Just Weirdness….
I write Science Fiction. And my mind natural wanders….
A while back, I was reading a book titled Becoming and Belonging by Norman Pittenger. Ostensibly the book was written to help grieving families understand Death, I suppose. Came out of a series of lectures that Professor Pittenger gave when he was visiting professor at the Institute of Religion and Human Development somehow attached to the Texas Medical Center in Houston back quite a few years ago.
Professor Pittenger was on the Divinity staff at Cambridge University and taught at the General Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in New York City, as well.
I put it down because some of the Theology disturbed me. I spoke to a friend of mine who attended an Episcopal Seminary. He said that the book probably was espousing Process Theology… which was the brainchild of Alfred North Whitehead…. It’s a brand of Liberal Theology…. Some aspects seem to be a lot like some of the concepts inherent in Neo-Evangelical Movement Theology….
Anyway…. The premise is that the Bible is not the infallible Word of God incarnate…. The Bible needs to be interpreted in Temporal Context…. Not accept as the Revealed Will of an Eternal, Omniscient and Omnipotent God…. God needs man’s help to bring about Justice… and Salvation… and the New Earth….
While I’m going off on tangents… let me just keep walking….
The last great period of revival in America and the World was the Second Awakening…. It occurred right around the turn of the XXth Century and until about World War II… when men began to see the ugliness in the world around them and question how a Just God could allow… what they saw…. And turned towards Existentialism…. And Progressive Liberalism…. And Socialism…. And Statism….
The Great Awakening itself… came on the heals of the Civil War…. A time of great reflection… and social upheaval… in America….
The college that sent out the MOST missionaries in 1910 was… Amherst College…. In Massachusetts….
For instance… Dwight Lyman Moody was from Northfield, Massachusetts
I never put two and two together… until last night….
When I decided to look into the beliefs of the Church of Christ, Scientists… or the Christian Scientists… not the Scientologists… if it makes any difference….
Christian Scientist Theology is eerily similar to certain Sufi Islam beliefs…. An expansion on the concepts inherent in Wajib al-Wujud…. (Or expressed in La vida es sueno…. Just not in the Religious context….) Only God exists…. Faith…. Everything else is a delusion….
Ok… my point…. Boston is a VERY well educated community….
And… it was the intellectual hotbed of the Great Awakening….
And… it rejects the ideas of Fundamentalism…. Princeton prepared the intellectual foundations for Fundamentalism….
So… what ideals did the intellectuals of Boston inject into the Great Awakening…. What contributions did the Spiritual Descendents of the staunchly Theologically Reformed Puritans make to American Religion at the point of greatest fervor…? Or fever….
Unitarianism… the direct descendent of the Puritans that split one of the largest denominations in New England essentially in half (the Congregationalists are the other branch)… and changed Harvard University from a Theological Seminary… into the hotbed for Humanism that it is today….
Ann Lee and Shakers… or Shaking Quakers… akin to the Charismatic Movement….
The Millerites…. Ellen Gould Harmon White… and the Seventh Day Adventists….
And….
Mary Baker Eddy and the Church of Christ, Scientists…. After the Fall in Lynn…. And some shenanigans…. The metaphysical-New Thought family of sects…. A radicalized version of Philosophical Idealism…. (Unity Church in Unity Village, Missouri is similar… Words from Unity….) God is a principle… not a person…. Jesus didn’t die on the cross…. In Christian Scientist Theology… there is no Death… no Heaven… no Hell… no Final Judgment… because everything is an illusion…. The ideas seems to descend from primitive panpsychism and Berkeleyan Subjective or Emperical Idealism….
Mark Twain described the appeal of Christian Science this way:
“She has delivered to them a religion which has revolutionized their lives, banished the glooms that shadowed them, and filled them and flooded them with sunshine and gladness and peace; a religion which has no hell; a religion whose heaven is not put off to another time, with a break and a gulf between, but begins here and now, and melts into eternity as fancies of the waking day melt into the dreams of sleep.
They believe it is a Christianity that is in the New Testament; that it has always been there, that in the drift of ages it was lost through disuse and neglect, and that this benefactor has found it and given it back to men, turning the night of life into day, its terrors into myths, its lamentations into songs of emancipation and rejoicing.”
