Month: April 2011

I see a lot of bashing of patriarchy. And some of it is well deserved.

Patriarchy: 1. A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line.

Okay, I honestly see nothing wrong with this definition of patriarchy because of 1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

The marriage works like a team. There’s a team captain. There are multiple players on the team. If there was no team captain or everyone declared themselves team captain you would have chaos. And I would suggest that the man is the team captain because of 1 Corinthians 11:3. It makes sense to me.

I read a study recently that said that when each member of the marriage has well, separate turf the household tends to be happier. (http://bit.ly/foTYEX) And yet you still have people saying, we need to all do everything the same. Men and women can’t be any different. We all have to clean the dishes, make the money, take care of kids, etc. All the same, or you’re a sexist.

And then you have all the feminists and others also whining, “Women are abused because they are under the head of some man.” o.0 Okay, and I assume all the people on a football team who aren’t the captains are abused as well?

In regards to men and women working outside of the home. I’m honestly fine with them all working outside of the home. But the responsibility to provide for the family with money and such is given to the man in 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

Okay, so there are jerks in this world. There are some men who are worse than jerks. I’m sorry all you people who think the world is perfect. There are angry patriarchs. Those who don’t love their wives or their children. They want to be the head pig of the house. And I despise that type of patriarch. They are just infuriating.

But don’t forget there’s the other side of the coin. I recently read the blog of some man. He posted about how outside influences don’t affect your child. A child when he sees a comic of superman flying he doesn’t jump off of a building to try to fly. I don’t know if this guy was naive, but I’ve heard of more than a couple stories of children doing this… Anyways, the son of this man at 12 or 13 went on a killing spree and killed his dad, mom, and stabbed a couple of his siblings. How could he do this?! His dad was so nice and kind. He was a good dad. Not one of those evil patriarchs who was constantly bombarding his children with rules.

So if you want to play the let’s look at bad examples game with me, I can play it too.

This system is all based on love. And that’s honestly the problem. If the dad isn’t loving his God, wife, and children then this system is ruined. We have the angry patriarch. The one who’s doing what he’s doing all for himself. The rules he implements are to further his vision and not God’s.

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

So love your God, your family, and your friends.

Picture of the day #91:

Yay! 90 days of blogging…

One thought that has interested me when reading through my writing over the past several months is the tendency to pitch a tent. It’s easy to pitch your tent in one place. You become that one topic person. There are certain people you just kind of know their issue. Some people have really awful issues they talk about constantly. They’re always talking about how much they hate everything. Blargh.

Anyways, pitch your tent on things that bless others and grow them in the fruits of the spirit. I think that’s a good place to pitch one’s tent.

Picture of the day #90:

“We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or tire…give us the tools and we will finish the job.” – Winston Churchill

Picture of the day #89:

People use the internet to communicate a bevy of different things. They debate, they talk about their lives, they send e-mails, make Facebook status updates, etc.

One thing I’ve found is that it’s much easier to become offended at what people say via the internet because you’re not able to pick up their tones and body language when they say it. Maybe they sound angry but their not. Maybe they sound annoyed but their not. Etc. We need to be careful when we write because it doesn’t communicate over the internet as well as it does in person.

Picture of the day #88:

Over time as we spend time with the same people we can become very ingrown. Pretty soon, we’re the only ones right in Christianity. All our thoughts are of course right, because well we all agree. All ten of us.. But when you go out and meet other Christians and see their light and their joy you get different opinions. Some of them aren’t right, and some of them are. But, we can all learn from one another. Sadly, you aren’t a god. You aren’t always right.

It can be easy to lose perspective when we are continually in our little part of the world. All your little problems and oddities will sometimes show themselves when you’re out ministering to others and learning from them.

So get out of your shell once in awhile and go minister with other Christians. You and your little church aren’t the only Christians in the world.

🙂

Picture of the day #87:

I hope I win the lottery.

I’m being sarcastic.

A thought I think many people have thought this from time to time. I was thinking about this today. Lottery is big business. It’s millions of people putting money into a pot so one person can get rich with no work. Why do we desire this? Is this really what taking dominion is all about? It’s about having enough money so we don’t have to take dominion or work?

Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.

I think what defines most of success is faithfulness. That commitment to work with your business for 10 years. Your faithfulness in a marriage. Your faithfulness in a family. Your faithfulness in a church. Your faithfulness to a job. Instead of going for the get rich quick approach with all things in life, instead being faithful will bless you so much more. Not that we don’t need wisdom, but faithfulness is a big deal. And many people aren’t very faithful.

Picture of the day #86: (many of the pictures lately have been from our D@C because I got so many good pictures and didn’t want to waste them. 😉 )

Facebook, Linked In, Gmail, Twitter, etc. Today we are so much better connected than we’ve ever been before. We know when our friends are eating breakfast, what they had for breakfast, what they did today, and the articles they read. Wouldn’t this mean we’re closer than we were before all this great technology came out?

Sadly, no. Instead, now we have less time to spend with real people. We spend hours upon hours on these social networking sites connecting with our “friends.” What’s the point of these sites if they’re hurting our actual friendships? Now, in the middle of a conversation we have to interrupt the conversation to observe how many people liked our most recent inspirational quote we posted.

