So the first topic I discussed last post was the global church and how this G12 summit seemed to be pushing that idea. After I posted, I took a quick nap and when I woke up one of my buddies had messaged me and offered to interpret my dream for me. I trust his walk with God very much so I was excited at the proposition. In fact it was the Gator himself, who is studying for his Masters in Theology now and has always been a stalwart pillar of faith for me and my own walk.
Anyways, he made a very interesting point that the monster in my dream was likely not ISIS or of any Islamic relation at all. He suggested that it could be the church itself. I thought this supremely interesting, and immediately I realized he was right. While murder and violence, injustice can seem like an overwhelming obstacle in our lives, the true obstacles will come from inside our own church. This is where the Anti-Christ will rise up from. I hearken back to the words from my last post about who would be ordained to lead this giant church? What man could possibly righteous enough to make decisions of that magnitude for that many people. No good can come of it, but what a great opportunity for evil.
The biggest problem is that these new ideas will be masquerading as good, and from God himself misleading people. We need to make sure that we are ever vigilant, and testing spirits to see if they are from God or not. Both Gator and I have had the same types of thoughts recently, and it's going to be interesting where they lead us going forward. It will definitely be prudent to keep an eye on how the church is progressing, and what new ideas and progressions are being brought in.
To make this a bit more clear, we continued our conversation about our faith. We talked about his particular school and how doctrine is changing at the hands of men to fit the current social changes. To be more specific, he was assigned a paper on the role of women in church leadership positions. This is a super hot topic right now because of all the feminism pushes in America. It seems that despite the recent decline in America's global influence, the rest of the world still follows suit. The push for women to be "equal" is happening all over the world.
As I've said before I do my best to stay out of current social trends and phases because they're largely led by people without brains, and those in large crowds have proven time and time again to also have left their brain at home. "Group think" is very real, and you have to wonder where it's going to lead us. It's really a fascinating thing to watch...from the outside...if it doesn't effect you in the last. Unfortunately it's effecting everyone, and likely negatively. Anyways, I'm not here to discuss feminism, but I am here to talk about women in leadership roles in the church.
The first and last argument is that the Bible itself is explicit about women in the church. Here are the two major verses regarding women as leaders in the church:
As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. (NIV, 1 Corinthians 14:33-35)
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. (NIV, 1 Timothy 2:11-12)
Now obviously if you were to use these verses in today's secular society you would be verbally (and possibly literally) crucified. The same thing is happening even in Christian schools. Professors are changing their doctrine to reflect the changes in society instead of the opposite way. Gator provided me with a paper that he had written regarding this subject that was very well written. The paper compared the writings of an Asian man who took the grassroots natural order of the family and applied it to the church. The basic gist was that God is the head of the man, and man is head of the household with the woman being subservient. "3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Corinthians 11:3)
The other side of the argument is from libertarians, or feminist libertarians that this is old news and society has changed. Women are now qualified and fully capable of leading businesses, their households, and the church as well.
I think the biggest point to take from all this is that the Bible should not be re-written to satisfy current society. Current society should reflect the Bible. Unfortunately you're never going to get that, but this push to change God's word is pretty scary. Imagine what kind of new "bible" man could write based on the societies that have risen and fallen in history.
Gator confided in me that he would probably get a failing grade for his opinion on this topic because his teacher was a woman and didn't agree. Yet another terrible in justice. What is going on with higher education? Keep in mind this has nothing to do with the equality of women in society, just in regards to the church. Paul also touches on equality as well:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (NIV, Galatians 3:26-29)
Anyways, all this is pointing to the fact that some things are changing, and not necessarily in a good way. The key is to be in God's word everyday so you can reference it when dealing with new and unknown situations. We also must beware of "head knowledge" however, the knowledge and memorization of scripture without a relationship with God to back it up. Interpreting verses from the Bible without the spirit of God as a guide can lead to some horrendous conclusions. You see this a lot in churches. Especially in America (this is based on my personal observations since I've spent most of my life there) there is the tendency to throw money at problems instead of actually doing something about it. Again money is the root of the problem, and it's no wonder the saying is "money is the root of all evil". Even the best hearts turn twisted and black given the desire for money.
While all of this may seem overwhelming, don't fret we have God in our corner. I'm learning to truly trust in Him, and it really takes the burden off of me. Everyday I am happy because I know that He walks with me, and regardless of my circumstances I have eternal life in Him. If you want to talk about God or anything at all, send me an email at cwallin66@gmail.com. I'd be more than happy to talk about my personal experiences, or help in any way I can.
OK moving on! There hasn't really been much new in life lately. I'm at the point where I'm settling into a routine as is human nature I believe. Things are still interesting, but explaining them is beginning to be a bit tedious and I want to spare you guys the details. I eat dak kalbi for breakfast everyday, skip lunch, and have chicken curry bap for dinner. I need to eat these because they're the most calorie dense foods I can find at 8 Ho Gwan. If I eat lunch, I'm not hungry by the time dinner rolls around, plus I workout at lunch so that would create a logistical and physical problem. Things tend to work pretty well this way.
Otherwise there's not much new in class. We have our midterm test next Friday, and that will be interesting. Also, a few of the girls in class have expressed interest in learning English so I'm thinking of setting up some sort of class for them a few times a week. That should be interesting.
I've been hitting the gym almost everyday and it's definitely helping. My face is less red each week, and seeing that progress is legitimately one of the greatest blessings from God. I've been praying for awhile about this, and finally seeing some progress is so wonderful. That's about it guys! I'll be back soon with another post! Thanks for reading.
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