A Bride and Groom Ephesians 5:21-33

How often do you feel like a bride? This question has a tendency, for me at least, of producing a naturally recoiling  reflex of indignation when it's seemingly  aimed at the core of my manhood. Yet, it is in actuality, the single most important  ingredient of not only my manhood, but of my marriage. As a Christian, I must share the role of bride with my wife, and as a Christian must take the role of groom in my marriage. It seems a strange union of roles, but the union is not only unique in view of today's societal norms,  or rather abnorms, but essential towards a God centered plan for marriage. I may need, at this point, a place of shelter or retreat before sharing that a woman does not share  the same dualistic role. Biblically she is a bride and again a bride.  Still, we both share the responsibility of submission to Jesus, our Christ and groom. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and they two  shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Ephesians 5:31-32 Not only is this a vertical submission, but a horizontal submission. "Submitting your selves one to another in the fear of God. Ephesians 5:21." Before going to verse twenty two, it should be clear that the submission path runs both ways, not to mention that it should be and is a fearful consideration in God's eyes. Most of us will immediately align our own thinking of submission to the more common act of yielding to an authority, a bitter pill for not only women but also to men. We often forget that it is also an acknowledgement of inferiority or dependence; humble or suppliant behavior, a confession of a fault or error, or of obedience, compliance with the commands of a superior or how about a simple resignation or yielding of one's own prideful will to another. This is where I have to consider that I might not always be right.

      "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour  of the church. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ , so the wives to their own husbands in everything." Ephesians 5:23-24

     This is where we lose most of the ladies. Still, regardless of today's modern version of womanhood, there it is. We teach our young ladies not only that they can be anything they want but that there are no limitations as to what they can attain. My question is, and this is for everyone, can I be whatever I want? Can I purpose my life in a fashion as to disregard boundaries or limitations? "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ?" I have to keep bringing it back to Jesus before I can address these questions. How have I, exactly, submitted my self to Him?   "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it." Does my wife have a groom as does the church? Have I given myself for my bride? Did Jesus promise a big paycheck and a big house with all the material  luxuries of the day or did he understand what his bride really needed? I don't know a woman that doesn't  want a Jesus groom in her life. Can I give myself for my bride like Jesus did for his? "That he might sanctify  and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having a spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."  This is the point where many men  willingly give up the ship. This is where many cease to be men, let alone the  groom. If submission doesn't come first to Christ, manhood disappears into the fashion of the day and becomes unrecognizable. Do I , first of all, love my wife as Christ loved the church? This is agape love, unconditional all encompassing love, and needs a bit of exploring, but hang in there. It's worth  the time. Remember, "For this a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church". 

Part 2

  Ephesians 5:25-26 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

     I could be wrong here, but I think every man that explores this portion of scripture is going to find himself wanting. I love my wife more than anyone in this world, and still I find myself wanting. This is going to be one of those "Not as though I had already attained, either were perfect" moments, but we still must press on. This scripture points to a tremendous amount of accountability. I love but do I sanctify, cleanse, present my wife as holy and without blemish? Do I forgive my wife as Jesus forgives, or is the dirt reserved for more opportune moments? Am I content with the "sin no more" but can't seem to follow through with the "as far as the east is from the west part." Do I cover my wife as Christ covers me? Am I her shelter and shield? Am I as private and personal and open as Jesus  is in her prayer closet? Can she trust me like she does Jesus? Do I pray over her like Jesus prays for his bride? If I fall short on any of these, can I present her as glorious, holy, and without blemish? Can I love her as Jesus loves his bride?

      "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies." It seems like the golden rule should be sufficient here, but it too falls short because we've brought self into the picture which falls miles short of agape love. I know it sounds like a trade, "he that loveth his wife loveth himself". After all one commonly thinks we always love ourselves, but that's rarely true. The more I try to separate myself from sin, the more the revulsion and the greater the disappointment in myself at my failures. And yet, to understand grace, is to know where we came from, and also to know who we are in Christ. I know myself and I know that until I can truly love my wife I can only have a self- love. That I can selflessly love my wife is essential if we are ever going to love our brother. The church is doomed to failure and stagnation, not to mention hopelessly superficial if we stumble from the outset.

       "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother , and they two  shall be one flesh." A man can crush his wife, but only to his own destruction, because we very much are, indeed, one flesh. If this concept is difficult for you, I recommend hitting your thumb with a hammer a couple of times or as many as needed to make the light come on.

      "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning the church. Nevertheless let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife that she reverence her husband."                   So, there's reverence at the end of the story? ............... I'll let my wife tackle that one. 