I don’t think social networking is all bad though. It can help us connect with people we haven’t seen in years. If someone moves across the country you can stay in touch and at least have a basic idea of how to pray for that person. People can encourage us through their posts and words of encouragement. You can exchange prayer requests. You can see your friend’s kids grow up, etc.

Technology can be both that blessing and a curse. It takes wisdom to use it. You need to use it, don’t allow it to use you.

Picture of the day #85:

I see many people who take themselves too seriously. I can at times. But it’s so difficult to be around people like this. Everything you do to them is a great offense. You have to walk on egg shells around them. Just quit thinking of yourself as God and thinking you’re always right. You’re wrong, at least once in awhile. Sometimes you have to be able to laugh at yourself. It makes life for others around you much easier.

Picture of the day #84:

Part II – From yesterday’s post.

Scene I:

We are far away from a crowded scene.

From what we can see, the scene is a man surrounded by news reporters. His friend is up for a presidential seat. The news reporters want all the dirt on this man. They want his closest friend to spill the beans on him so they can rip him apart in the press.

And we slowly come closer and see what’s happening.

The reporters are hanging around him like dogs on a piece of venison. They drool. They bark ravenously with their words. The man stands in the middle of them. One reporter offers him ten million dollars for information on his friend’s private life. Another offers him fame. But he stands there quietly. Thoughts flash through his mind. Stories that he could give up for ten million dollars. The thought of ten million dollars, and fame?! Who could ask for more? Just the little stories. Once it’s happened it’s permanent. Except that no one knew except him.

The reporters screamed at him, “Shouldn’t the world know?!”

And there was no hesitation in the man’s voice as he said, “No comment.”

We most likely will never be called to tell stories about others with pressure like that. But do we give them up much more freely? Sure we do. When we commit to a friendship, the mistakes people make shouldn’t just be handed out freely for the entire world to see. If I’m a true friend, I’ll try to delve into people’s lives and help them with what their struggling with. And when I do, I accept the responsibility to not ever bring it out again for the world to see. Unless of course it’s a bigger problem that elders need to be called in to handle, but even then I wouldn’t do it without pulling my friend along with me. My love for my friend is going to keep me from spreading it all over the place like spreading cow manure all over the living room. But the truth that is there requires me to address my brother’s sins.

P.S. As a side note, let’s say there’s a person who we disagree with adamantly about an issue. Let’s say he’s talking about how the Trinity is false and Christ is not God. And I want to warn people about him. I would first of all refute his doctrine. I would not attack the man’s personal character. I may bring up reasoning that follows the lines of the consistency of his position and how it would affect his daily life. Unless of course he has proven us wrong. No theorizing though. Put your little demon hat away. If you’re not able to say what you’re saying to the person’s face then change how you say it. That would be one idea that I have.

At some point Paul mentioned names. He mentioned Demus as one who had forsaken him.

Warn people about a label. And then show the attributes of that label. And if you fit in that label then you’re wrong. But don’t be the person who creates a label and then stuffs people into those labels you’ve created.

I have seen many times, people who say this person is evil because of some fact that we don’t even know is true. They attack his personal character. They post bad pictures of him. They use absolutely no Scriptural reference. They use pet names to degrade the man/woman’s position. Hey, they’re smart. I understand how the game is played.

Gossip. It’s. Everywhere.

Picture of the day #83:

“I don’t at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.” – Oscar Wilde
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” – Oscar Wilde

The internet is full of gossip. No matter who you are you’ll have haters. (Speaking of which, I NEED HATERS! Just sayin’.. Jest, I know you’re out there. *love you guys* Just don’t you dare comment, I hate angry comments. Irony.)

People feel that when they type on the internet behind their computer screens that they are safe. They can speak their mind. (Which is one thing that I appreciate. Seeing that I’m doing that exact thing as we speak.) But does that call on you to utter slanderous sayings?

No.

The internet has helped breed a bunch of fools and perverts who are very loud about proclaiming that’s what they are. Sadly. (Augh, are my words foolish?) Children who were never taught by their parents civility and manners have grown up and become mean spirited, angry, and gossiping adults.

“Who gossips with you will gossip of you” – Irish Sayings quotes

If you’re going to be part of gossip either in person or on the internet just expect to get back stabbed. When you’re around back stabbers, guess what happens, back stabbing.

Amazing Conundrum.

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more. – Wizard of Oz

I liked these quotes today. 🙂

And as a last note. Everyone is susceptible to gossip. It’s easy to do. It may feel harmless. But it’s evil and a sad part of the internet. I’d spent some of the day thinking of things that the internet has helped us with and how it has harmed us. And this topic of gossip really came to mind in ways that it has harmed us. Now you can spread your gossip all over the place. (Now your waste is all over the place, and let me tell you. It smells awful)

And finally.

My personal opinion is it may be best to shut your trap (or quit typing) unless you’re going to be loving your neighbor, i.e. the person you’re talking about. (There are so many things to talk about, rather then someone else’s life. If that’s all you have to talk about get a life.) And it should generally be said in a spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Do I follow this perfectly? No. I’m a person who can literally talk all day long. And I won’t ever reach perfection in this life. But am I striving each day to become this person? Yes. With God’s help I will grow closer to him.

Wow this got long. 🙂 Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I post every day, so what I say is not always the best thought out. If you dare. 😉

(I’ll be talking about addressing people’s faults in my next post.)

Picture of the day #82: