JURI 600 All Men are Created Equal

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Liberty University *

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600

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Philosophy

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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3

Uploaded by EarlWillpowerArmadillo29

All Men are Created Equal The preamble to the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Bible also touches on equality. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 1 God commanded human governments not to show partiality. Army Regulation 600-13 provides the following: “The Army’s assignment policy for female soldiers allows women to serve in any officer or enlisted specialty or position except in those specialties, positions, or units which are assigned a routine mission to engage in direct combat.” Based on that Army Regulation, it was no surprise that G.I. Jane was denied when she applied for an officer position in a unit that routinely engages in direct combat. AR 600-13 violates the Biblical Equality Principle. Biblical equality is the belief that all people are equal before God and in Christ. 2 Under biblical equality, all people have equal responsibility to use their gifts and obey their calling to the glory of God. When G.I. Jane’s application was denied, the Army was interfering with her god given rights that state she has equality to obey her calling. In the Bible, God freely calls believers to roles and ministries without regard to class, gender, or race. 3 The principle of biblical equality can be developed as three ideas: human equality, equal responsibility, and mutual submission. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ 4 The teachings of Jesus make it clear that every human being deserves our respect and is the object of the love of God. Equality 1 Galatians 3:28 (ESV). 2 Alan G. Padgett, Defining Biblical Equality (Vol. 16, No. 3 2002). 3 Id. 4 Genesis 1:26 (NIV).
does not mean that all people are the same. Many people make this mistake when reading the Bible. Jesus notices the differences between good and evil, between just and unjust people. 5 There are Jews and Gentiles, women and men, parents and children, and they are not all the same. But they are all made in the image of God, and Jesus reaches out to them all. Jesus ministered to all people, and he accepted as his disciples many women and men who were at the margins of his society, those who were overlooked or oppressed by others. 6 As adult human beings, women and men have equal responsibility in the home, the church and the larger society. In the Bible, Paul does tell women to submit to their husbands and also states that men are the head of women, but you must read these verses in context and interpret them in their own times. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christi.” 7 Mutual submission is nothing less than love in action. In Ephesians, Paul writes mostly to the husband, who must love his wife and give of his own life and power, just as Christ sacrificed himself for the Church. Paul used the word “head” to mean someone who is “first” not some kind of authority or power figure. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 8 However, we all know the military constitutes a specialized community governed by a separate discipline from that of the civilian and Congress is permitted to legislate both with greater breadth and with greater flexibility when prescribing the rules by which military society shall be governed than it is when prescribing rules for civilian society. 5 Id. 6 Id. 7 Ephesians 5:21 (NIV). 8 U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. 2
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