Offending the Little Ones

Matthew 18:6 (KJV) But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Vs 7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offence come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Matthew 18:6 (NAS) but whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone (turned by a donkey) be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Vs 7 Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!



You know, sometimes I think Matthew 18:6&7 are the most ignored verses in the Bible. This probably isn't true. But sometimes it just feels like it.
What with the pedophile scandal being exposed in the Catholic Church and the things being revealed about the ugly underbelly of the Southern Baptist church?
http://stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm



And now the recent controversy over Hillary McFarland's book, "Quivering Daughters".
The doctrine of Patriarchy/Quiverful is offending little ones. And those little ones are growing up and telling how. The fruit of patriarchy is misery for children and the little ones are finding their voices and telling how Patriarchy has hurt them, some to the point of wanting to kill themselves.

Yet now, where these voices are crying out, the promoters of patriarchy don't respond with repentance, they respond with more offending, more shaming, more asserting of their own authority over those abused by the authority to begin with.

There is a scripture in Proverbs that states, "He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind" (Pr 11:29a)


Patriarchy is troubling houses. Patriarchy is offending little ones. Yet Patriarchy is stubbornly defending its right to rule. Then it's wondering why it is inheriting the wind.


Patriarchy ignores the words of Jesus about the little ones and institutes its own rules on how to treat children, how to ignore and sweep under the rug their fears, concerns, and even needs. And the crazy thing is, these words of Jesus in Matthew 18 show how much of God's judgement is on people who offend the little ones.

It is a heavy judgment. One that shouldn't be so easily ignored. The footnote in my Bible which I put in parentheses says the it's the type of millstone that takes the strength of a donkey to operate.

Now in case anyone thinks I'm being snarky about this, I'm not. Actually I'm very concerned for those who ignore Matthew 18:6&7. I fear that they do not have a proper fear of God. And not letting the fear of God adjust their understanding of what is right and wrong puts them in a place I would not like to be.

Now, instead of going into my understand of the fear of God, let me direct you to an old series on the topic. The Fear of God:

http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2008/12/fear-of-god-part-1.html

http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2008/12/fear-of-god-part-2.html

http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2008/12/fear-of-god-part-3.html

http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2008/12/fear-of-god-part-4.html

Excellent Post by my Friend Hannah

Those of you not familiar with my friend Hannah's blog, "Emotional Abuse and Your Faith," you should become familiar with it.


Hannah, an abuse survivor herself, has been dealing with the issue of emotional abuse in her blog for nearly six years. That's a long time in blog years.


Anyway, her most recent post, "Someone has to be in Charge" speaks to this common argument.


http://eaandfaith.blogspot.com/2010/11/someone-has-to-be-in-charge.html


If you have never been to Hannah's blog, you ought to visit sometime soon.

The Hero's Journey

I read a book that helped me understand the hero's journey and the wounded healer.
The book is called Obsessive-compulsive Disorder:New Help for the Family and is written by Herbert L. Gravitz.

http://www.amazon.com/Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder-Help-Family/dp/0966110447

Now before anyone says, "We aren't dealing with OCD so this post isn't for me," Let me explain a couple of things.

I don't have anyone with OCD in my life either. But the book was recommended because much of the advice given would apply to anyone dealing with someone else's psychological or emotional issues. It is help for the family. My spouse has ADHD. He's a good man with a bad disorder. This book helped me to understand the road to healing by helping me understand the Hero's Journey.

Also, what is Patriarchy if it is not an obsession to impose rigid order on those trapped in the system.

Now, I'm not recommending this book, so to speak. Though it wouldn't hurt to read it, especially if you deal with anyone with any issues like OCD, ADHD, RAD, NPD, or any other disorder I haven't mentioned. But I bring this book up in order to refer to a section of it that speaks about another book that I haven't read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

I wanted to reference both books since I'll be quoting from Gravitz book while he is referring back to Campbell's book.

Gravitz starts by saying on page 106:
"The hero's journey always begins with the hero leaving home and separating from the powerful pull or trance of the family. Destiny is summoning us...If we refuse the call we remain stuck."

One of the evils of patriarchy is that it refuses to allow little girls to grow up and become heroes.
Little girls, because of their gender, must remain helpless maidens, always needing to be rescued by 'true' heroes, who are only 'true' in patriarchy because they are male. In addition, the only real hero that is allowed is their father. Instead of growing past the trance of the family, little girls become big girls, stuck in the muck and mire of family enmeshment.

