When I go to the gym there is something called the workout of the day. It’s generally fairly difficult and the trainers modify it depending on what is hurting this week. Well, over the weekend I’ve had to get a builder to break into the garage (on Saturday) and the workout was carrying a viola up the hill home as I walked to orchestra and yesterday I was on call: I’m rested and last weeks niggles have decreased. But in the same thing applies with all our other habits. We need a discipline of the day. Mine uses the lectionary over the internet just as many gyms will go to the crossfit web site and use one of their workouts of the day.And one of my things is that I read the verses in brackets, not leave them out.
I want to contrast a small predictive story about cultural collapse with the scripture of the day. I will add that there are many, many women like Mary. They confuse being a wife with being a servant, and see being a paid servant as a career.
It was Joe’s first date with Mary. He asked her what she wanted in life and she replied, “I want to establish my career. That’s the most important thing to me right now.” Undeterred that she had no need for a man in her life, Joe entertained her with enough funny stories and cocky statements that she soon allowed him to lightly pet her forearm.
At the end of the date, he locked arms with her on the walk to the subway station, when two Middle Eastern men on scooter patrol accosted them and said they were forbidden to touch. “This is Sharia zone,” they said in heavily accented English, in front of a Halal butcher shop. Joe and Mary felt bad that they offended the two men, because they were trained in school to respect all religions but that of their ancestors. One of the first things they learned was that their white skin gave them extra privilege in life which must be consciously restrained at all times. Even if they happened to disagree with the two men, they could not verbally object because of anti-hate laws that would put them in jail for religious discrimination. They unlocked arms and maintained a distance of three feet from each other.
Unfortunately for Joe, Mary did not want to go out with him again, but seven years later he did receive a message from her on Facebook saying hello. She became vice president of a company, but could not find a man equal to her station since women now made 25% more than men on average. Joe had long left the country and moved to Thailand, where he married a young Thai girl and had three children. He had no plans on returning to his country, America.
Now, I have an sense of humour I try to keep in cheek. My response to Islamic protestors is to smile, say God loves you, and offer them a bacon sandwich, preferably wearing a Zionist T shirt. If I was married, I’d turn, give my wife a kiss, and tell them, I’m married, and her eyes are up there. Poking Islamic rageboy is all too easy, almost as easy as feminists.
But… I’m not small, I lecture for a living, and I can take a punch. Of course, doing that in some countries (such as Cameron’s Britain would get you arrested).
The reading of the day says that we must live smartly, wisely, well. We need to live within the structures of our society. There will always be husbands, wives, and bosses: there will always be children, workers, and the stranger, the poor and the broken. So we are told to submit to each other for the sake of God.
The submission of the people wanting Sharia is a falsehood. For the false God of Islam calls to war, not peace, to hatred, not love, and the warnings about not provoking one’s children, and the command for men to love their wives are not there. Decent Muslims do these things because the law is written into our human nature (Which is correct theologically, if Romans I is to believed: the pagans have the law within them).
Of course, the very idea of submission makes feminist and liberal heads explode. But the alternative liberalism degrades into the cultural collapse RooshV predicts in he post I linked to above.
18Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.
20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord.21Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart. 22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, 24since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality. 1Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 3At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, 4so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.
5Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
7Tychicus will tell you all the news about me; he is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. 8I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts; 9he is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.
10Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions – if he comes to you, welcome him. 11And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills. 13For I testify for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.14Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. 15Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea. 17And say to Archippus, “See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord.”
18I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Christ taught us that by our fruits, by our actions, you will be able to tell if we are righteous or not. And by that standard, the Islamic activists are not: Boka Harum is killing ordinary Nigerians and kidnapping girls as we speak. And the bulk of Islamic theologians are silent. There is no apology. There is no condemnation. It’s left to people like Michelle Obama to do anything — and the last time I looked. she’s some kind of liberal Methodist.
And in that mode, it’s worthwhile noting the people at the end of the letter. You find Mark there — who Paul once said was useless, and that argument broke up the partnership he had with Barnabas. (Paul? Perfect? excuse me, I think he’s rolling around the floor laughing. He was zealous for the temple to the point of executing believers before he met Christ on the road to Damascus). There is Luke. There is a command to read a lost letter, and hints to local leaders. You get the sense that Paul knew these people, and prayed for them by name.
And Paul was writing to a church in persecution, in jail, in chains. Regardless of our circumstances. We need to be wise, not for the sake of our bodies, for over the centuries many of us have died as the various rulers decide we do not fit into the culture of the time, but for our souls. We live this way because God told us to. It helps the greater culture, and acting like this is better than playing with hashtags on twitter.
For we are not Muslim. Our kingdom is to come, and this world is ruled by our enemy, Submission to the powers of this world will surely damn you. Live wisely, live for Christ.
