Wednesday, June 6, 2012
A Real Spiritual Battle
Lord, have mercy on us for we truly know not what we are doing! I am made aware of that reality more today than usual from a few posts on Facebook. First, a friend of mine posted this article about how in S. Korea a new policy has been put into place that will remove the teaching of evolution from the high school textbooks. There is no plan, however, to teach evolution, of course. A baby step in the right direction. Sadly, the comments didn't resonate the victory that has been achieved. Comments such as dark ages and a sad day indeed were what followed. Then again, I post Colossians 3: 12-15. I think a scripture of encouragement and good attributes that Christians should have. The post begins, 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. One response is "God's chosen people, how ridiculous!" I am silenced. May I truly be thankful that Christians are still permitted and have the freedom of speech. There will come a time when we will not be allowed to speak so freely. Perhaps that time is approaching faster than we realize.
WAW Movement?
Where are the women disciples? There is such a need for women to have good mentors that encourage a Christ-like walk, but it seems like in this day and age of feminism ideology and the bad wrap that Christianity has gotten (for good reason) have caused a near extinction of women who are really equipped to teach the younger women. Where are they who walk instead of merely talk of genuine love and obedience to God?
As I, too, struggle in knowing how to handle myself in many situations, I am seeking such a woman. For example, one of the hardest things that I have to deal with is my lack of respect for men (in general). Perhaps it is because I haven't seen many stellar examples of great men in my experience. It has been the women in my life that have shown me how to bring home the bacon AND fry it in a pan so to speak. Not only that, I have met more women than I have met men who are really interested in social activism, in saving the world and doing something about it such as starting NGO's or volunteering. These women are all busy with jobs, being moms and the such, but they, in their spare time (haha), involve themselves with things that really matter. Of course, my experience is very limited. There may be statistically more men in the world that exhibit such attributes worth praising. However, I am just saying that my limited experience may be the reason for my dysfunctional lack of respect towards men. We have the Bible which gives us our mandate. Women should respect their husbands. I know that many women would say, but how can I respect my husband if he is not respectable? It doesn't say in the Bible we should respect our husbands if or when he is respectable. It says respect your husband. What happens when we enter into marriage and we have never learned to respect men in other context before or even respect ourselves to some extent? There is no experience even if you marry a nice guy and you want to respect your husband.
To see what other women had to say, I googled the question What is so good about men? Very little could I find of encouragement. Instead, I discover there is a WAW (Women are Wonderful) movement. It seems that according to some survey or research both men and women think women are more wonderful than men these days. Is that a lack of humility or what? Great that we all have realized that women are so wonderful. It still doesn't solve discrimination or unequal compensation or other imbalances in our society. Nor does it really help women to understand their role in a relationship with men. If we all had our identities firm in Christ, we would probably realize that we are all very loved and wonderful in the sight of God-both men and women, so this news that women are wonderful shouldn't be a surprise, but where are the blogs about how men are wonderful. And if you are women reading something like how men are wonderful, what would you think about that?
Thinking about Genesis, I think God has an incredible sense of how to make us humble. First of all, women ARE God's gift to man. That is true. He made this gift so intimate that this gift was created from the man's rib and some dust. We were created to be a man's helper in the image of God. Man, too, was created in the image of God. I always kind of joke that women had to be made a little more capable than men because if we are to be his helper, then we have to have more skills and abilities than he does. It is no use to have a helper that can't help you, right? At the same time, men are given some special authority and responsibility over their family. Perhaps if you are a man and recognize your great responsibility and your lack, that could make you feel more easily insecure and lack confidence (hence the need for others to respect the man more?). The mix of great responsibility and lack always should lead to dependence in God, right? For women, we don't have the authority, but may have many skills and special insights that our wonderful husbands may not be gifted with. This mix, too, will force us to look to God for grace and love and much, much patience.
I am reminded of a book that I consider the best book on marriage that I have read. It is called Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More than to Make Us Happy by Gary Thomas
Perhaps for transformation to occur in our hearts, we need to reframe the question. It shouldn't be what is so great about men. There is nothing really great about either men or women. God is great! However, for a more practical understanding of how to honor and respect in our hearts, there must be a question that is more suitable to the problem. Any ideas?
As I, too, struggle in knowing how to handle myself in many situations, I am seeking such a woman. For example, one of the hardest things that I have to deal with is my lack of respect for men (in general). Perhaps it is because I haven't seen many stellar examples of great men in my experience. It has been the women in my life that have shown me how to bring home the bacon AND fry it in a pan so to speak. Not only that, I have met more women than I have met men who are really interested in social activism, in saving the world and doing something about it such as starting NGO's or volunteering. These women are all busy with jobs, being moms and the such, but they, in their spare time (haha), involve themselves with things that really matter. Of course, my experience is very limited. There may be statistically more men in the world that exhibit such attributes worth praising. However, I am just saying that my limited experience may be the reason for my dysfunctional lack of respect towards men. We have the Bible which gives us our mandate. Women should respect their husbands. I know that many women would say, but how can I respect my husband if he is not respectable? It doesn't say in the Bible we should respect our husbands if or when he is respectable. It says respect your husband. What happens when we enter into marriage and we have never learned to respect men in other context before or even respect ourselves to some extent? There is no experience even if you marry a nice guy and you want to respect your husband.
To see what other women had to say, I googled the question What is so good about men? Very little could I find of encouragement. Instead, I discover there is a WAW (Women are Wonderful) movement. It seems that according to some survey or research both men and women think women are more wonderful than men these days. Is that a lack of humility or what? Great that we all have realized that women are so wonderful. It still doesn't solve discrimination or unequal compensation or other imbalances in our society. Nor does it really help women to understand their role in a relationship with men. If we all had our identities firm in Christ, we would probably realize that we are all very loved and wonderful in the sight of God-both men and women, so this news that women are wonderful shouldn't be a surprise, but where are the blogs about how men are wonderful. And if you are women reading something like how men are wonderful, what would you think about that?
Thinking about Genesis, I think God has an incredible sense of how to make us humble. First of all, women ARE God's gift to man. That is true. He made this gift so intimate that this gift was created from the man's rib and some dust. We were created to be a man's helper in the image of God. Man, too, was created in the image of God. I always kind of joke that women had to be made a little more capable than men because if we are to be his helper, then we have to have more skills and abilities than he does. It is no use to have a helper that can't help you, right? At the same time, men are given some special authority and responsibility over their family. Perhaps if you are a man and recognize your great responsibility and your lack, that could make you feel more easily insecure and lack confidence (hence the need for others to respect the man more?). The mix of great responsibility and lack always should lead to dependence in God, right? For women, we don't have the authority, but may have many skills and special insights that our wonderful husbands may not be gifted with. This mix, too, will force us to look to God for grace and love and much, much patience.
I am reminded of a book that I consider the best book on marriage that I have read. It is called Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More than to Make Us Happy by Gary Thomas
Perhaps for transformation to occur in our hearts, we need to reframe the question. It shouldn't be what is so great about men. There is nothing really great about either men or women. God is great! However, for a more practical understanding of how to honor and respect in our hearts, there must be a question that is more suitable to the problem. Any ideas?
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