More of Gravitz:
"In mythic terms, heroes and heroines enter the cave of their core issues and dispel the false truth of childhood, slay inner dragons, fight demons, find the treasure, or receive a blessing or gift."

Patriarchy does not allow little girls to grow up and deal with their core issues nor does it allow them to dispel the false truths of childhood. Patriarchy insists that the false truths it teaches its children concerning the roles of men and women are The Truth of the Everliving God. But they are wrong. And Patriarchy, by taking on this role, makes itself the dragon the little girls must slay in order to receive the blessing of God.

I like the word used in Gravitz quote, "dispel". It reminds me of Chandra's blog called, "Dispelled".
http://chandra-bernat.blogspot.com/

More from Gravitz:
"In the completion, heroes form a new relationship with truth, courage, love, and pain."

And later he says on page 107:
"The hero/heroine dares to love because he or she knows love is the ultimate and highest goal to which we can aspire. The hero/heroine knows each one of use was created to love and be loved. Daring to love is in itself an act of heroism."

I had read this book a few years ago and had to take my own journey. So when I read Sierra's post on the No Longer Qivering (linked and quoted two posts ago), it resonated with my heart and reminded me of the Hero's Journey and helped me articulate my feelings for these girls breaking the spell of Patriarchy in their own lives and then slaying the dragon of Patriarchy before the eyes of others still entranced by the spell.

These girls and women are heroes on a quest against a great force of evil that threatens to devour more and more innocent blood.

Hillary is (one of) my Hero(s) Part 2

In part one I mentioned my friends Lewis and Darcy and their blogs taking the big name Patriarchy peddler to task for attacking a survivor of the misguided Patriarchy movement.

This survivor is named Hillary McFarland and she has written a book from a daughter's point of view exposing the fact that Patriarchy often sets up systems that are bad for the health of women, especially little women, the daughters of patriarchy. Her book is called "Quivering daughters" and can be viewed here:

http://www.quiveringdaughters.com/p/book-ordering-information.html

In this book Hillary opens up for all to see what the Patriarchy/Quiverful movement has done to her. But rather than being a bitter book of resentments, it's a book of hope and healing, pointing daughters back to God, the real God who loves them and wants to heal them. And it points them away from the god of patriarchy who prefers sons and only made daughters to stand on the sidelines and serve men.

Hillary has nearly 200 followers for her blog. And quivering daughters are finding hope and healing in her words both in the book and on the blog.

Hillary is following her Lord Jesus and doing the work of His ministry as laid out in Isaiah 61:1 under His anointing.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Quivering daughters are bound. They are bound up by oppressive doctrines that deny them their personhood. Hillary's book calls to those daughters telling them that God has not called them to this bondage. This bondage is made by men.

She knows. She lived it herself. And she escaped.

But not without cost.

And her book is also about the cost, about the wounding and the rejecting, along with the healing.

You see, the reason I look upon Hillary as a hero is because I recognize her journey to healing. It is the journey of a wounded hero.

The wounded hero is the one who takes the journey of healing, in the face of great odds, then, not satisfied with keeping the healing to her/himself, turns and lends a healing hand to those who are not through it yet. Often it is the wounded hero that can speak with more authority and clarity into the lives of those with similar woundings.


Another thing that makes Hillary and girls like her heroes is that they take this journey with no support from their family.


Quoting Sierra again, who I mentioned in Part 1:

"Stories about valor and courage never tell you that the hero feels like the villain most of the time. There is no doublespeak in heroic tales. ..... Valorous persons never feel like they’re the ungrateful, hard-hearted, demon-possessed, selfish, bitter, angry, defensive ones."


These girls are heroes because of the tenacity of their own hearts and with support (if they can find it) OUTSIDE their family. Because their own families view heroic behavior in women as demonic. Their families call good evil and evil good.


Now I want to explain why I used the confusing title "Hillary is (one of) my Hero(s)".

It's because I wanted to point out my approval and admiration of not only Hillary, who is facing public persecution, but all the others who have come and are still coming through their own private hell. They are all wounded heroes on the journey towards Life and Light.

All quivering daughters who are throwing off human tyranny are my heroes.

And not just them, but also my friends like Lewis and Shadow and Charis and Jane and Suzanne who have all been hurt one way or another by either Patriarchy or some other aberrant doctrine.


