Off Topic, My Son

I'm not done dealing with Ephesians 5 and related topics. And hope to get back to them.
Also, we've had computer trouble and been real busy around both my home and my work so I haven't been able to keep up with much around here.

But I want to stop for a moment and appreciate my son.

He didn't start off so good.
As a boy, he had difficulty relating to his world and managed to get into more trouble than his brother and sisters.
He was the one I worried about the most, afraid he'd end up in jail, or who knows what.

But whatever troubled him when he was younger, he has, for the most part, overcome.
At the age of 19, he still has a bit of a temper and can get very impatient from time to time.

But I love talking to him.
He's deep thinker.
I talk to him about God and the Bible probably more than with my other children.

We had one such conversation last night.
He asks good questions, like, "How can we know who is right about God? Everyone believes that they are right."
And yes, my son has given his heart to Jesus in the past, on more than one occasion.

Yet, this bunch of Christians claim one thing, and that bunch of Christians claim something else. Who is right? He wants to know.

Awesome questions.

My standard answer, one that he's accustomed to is that, I, being female, have a unique perspective. I can see through much of "man made" religion. And I hold up the Muslim 40 virgins waiting in heaven as a blatantly male-centered fantasy. I haven't had a chance to point out how the reincarnation religions say that women have to be reincarnated as men before they can go onto the next step. We never get that far.

And last night, he pointed out to me the male-favoring teachings of the Bible.
To which I could confidently speak to.

I pointed out that Jesus never set up a male/female hierarchy while He walked on the earth. I also pointed out that His allowing Mary to sit at His feet an learn along with the men defied the culture He lived in.
Then I pointed out how the writers of the epistles never set up a hierarchy either. They spoke to the hierarchies that already existed. But they never told men to lead their wives. All they were interested in was trying to help people already in these structures to live as Christ-like as possible in the culture they were subject to.

This made all the sense in the world to my son.
And he said so, plainly. He really appreciated this being pointed out to him because he really does want to believe in Jesus and the God of the Bible. But some of these unfair teachings, like women can't be ordained, really bother him. They are a real stumbling block to him.

Our conversation was brought to an abrupt end by something neither of us could control.
But I can't wait for the opportunity to point out Junia and Phoebe to him at a later time, the Lord permitting.

He's the kind of young man that I don't want to push. When he's ready for information, he comes to me. And when he's ready, they he can receive what I have to say. If he's pushed, he resists.

But I'm very proud of him for his sense of fairness and justice towards women and his need for his God (and yes he believes in God and Jesus incarnate) to be fair and just to all.