This is how the founder herself describes her belief system:
“Scientific statement of being
There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”
— Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health
Now… realize… that Mary Baker Eddy had NO Theological education…. She apparently had a fever…. And… she had a fall…. And a BAD marriage….
Just IMAGINE how she would have been able to twist things… with a PROPER BOSTONIAN education….
Oh…. I left out a few….
Emersonism… or New England Transcendentalism….
Ideas contributing to Theosophy…. The pursuit of knowledge of the Occult…. All Religions are created equal….
Which is the embodiment of Universalism…. The Doctrine of Universal Reconciliation….
The belief that what you believe really doesn’t matter….
A LOT of people seem to want to believe that now days….
It’s the best of both worlds…. Of ALL worlds really….
Like Secular Humanism… without Atheism….
Agnosticism…. Or… as most believers in America’s current State Religion describe their religion in their Social Media Status: Spiritual, but not Religious….
Doesn’t God say we have to choose…? That he will spit out the Luke Warm… who are neither hot nor cold…?
Revelation 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV)
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+3%3A16&version=ESV
I mean… even Robert Zimmerman sang it….
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY4NzgxMDQw.html
My point…. Satan knows Scripture….
Psalm 91:11-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus:
Luke 4:9-13 English Standard Version (ESV)
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4%3A9-13&version=ESV
And Satan certainly uses men….
Our intellect…. Our Pride….
Satan used the Great Awakening to carry seeming Christians away from God in other directions…. Diversions….
Man doesn’t get it….
Neither does Satan apparently….
Jesus did exactly what Satan told him to do….
He just waited to the time God determined to be correct….
First, man raised Jesus up… on the cross….
Then, Jesus cast himself down… into Hell… just like Satan told him to… for my sin….
And then… God raised him up… for my Salvation….
We are engaged in Spiritual Warfare….
God and Satan are fighting it out for men’s souls….
You can tell me… like Professor Pittenger does in his book that the Hebrew word for Soul… for Spirit… just means than God gave man the capability of establishing connections…. And that is how we reflect the Image of God… because God is also capable of making a connection with man….
But… you are not EVER going to convince me that God’s Justice… derived from his Holiness… doesn’t demand culpability… in addition to connectivity….
I sincerely believe that getting it RIGHT matters….
God didn’t just give man commandments to show us that we can’t meet God’s rigid demands…. To make us FEEL bad….
God gave us commands to follow so that we can show God that we love him…. Isn’t that what Jesus said…?
John 14:12-17 English Standard Version (ESV)
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[b] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[c] in you.
Footnotes:
John 14:14 Some manuscripts omit me
John 14:16 Or Advocate, or Counselor; also 14:26; 15:26; 16:7
John 14:17 Some manuscripts and is
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2014:12-17&version=ESV
Maybe it’s just me… but Jesus doesn’t seem to be offering true Christians a whole lot of options…. The words looks to be spoken in the Imperative…. Sure… the first part is conditional…. “If you love me….”
But… if I am truly a Christian… than I MUST love Jesus…. Or… I’m just fooling myself….
I read that as stating that I don’t get to pick and choose the commands I get to follow…. The easy ones…. As opposed to the hard ones….
What are the hard ones…?
What did Jesus’ Disciples say the hard ones were…?
John 6:60-70 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
Here’s another… while I’m just throwing around offensive Scripture….
Matthew 19:3-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”[a]
10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Footnotes:
Matthew 19:9 Some manuscripts add and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery; other manuscripts except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2019:3-12&version=ESV
But… I’m sure the Apostles took the time to think about what Jesus said… and put it all into the Temporal Context…. Parced it all out….
1 Peter 2:11-3:7 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Submission to Authority
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,[a] whether it be to the emperor[b] as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants[c] of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Wives and Husbands
3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
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[d] of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Footnotes:
1 Peter 2:13 Or every institution ordained for people
1 Peter 2:13 Or king; also verse 17
1 Peter 2:16 Greek bondservants
1 Peter 3:7 Some manuscripts since you are joint heirs
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Peter%202:11-3:7&version=ESV
My Ex-wife made me memorize I Peter 2:11….
We are supposed to be sojourners and exiles in the World…. Not get TOO comfortable…. Not play by the Rules of the World….