These are my heroes because they are speaking out and healing. And even more than that, they are not turning against God but pursuing Him and His gifts and calling others to see the One, True, Just, God. They are pointing to the Everliving and Everloving God Who holds Healing in His hands and is generous to give it out to anyone who calls upon His name. They are fighting the false god of patriarchy and the idol of quiverful, working to open the eyes of the blind who have been led astray by this false teaching.


I also admire all the lurking, walking, wounded from this movement, who are only at the beginning of their healing journey. They are my heroes too.


All I can say to you refugees from the ghost town is this, "You go, girl (or boy in some cases)! You've got what it takes for this journey. I'm confident in this very thing. That He who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6)."


I thank God when I think of you (Ephesians 1:15-23).

Hillary is (one of) my hero(s) Part 1

If you haven't notice, there has been quite a stir over Hillary McFarland's book "Quivering Daughters".

You can get a bit of an idea about it at these two locations:
http://thecommandmentsofmen.blogspot.com/2010/11/there-she-goes-again.html
and
http://darcysheartstirrings.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-defense-of-friend.html

Both of the above links will give you the link to the blog that has put up a very negative review of Hillary's book by one of the big promoters of the Patriarchy movement in Christian and home school circles.

Now, before I get into why Hillary is my hero, or at least one of my heroes, I want to direct your attention toward a post on No Longer Qivering by Sierra:

http://nolongerquivering.com/2010/11/02/the-dead-village-living-with-disapproval/

If you have the chance, read the whole post by Sierra. It's very good.
It draws the parallel between the Patriarchy/Quiver full community and a ghost town, once you decide not to follow their formula of Christianity.

But there were a few lines from Sierra's awesome post that I want to draw attention to.

Sierra: "Stories about valor and courage never tell you that the hero feels like the villain most of the time. There is no doublespeak in heroic tales. Heroes don’t feel like if they’d sit down, shut up, cover up, hide, give birth, nod, smile, listen, clean, serve, serve, serve, obey, worship, then none of this would have happened. Valorous persons never feel like they’re the ungrateful, hard-hearted, demon-possessed, selfish, bitter, angry, defensive ones, right?"

And

"Living with disapproval means only those who have left burning buildings themselves, or those who come to love their new found survivor, will admire the resolve it took to survive. "

I am one of those who sees what it took to survive, to come out of the Patriarchy movement and deal with the disapproval those in the movement are experts as heaping on their victims.

Now if you will humor me one more quote from Sierra's post on No Longer Qivering, I want to point out a little more.
Concerning the ghosts left in the rubble and destruction of the ghost town she says:

Sierra: "The ghosts will never forgive you – their hearts run with spirit, not blood, and they need no walls to protect their vital organs. They can run right through you with accusations, day after night after day, and never tire. But you tire, because you’re still alive."

Well, there is one really big ghost, a champion of the Patriarchy movement who has taken on Hillary. It's a queen bee, big mama ghost who has started an entire blog just to attack Hillary's book. And that's the blog my friends Lewis and Darcy link to in their blogs, the two blogs I linked to at the very first.

I want to get more into why Hillary is my hero. But I will reserve that for another post.

A Female Teacher Mentioned in the Bible

Sorry I've been AWOL again.
Having children active in school and band and sports and other things just sort of absorbs all of my time.

But here's a link to my friend Marg's Blog on a much disputed topic.
Can women teach men the Bible?
Here is her take:

http://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/did-priscilla-teach-apollos/

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.

Phariseeism, Wealth, and Prestige, III

Paul would be appalled if he knew that men used his letters to undermine the words of Jesus and the Kingdom of God on earth. Paul knew the cultures he wrote to and did his best to say what was needed to help people transfer their understanding from the darkness of the world into the Light of God's Kingdom. Never, in his wildest dreams, would he have thought that men would use his letters to lord it over women

Never.

Yet this is what some men do because, like the Pharisees of old, they love places of honor and authority. These men look for any excuse, any scripture that might support their doctrines of men and ignore the scriptures that disprove their doctrine. These modern day Pharisees descend on Ephesians 5 where Paul talks about men being the head and assume, out right, without looking at the whole, or any of Paul's other words, that Paul was establishing men as authorities of their homes.


But funny, they are quick to look upon Ephesians 5 as commands carved in stone by the finger of God yet ignore the heart of the writer of those words.