 Part 3

   If you read the first two segments and are thinking "What a spineless wimp, he passed on the "reverencing your husband", you're absolutely right. I did mention the submission thingy though, for clarification on the groom's part in reference to his being part of the bride [church], and feel confidant that that was enough to leave some howling. I wasn't silly enough to say something silly like estrogen running the church.

    The whole point of bringing up the dualistic role of men as bride and groom, church member and husband, is that we have so many dysfunctional marriages today, and an appalling lack of manhood, if not misunderstanding. A healthy, manly leadership is absent in the home turning the churches into a dumping  ground of societal relevance instead of biblical order. In point of fact, we the men, are at all points in our society being neutered and properly trained to tuck tail and step out the role God intended. If you're thinking church should fix that, good luck finding a pastor or board that hasn't already been neutered. It starts with submission, but in the right direction. God set the order, how about trying a proper submission to the real groom, our model, as hard as it may be to follow, and purpose to present our bride glorious, not having spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish, joined unto our wives as one, humbled by Christ's example as shepherd, shield and protector, in the path of salvation to our Holy God.

     If my understanding is correct, not withstanding the many role's played out in the church, ours the fathers, are the ones to be held to the fire [accountable] before God for setting our order and will against His.

A Good Example

People look at me like I'm crazy when I bring up THE Communist  AGENDA at work here in our beloved land of the fee. First, here's the list of goals presented to our cONGRESS in '63 to review at Conservative Refocus.  And here is one of the numerous and all to common examples at Right Angles.  They're not doing this secretly and yet the most common reaction is " Yeah, things are really changing man, BUT you really don't think it's a conspiracy do ya? Actually, I do. It's built upon Marx's technique of graaaadualism [It's the slow boil,  Kermit!]. There does come a point when it's too late to get out.

Lemming Small Talk

I've been reading the paper again! I don't pay for that kind of aggravation but still subject myself to it at lunch time. I read a column [you're never going to believe this] demonizing the republicans for failing to fall in line with Obummers' health care and inability to control his spending habits. That in and of itself is normal enough. We all know the mantras. Why I subject myself to this would require some extensive self analysis, but I don't do the self thing very well.

Anyway, they've been trying to steal my goat for a while and they finally got it! So fair is fair. I know we've all heard the comparisons of sodomites with slaves .... I'm leaving that one alone. Now, it's slavery and health care. Did you know we were the last ones to abolish slavery and now we're the last ones to adopt commie care. It's shameful, to say the least, in the keen eyes of our ever so observant columnist. Still, hanging on to a semblance of rationality, I'm trying to understand the connection of granting freedom to a group of people and the compulsory [forced] enlistment to commie care under penalty of fine, loss of driving privilege, and lean on property and/or bank account. They always try to make an argument between the two [freedom and enslavement, choice and no choice], smile and wonder why we don't get it. They're right! I can't make my mind twist that way. In the case of slavery, the republican party, after the abolishing of slavery, passed twenty-three civil rights laws. The demoncrats spawned a wing of their own during the same period, the KKK. They were just as successful hanging 4800 republicans, that was the qualifier, with about a fourth being white. Yes folks, we had black congressmen, [former slaves] writing civil rights bills and the republican party passing them as quick as they hit the floor. Not to worry though .... It was enough to rally the demoncrat party and they repealed them all in 1896 when they regained the House, Senate, and the Presidency. This gives me pause to wonder????? Why can't we [the people] get anything repealed now! Anyway, they redeemed themselves when Johnson got Kennedy's civil rights bill that he borrowed from Eisenhower [republican] passed. Well, they could only get 44% of the democratic vote when they just needed a simple majority. Not to worry again, they used 7% of the republicans 83% to secure their place in history. Sorry, I'm rabbit trailing a little bit.

Actually, now that I caught my train of thought before I derailed and said something spiteful, I can better understand the similarities between slavery and abortion. You just simply persuade the court to nullify a person's personhood and reduce them to property to do with as you please and walla you have an indisputable tie between the two. It's the democratic way .... actually it's kind of habit with them democratic type of people, but .... it had it's upside, the creation of a small radical bunch of terrorists that formed a republican party that had the audacity to call slavery and abortion wrong. Actually, really, really wrong. Hitler tried it. He made Jews non-people and his loyal compatriots made the case at the Hindenburg trials that they were justified under the law. They hung them anyway. Still, they're making a better world for us despite our apprehensions that this path is leading where it always has in the past. We can, at least, be another bad example to exhibit to the world. We can become first once again if only by coming in last.

So, as the one lemming said to the other ................................................................................................

Types of Government, Explained

This was, once upon a time, common knowledge in a far away land, now relegated to a state of mythical distortions and buried with all of it's companion virtues. Still, in the like manner of Christianity and her Saviour, Jesus, watch for the unexpected ressurection.

