An Excellent Wife and a Biblical Mum is not a Doormat

Something struck me when checking the Hebrew term translated as “virtuous” in Proverbs 31:10 in the KJV and “excellent” in the ESV. The word is ‘chayil‘ and means “strength, valor, force, substance, might, etc”.

In Prov 31:17, this same woman is described as being clothed in strength. This time the word is ‘oz‘ and literally means “power, might and majesty” and is usually used to describe God’s glory.

This is contrary to the image of a Christian woman being a docile, subdued, inferior, silent, subservient doormat without a mind of her own or opportunity and encouragement to express it.

Instead this is a confident, capable, impressive, woman of force and substance. She should be celebrated, honoured and praised, not just on mothers day but every day.

 

Hannah Montana Embarassment

Exploited?

Definitely!

As father to a daughter, I agree with Miranda Divine and Michael Carr-Gregg - parents please protect your children! No excuses.

Back to School

I have enrolled in a Masters of Religious Education (MRE) through Asia Baptist Theological Seminary. I have the minimum standard required (academically) by the majority of evangelical organisations in Aust & throughout SE Asia. However due to what can only be attributed to an over emphasis on secondary separation (an unfortunate by-product of IFB distinctives) the school providing this training did not have recognised accreditation. This created a obstacle to obtaining access to post graduate training and standing towards a Masters degree.

This has been a personal disappointment for me for many years and I have, to some extent, allowed it to affect my own motivation and pursuit of full time ministry. It was a convenient excuse to not apply for positions that became available when opportunities arose that I would be more than capable of excelling in. As a result I became distracted and enamoured with career development in the IT industry. This affected my personal walk with the Lord, my marriage and has resulted in hindering my effectiveness as an example of Christ to others. The years have not been wasted as there have been many lessons to learn and a lot of personal growth to experience. There is little point to any ‘what-if’ debates and time for regret is past. My focus now is ‘ἐξαγοραζόμενοι τὸν καιπόν’ or ‘exagorazomenoi ton kairon’ if you don’t have Greek fonts (see Ephesians 5:16 if you’re still unsure)

1st unit to tackle will be Systematic Theology. Lectures start on 12 May. This blog will provide a great forum to debrief on the content and progress of the course as well as preparing for the assessment which is conducted in the 3 months following the lectures.

 

Recovering Fundamentalist

Have just came across “Reforming Baptist”. One article in particular provides sound counsel and warnings for those (like I and my wife) who have “exited” the IFB movement (or at least changed in attitude and philosophy significantly - like William D we still serve with an independent church, however the ministry model is vastly different to the typical IFB both here in Australia and North America). When we made our first move away from this stifling IFB environment, our new pastor said he was treating us the same as someone recovering from a cult. We had been burnt out, lied to, abused and left for dead and were in every aspect exhausted. It has taken the better part of 10 years to reach a point where we would be willing to re-engage in ministry in any significant capacity and even now we are still weary.

His list is obviously not exhaustive - however we were particularly prone to points 3 & 4. William also has another article that expands further on point 8 - regarding why, sometimes, people who leave IFB’s tend to abandon their faith altogether.

 

Passion World Tour 2008

A few weeks back, our pastor showed the Louie Giglio video presentations of “How Great is our God” and “Indescribable”, both are presentations with a gospel / evangelistic emphasis on the awesomeness of the galaxy and as the title of the first presentation suggests, the greatness of God. I am not fully conversant with Louie’s ministry or background and history aside from these DVD’s and his Wikipedia profile. However the content of both of these was excellent. His ministry team “Passion” has a world tour in 2008 which will be in Sydney in October.

What If Contemporary Songwriters Wrote Biblical Songs?

This would make a great family camp skit!

Somehow I’ve got to find a way to get it into the next Sunday Nite Live service we have…

Dearly beloved

Recently I had the honour of being invited to counsel with a young couple from our Church. I also spoke at their wedding ceremony last weekend.

 

The beat of a “different” drum

Our Church just recently started a new service called “Sunday Nite Live”. Including, *shudder* a drum kit!

I thought the presentation was balanced and effective and honouring to the Lord. Well done to all involved! I hope they don’t wait so long for the next one

The Golden Compass Has Christians In A Spin!

‘The Golden Compass’ is based on Phillip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy “His Dark Materials”.

If you rely on the hype from the ‘Book-Burning-Crowd’ the film is the World’s greatest threat to the future of Christianity! - this is a typical response from mainstream evangelicalism.

A sensible analysis of the film and Pullman’s books has been posted recently by Al Mohler.

Burn Out or Rust Out?

Either way you are still out!