On Second Thought
April 29, 2024, final edit July 7
This teaching clip made me think of a few things… Watch this short devotional from James 3:13 by Compassion International: https://www.bible.com/en/videos/45775?orientation=portrait&utm_content=STORY_CLIP&utm_medium=SHARE&utm_source=YVAPP
First, the Bible is full of treasures — gems for living, pearls of wisdom, and precepts for understanding the character and will of God. For example, within the short message from this woman is something I’ve read dozens of times but hadn’t yet gathered the full understanding of the particular verse. So, my thanks to her.
People, in general, have no idea how much there is to learn from the Bible. Until a person begins to call on God, all the treasure which God has in store for them remains buried, out of sight, ineffectual, and beyond their grasp.
That is not meant to be insulting to anyone’s intelligence. It’s simply a fact of life. It’s just the way it is. No one can walk into the presence of God by climbing a ladder of intellectual assent. No one can fathom the height, the depth, or breadth of God’s knowledge, wisdom, and love for each and every one of us. No one, no matter how smart they are, can intellectually transcend to an understanding of God in Heaven.
Here’s a passage that expresses that plainly: “…My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways…” — Isaiah 55:8–9
Further, there is this on God’s love for Humanity: The Amplified Bible which expands on the original Greek writing, puts it this way: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].” — Psalm 103:11. I would also modify the meaning of the word translated “fear” with “trepidation” — which doesn’t conjure up the more intense emotion, because God presents no danger or threat to those who turn to Him.
On the contrary, in Luke 15:3–7 is this parable: Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Second, and this is quite a leap from the first part of this essay — on a completely different topic than the above devotional was talking about — which happened to pop up randomly in my mind after listening to it — was about verses in other letters in the New Testament — for example, in 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34, the apostles talk about severe restrictions on women speaking in Christian assemblies. I am convinced that such writings were cultural restrictions more than God-ordained laws. Or, perhaps, they were simply a matter of noise reduction so there wouldn’t be a cacophony of chattering, creating such a dissonance that few people in the assembly could hear and learn what the leaders were teaching. Keep in mind there were no ear phones or electronic amplifiers in those days.
Can you imagine husbands and wives constantly talking through any other kind of assembly? We should expect the ushers in a movie theater to have a little talk with such rudeness…
Nevertheless, I also think that the restrictions were intended, not for “a woman,” but for “married women.” So, a precept for marital respect and unity.
Notwithstanding, I for one, gain insight from many people, women Believers as well as men — just like I did from the brief online devotional cited above. Besides, didn’t Jesus give Mary and Martha equal standing with Lazarus as His friends? Don’t we learn anything from those relationships?
After all, True Biblical Christianity is all about a personal relationship with God and among Believers?
As an aside there was at least one example of a woman apostle in the New Testament letters and one very endearing reference by John in his letter 2 John 1:1, “…To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth — and not I only, but also all who know the truth…”
Truth is truth and revelations are unseen truths revealed . This is a constant, as long as it is Jesus teaching Believers through the Holy Spirit. This is absolutely true since “…you are all {children} of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26–28, Berean Literal Bible.
However, listening to the whole counsel of God, this “Parliamentary Procedure” should be respected: “…everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” This is meant to be procedural only, not hierarchical.
Finally, those verses about “a woman’s place,” which have been made out to be controversial and repressive, were not meant to be understood in that way. They have been made controversial by various “authorities” who only have intellectual opinions and not revelations from God. It seems to me that many are looking through the lens of egotistical male chauvinism. They have misunderstood and misconstrued the Bible, because they never grasped the vast difference between the words “domination” and “dominion.” The latter is from the Genesis Creation, a responsibility given to all Humanity.
From the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, Humankind was given Dominion, a procedure vastly contrary to Dominance. The first has the responsibility of caretaking, while the latter is pretentious aggression. Dominion involves love and dedication, while Dominance involves selfish ambition. (see, Genesis 1–2)
Yet, this does not negate the qualifications for Christian leadership found in Titus 1:7–9: “As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach — not self-absorbed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money. Instead, {they} must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. {They} must hold firmly to the faithful word as it was taught, so that {they} can encourage others by sound teaching and refute those who contradict it.”
Finally, this is what God, Jesus, and the Bible are all about:
“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. — John 3:16, Contemporary English Version.