Here is the heart of Paul. Read it carefully and honestly, and see if this is a man hung up on rigid authority structures.

Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.


Whereas the men who use Paul's words in Ephesians to set themselves up as little kings and priests in their home, Paul, himself, counts such things as position, birth, even his circumcised manhood, as rubbish. He says plainly that he is willing to lose it all, for the sake of Christ.

The heart of Paul is so directly opposite the hearts of those who use his words for setting up structures and authorities, it is amazing.


So one wonders.


If what Jesus, Isaiah, Luke, Mary, and Paul in Philippians 3 are saying is the opposite of what men say Ephesians 5 says, are these men defining Ephesians 5 getting it right?


Or have they taken the words of Paul and turned them into Commandmentzilla that sucks the life out of people and destroys the message of the good news of Jesus Christ?

http://frombitterwaterstosweet.blogspot.com/2010/07/phariseeism-and-redefining-sin-ii.html

Well. We'll look at Ephesians 5 next and see if it really can be used as something that establishes 'authority' in the home.

Phariseeism, Wealth, and Prestige, II

The words of Jesus absolutely in no way support the notion of patriarchy or any form of male rule over female. On the contrary, the words of Jesus knock the feet out from under any claim of anyone to lord it over, or even to entertain the thought of authority over another.

This challenging of human authority was predicted by Isaiah hundreds of years before.


Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

Then Luke, in his gospel, confirms this prophesy noting that John the Baptist, the prophet, that voice in the wilderness, is declaring this challenge to human constructs of authority.

Luke 3:4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
6 And all mankind will see God's salvation."

And again, in Luke's gospel we see Mary, the mother of Jesus, prophesy about God's shake up of human understanding of Authority. The Holy Spirit comes upon her while she's pregnant with the Messiah and she speaks about how God brings down rulers and lifts up the humble.

Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

God turns things on their heads. He brings down those who are exalted and raises up all those who have been put down. Jesus wants to set up His kingdom in a manner unheard of before Him.

Matthew 20:25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

But what do men do? They labor to exhaustion to re-establish the old order. They sweat and reconfigure with all their worth to set up authorities in people's lives. They make great strides in 'biblical' discourse to undo what Jesus did on the cross. They again, raise up mountains that Jesus brought down and dig out valleys that Jesus filled to divide the body of Christ into 'leaders' and 'followers' just as they were before Jesus came. And the straight paths Jesus ordained, men make them crooked because their crooked hearts could not tolerate the straight and narrow, a kingdom build without hands nor ruled by carnal men.

And they do this by misconstruing the words of one of Christ's most devoted followers. A follower who would disagree with them to their faces, if he were alive to tell. We will look at the words of this follower and see where his heart lies in the next post.

Phariseeism, Wealth, and Prestige, I

Another problem with Phariseeism is the need for men to be in charge and have a places of honor. Phariseeism seeks to bring into the Kingdom of God what is important to men. Instead of changing their center from worldly/fleshly priorities to what God considers important, they try to change God by representing their own preferences as God's Divine order or Creation Order.

I mentioned in the previous post the importance of the Top Ten and Top Two (commandments from Old and New Testaments respectively) and the Golden Rule. And how men are undermining those rules and commands by their interpretation of the words of Paul.

I want to look further into the words of Jesus and how they support His commands and rules.

Most are familiar with the following passage.


Matthew 19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Vs 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Vs 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Vs 26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."



Most people know that the eye of a needle is actually the name of a gate in Jerusalem. A gal in my church actually has been there and walked through it. She said she had to duck a bit to get through. A child could walk through it easily, and upright.

But a camel is a different story.

In order for a camel to get through. all the packs on its back have to be removed and it has to get on it's knees.

Most people know that this means you can't take earthly, material treasures into heaven when we die.

But what most people miss is that you cannot take your earthly prestige and place of honor that men give to each other on earth into the Kingdom of God on earth and expect God to honor it.

Yet this is what entire groups are trying to do. Instead of knowing people by the Spirit they look upon the flesh and decide who is deserving of the places of honor in the Kingdom.

Instead of taking the words of Jesus and making them the foundation of all other words that follow and precede His coming, instead of using the words of Jesus to define or keep in balance the words of His apostles, they use the words of the apostles to completely IGNORE the words of Jesus on how He wants to build His kingdom.

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force by doing violence to the text of scripture and conforming it to the preferences of men.

Men who do this are Pharisees.
And here is what Jesus has to say about them.

Matthew 23:6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;
Vs 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'
Vs 8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. Vs 9 And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
Vs 10 Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
Vs 11The greatest among you will be your servant.
Vs 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
And

Matthew 23:23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Vs 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

The Pharisees strain at roles and human made restrictions over people yet swallow the false doctrine of human hierarchy within the Kingdom of God.
Pharisees love the places of honor and raising up some and lowering others by their own hand/teaching then hiding behind 'thus saith the Lord' if anyone calls them on it.

Phariseeism and Western Thinking

One thing that I think is completely lost on our way of thinking is that the Bible was written in an ancient Oriental Culture, not in our modern Western Culture.

Case in point. I've had a computer programmer compare the Bible to and owner's manual or a programmer's manual. This is scary, since there were no computers or owner's manuals back when the Bible was written.


What happens with this view is that it makes the Bible into step-by-step instructions for every detail of life. And certain groups have done this. And have become very legalistic.


One of the best example of this is the huge 'roles' debate going on. Instead of allowing people to walk in their own skin and be the personality God created them into, strict gender roles are taught because of some instructions Paul gave to the Ephesians who lived in a highly patriarchal culture.

Paul never speaks of roles or defines them in any way. He just encourages the people in Ephesus to take on attitudes to help the cause of Christ.

Yet when people read Paul's words, they take them like step-by-step or trouble-shooting instructions.


For example, when a women feels her husband is not treating her right and goes to the pastor for advice, the pastor turns to the "marriage trouble-shooting" section of the Bible and determines that if A.) the wife would just submit, then B.) the husband would shape up and fulfill his portion, as though he were a machine or computer or something. Or the other way around if the husband comes in and complains. He just needs to love more. Because that's all the instructions Ephesians five gives concerning marriage.


This "owner's manual" method of Bible reading has caused tremendous turmoil among Christians. It has broken families and hurt individuals.


Now in case anyone thinks I'm saying we don't have to pay attention to what the Bible says, I'm not. I'm only saying we need to be careful about how we read it.


God is very clear on what His commands are. I still believe in the Top Ten from the Old Testament, better known as the Ten Commandments. I also believe in the Top Two, Jesus gave in the New Testament, better known as the Two Greatest Commandments. Jesus also gives us the Golden Rule which, when coupled with the Top Two, sums up the whole law.


The whole Bible is NOT just one big list of dos and don'ts. It is the story of the fall of the human race, God's work to redeem us, and then God working together with us to let others know of the opportunity to get in on the blessings of God. It's not line after line of rules. All we need to know about treating each other is summed up in the Top Ten, the Top Two, and the Golden Rule.


Guess what I'm trying to say is this. Be careful about making rules, law, parameters where there may not be any. Making rules about hair, dress, or roles from instructions an apostle sent to a certain city, a long time ago, for a certain time may actually undermine the Gospel and the words that Jesus spoke for all times.

New Blogs on Blog Roll

The greatest concern of mine, for the body of Christ, is the walking wounded.

I care about doctrine and fighting doctrine that hurts people and have several blogs already listed that deal specifically with the doctrines. And this fight, to right wrong doctrines, will always be my concern.

But even more than the doctrines, I'm concerned over the ones wounded by the doctrines. Therefore I have added two blogs to my blog roll.

Commandments of men, by Lewis, who I linked to in my July 27th post. He deals with the wounding and the doctrines that wound, both.

And

Quivering Daughters, by Hillary, who has a book out that is helping so many who have been damaged by the horrid patriarchy/Quiverful cancer that is eating away at the hearts and souls of families, men, women, and children.

Both these blogs also have really great blog rolls so you can get to other blogs through them.
I do it all the time dahrling (Said in a Zsa Zsa Gabor accent).

Note: I also wanted to link Elizabeth Esther who I linked to in my July 22 post. But my computer wouldn't go to her site this morning.
But don't worry. She's on the blog rolls of BOTH Lewis and Hillary.

I thank God, with all of my heart, for these young warriors He is raising up to combat the dragon of the doctrines of men. The fight is fierce. The battle is long. It is a good time for young voices to rise up and speak of hope and healing.

They encourage me.


(link to a 70s Commercial starring Zsa Zsa for the younger bunch. So you will know who I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJ9m2RotJQ )