative effects, they are lying.
McDonalds does not make health foods, nor promote healthy lifestyles for young people. They are liars.
BP is not a green lovin' company. They are liars.


I know we want to call it spin, good marketing, careful presentation. But it isn't any of these things, it is a public deception.
Now it may be that we have accepted that business, to work, must be done by deception and lying. That's fine. Just don't call yourself a christian.
As christians, we have to call this stuff what it is, and call people and corporations to account and to repentance.
If you work for a company that can't be honest about itself and it's practices, you need to call them to account. You need to call them liars and ask them to stop.

And for those of us who work for chuches. Well, at the very least can we stop saying that we need to work on our public image, to make people think we care about them. Just care about them