A Must READ!

Please don't pass up this posting by Dan [ The Bumbling  Genius] What has the Church to do with Capitalism

Marriage Counseling

Following is my response to a comment written by Stan.  It was too long for the comment box.  You can read his comment under my post, "Marriage, It's a Given?"

Stan,
I sometimes wish I hadn't elected to comment on that particular post. I always use the ten before and after rule when looking at scripture. Obviously, according to this particular passage, salvation can not only be lost, but also, after reaching a certain point in our walk with the Lord, as in regard to the qualifiers mentioned in the post, salvation cannot be regained. The author has admonished us to go beyond the "milk stage" to the "strong meat" that "belongeth to them that are of full age". Have I tasted of the powers of the world to come? I'm not sure, as I stated, where this point is. I don't understand what would cause this sort of fatal falling away from someone that has become "of full age". I know that my desire is to reach that stage, not to fall away of course, but to obtain that obedience. A common thought is that Paul is addressing the Jewish converts who were now rejecting the gospel, hence the stern warning. The impossibility of return could be likened to man that has fallen into a well, thrown a rope, and then slashes the rope beyond his reach, the rope representing Christ’s atonement by the cross. God is not sending another messiah that meets his expectations nor is it a possibility except by Christ’s sacrifice, already a done deal. There’s only one meal on the menu, the Bread and the Blood. Christ’s once for all sacrifice insufficient,” seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” and relapsing back into a system of repeated animal sacrifice, probably not a good idea. Is there a connection possibly related to the unpardonable sin? I don’t know. I had hoped for someone wiser than I for enlightenment or discussion.

Actually, election came into the discourse because no one seemed inclined to talk about the Hebrew passage. Dismissal accompanied with repeated attempts to defend a once saved always saved doctrine along with the “if” does not mean “if”, if it doesn’t reinforce my position, clarifications were the default responses. Hence the posting I wrote which actually had broadened considerably to respond to my position. It seemed the kinder thing for Neil’s sake than to use His site for a platform. I’m not sure how to give you greater clarity and am afraid I’ll be just restating the same thing and it’ll be wordy and repetitive. As far as election, the elect are always in reference to the believers that the author is writing to. I have a hard time conceptualizing unbelievers falling away. How does that happen? What exactly have they fallen away from?  Chosen and choosing to accept the calling is a believing Christian. Colossians 1:22-23 affirms this position with Paul’s warning, “In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; [amazing, after ofter only 32 years from the crucifixion, the known world evangelized] whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Free will opens the door to rejection, corruption, violence and cruelty, and falling away. Now, remember I learned cognitive dissonance from you and Dan so don't be sensitive about it. I watch Barney too [video – we don’t do tv]. My point was in reference to God giving a person free will and then at the same time withholding it. God may indeed be willing that none should perish but His holiness and justice are such as to not allow the salvation of an unrepentant, unwilling, recipient. God's sovereignty is not impugned or diminished. Lewis talks of intrinsic possibilities and impossibilities. It's impossible for God to lie for example of an intrinsic impossibility. As Lewis would say "the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but non-entities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God". Cognitive Dissonance? I'm not willing that my children not walk with the Lord. I'm not willing that any of them be damned. Still it’s an undeniable fact of life. It happens all the time. My love is not severed from them and they were not snatched away, they walked away. Involuntary union is not love. It’s certainly not God like. It’s god like, the god of self, what we must be willing to surrender and let God kill. For me it’s a takes a constant beating, every day I wake up to the struggle of my flesh. Of one thing I’m sure, I’m in the race and the race is not over.

Do I believe the Hebrew passage as written and inclusive of the possibility of not being renewed unto repentance? Yes.

I had the opportunity to meet a man from India whose Grandfather [a Hindu priest on his way with another to beat up the new missionary] was converted to the faith by the Holy Spirit not knowing the language of the missionary. He was, of course, rejected by the village and family and forced to move. His grandmother died and the family decided he should be allowed to return for the funeral. She was three days dead when he arrived. He prayed over her and raised her from the dead in front of three hundred people. His family was converted on the spot. This is the short version of course. It came to pass that he was approached by a denomination that would support his ministry if he would do it under his name. He couldn’t find anything in the Bible to explain how the church could be divided into things called denominations and the offer was rejected. He did find a lot about healing, praying for the sick, casting out demons [commonplace in his ministry], and a host of other things that he uses based on a simple belief that the Bible is truth.

I was raised lukewarm, am a lapsed liberal, former Baptist, former Open Bible, and now simply a Christian. I don’t take the name of anyone but Jesus. I don’t pet the sacred cows anymore to acquire membership in a denomination. I look at passages like Hebrews 6:4-6 and believe simply because it’s in the Bible. It’s true I don’t understand it all, but I understand more than I did twenty years ago.  I rode with Tankachin (The man spoken of above) in the back seat to a church in Rapid City, about sixty miles, and after spending that afternoon with him I was completely embarrassed about my walk with the Lord. He couldn’t comprehend how two Christians could divorce; he has a two to three percent rate among his converts. He said, “Even if man beat woman, we fix.” How come we don’t see God moving like you do I asked? He replied, “You don’t need God, you go to the doctor, you buy everything with money, you make God second, you don’t believe God.” If the Bible said it he believed it. “In India we preach the gospel and then we prove it, preach and prove.” He got that straight out the Bible. He runs around India in his Volkswagen bus with the old Barney style police horn on top singing about the blood of Jesus and people possessed or oppressed, never hearing Jesus name before, run screaming out of the village and he goes to work. We sit and we blog. It was a turning point with me that night. I sat in my seat ashamed while he never stopped praying unless spoken to. It’s good to be small.

I don’t spend much time like this on the Internet. I love reading Dan’s work, his style and reason, Neil’s engagement of our common enemies of the faith, and Glenn’s relentless footwork keeping me current on things I don’t have time to research. I haven’t had time to read a lot of what you’ve written but have thoroughly enjoyed what I have. My focus is primarily on fundamentals of the faith, things that will bind us together, though I do enjoy a little jousting in the spirit of Christian brotherly love. At any rate I’ve read enough to know you’re a brother in the faith and will not be offended at any differences in opinion and will read any response with an open mind and heart.
 
      Sorry so long,
      Gordon

Inductive Equality Inducement

     It's not just because election time is rounding the bend and equality is such a great seller for our politicians that equality is tumbling around in my poor little mind. It's that it has been ingrained so deeply into the fabric of our collective national conscience. We demand it and we'll have it because it appeals to our sense of fairness. We're created equal! My question is " How so?" In what way can we be possibly equal as in, perhaps, the domain of reality? I think the question is fair as we are constantly under a barrage of rhetorical embellishments of life fulfilling eutopic conditions all consummated under the banner of equality for all. Once again I would ask ... "How so?" ... and how do they suppose this can be done? ... and how would this make things better?
  
     It's obvious to me that "equality" is elusive to say the least. I don't possess the same aptitudes of anyone else I know. A persons station in life ... Isn't that connected to aptitudes and abilities? Does a collective education drawn from standardized requirements solve the problem dissimilar interests? Does being born into into equal circumstances level the field, somehow, as to motivational inducement? I can't see that equality exists anywhere. As a Christian, I can't find it in the Bible or as anything that is to be sought after. As a church, a body of believers are all different ... elders, teachers, exhorters, some less honorable [ that's me ... sometimes I'm doing good just to be a poor example] and on and on it goes. Still it's the big seller and we're somehow induced into the idea that all will be fine if we can attain it. Once again ... "How so?"

     Is it just me or are the ones pushing for equality really pushing for equality or are they pushing for crowd control ... or a more manageable herd? The equality under the law seems a bit elusive. Variable consequence dictated by purview of assessors of political correctness in the name of equality and fairness doesn't seem all that fair. To be equal would seem to be related to what standard of convictions one would have to hold or rather, at least the convictions one had been assigned. The idealistic appeal of equality disappears into a mist of confusion when one ponders as to who dictates what one's convictions should be. Dictate seems to hold the key to this puzzle. One needs to have a dictator to dictate.

     We'll there you have it ... I've become transparent. I think all these politicians selling the "equality for all" are up to something sinister. "All things being equal" idealistic gas of the worst kind. Purity and perversion? truth relativized? wrong and right?, sloth and industrious under the same roof? Equality doesn't reside there. Light and dark merge to produce gray for the sake of inductive equality? It produces questions for sure. Take a few moments to reflect on the answers. We're born with unalienable rights for freedom and the pursuit of happiness that would all be negated by a society that ignores the possibilities that reside in God's unique gifting and precepts made for us as unique and varied as His creation. The "equality" they sell is a promise of security in exchange for these God given opportunities based on ability, commitment, diligence, forbearance, and faith that yield their reward and harvest according to their merit and God's grace. It raises disturbing thoughts for those who have little interest in cultivating any of the aforementioned traits. The ranks of those thus crippled by the lure of a free ride and guaranteed entitlements grows and empowers the corrupt who at the time of victory will just as quickly deem them a liability. But then, it's possible that at that time they're dreams of equality will be realized.

ll Peter 2:19 "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage."