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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Friday, February 16, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Subjecta:Orderly Worship [2] Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 14:33-40 (ESV) "As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order." Message:
My personal approach to reading the Bible is to read it to learn, and I accept what it says. In my mind, if I begin to reject parts I don’t agree with, I fear that I will begin to succumb to the very strong temptation to write, rather than read, the Bible — to transform it into a document that agrees with my own, very flawed, ideas. Thus, I simply take this passage at face value.
But it is enormously contentious, and the contentions are not necessarily drawn along the lines of gender. A lot of Christian women accept Paul’s admonition that women should not be vocal in church services, and many men reject it and fight for the admission of women into the ministry or priesthood. The basic argument for dismissing the passage is that Paul was not making an eternal, divinely inspired rule of worship, but simply giving instructions in “how to run a church” amenable to the society of his day.
The passage itself would appear to defuse an argument that it is societal. Of it, Paul writes, “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.”
Of one thing I am sure. Paul does not intend that women should be viewed as less important or worthy in the eyes of God, or as second-class citizens within the church. Priests and ministers, being human, can and do become smug and self-important; and as irritating as that may be to me, it is understandably even more infuriating to women when gender is mixed into the equation and they are patronized simply because they are female.
Moreover, many or most of the women who have taken up the cloth are “better Christians” than I am. More devout, more filled with the Spirit and fulfilling the commandments of love and forgiveness better than I, despite my best efforts, seem to be able to attain. I am loathe to sound critical of women in the ministry; my own garden is full of weeds and it is there I feel called to put my efforts, not to judge the better-tended lawn of my neighbor.
Nevertheless, I accept this passage — just as I accept passages that present greater difficulties for me, personally. But it is not an issue that I allow to interfere in the love and community I have with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Meditation : Prayer : Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build up myself, and all Christians, in faith and truth, and in all gentleness and in all freedom from anger and forbearance and steadfastness and patient endurance and purity....Amen |
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