The purpose of Christians here on Earth is to witness to others…. Particularly those we claim to love…. Especially… those in our own families…. Especially… our spouses….
I Peter 3:1-2….
But… what about abuse…?
Do you mean REAL abuse…? Or… when you talk to someone and they tell you that if you claim you are being abused you can get out of your marriage without any accountability… or guilt…. No questions asked….
So… did Peter comment…? I think he did. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s what I Peter 3:6b seems to be addressing….
“And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.”
Fear God. Trust God. In your human fear.
Christian men are supposed to live with their wives in an understanding way.
Hard to understand if they don’t talk. Or we refuse to listen….
Looks like the Apostles nailed the Modern Context to me….
And Jesus even admitted that living together as Man and Wife and seeking True Oneness is essentially impossible for humans….
But he didn’t allow for other options… for True Christians….
For those who REALLY love God….
He said “Suck it up! Be committed to one another…. Good times…. Bad times…. It’s ALL good….”
Here’s what Paul said:
Romans 7:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)
Released from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brothers[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.[b] 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Footnotes:
Romans 7:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 4
Romans 7:2 Greek law concerning the husband
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%207:1-3&version=ESV
Marriage= 1 man + 1 woman + 1 lifetime
Because the man and the woman are supposed to work towards becoming one flesh….
1 Corinthians 7
English Standard Version (ESV)
Principles for Marriage
7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.[a] 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you[b] to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Live as You Are Called
17 Only let each person lead the life[c] that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant[d] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants[e] of men. 24 So, brothers,[f] in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
The Unmarried and the Widowed
25 Now concerning[g] the betrothed,[h] I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present[i] distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman[j] marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed,[k] if his[l] passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 7:6 Or I say this:
1 Corinthians 7:15 Some manuscripts us
1 Corinthians 7:17 Or each person walk in the way
1 Corinthians 7:21 Or slave; also twice in verse 22 (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface)
1 Corinthians 7:23 Or slaves (for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface)
1 Corinthians 7:24 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 29
1 Corinthians 7:25 The expression Now concerning introduces a reply to a question in the Corinthians’ letter; see 7:1
1 Corinthians 7:25 Greek virgins
1 Corinthians 7:26 Or impending
1 Corinthians 7:28 Greek virgin; also verse 34
1 Corinthians 7:36 Greek virgin; also verses 37, 38
1 Corinthians 7:36 Or her
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Corinthians%207&version=ESV
Paul gives no escape clause… except for the one Jesus gave… marital infidelity….
And… if a woman is divorced… for any OTHER reason… she cannot remarry…. Without sin….
Is there no way out…? No Escape Clause…?
Not for REAL Christians….
But… of course… for NON-Christians… the Paul’s Rules for Christian Living do not apply….
Non-Christians are free to do what they please… because they have no command from Christ not to Divorce for Any Reason….
And Paul agrees with that….
And states that ANY dispute between Christians should be taken before the church… to the Elders…. Wise men… who are required to listen to the testimony presented by BOTH sides….
Paul gives no stipulation that if the wife claims abuse the husband has no recourse….
That is the method of man… not God…. God seeks Justice…. Not intrigue…. God is TRUTH…. God does not accept the testimony of false witnesses… without rebuttal….
Well…. I’ve rambled long enough….
Almost….
I have one other HARD teaching… that I want you ALL to ponder….
1 Corinthians 11:1-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Head Coverings
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife[a] is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife[b] who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.[c] 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
Footnotes:
1 Corinthians 11:3 Greek gunē. This term may refer to a woman or a wife, depending on the context
1 Corinthians 11:5 In verses 5–13, the Greek word gunē is translated wife in verses that deal with wearing a veil, a sign of being married in first-century culture
1 Corinthians 11:10 Or messengers, that is, people sent to observe and report
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Corinthians%2011:1-16&version=ESV
WHY would Paul say that…?
WHY would God lead Paul through the Holy Spirit to WRITE that…?
Certainly Paul MUST have gotten that WRONG….
I don’t want to follow that….
The social context….
Paul was writing to the Christian Church in Corinth. The home of the Temple of Venus…. Which was FILLED with Temple Prostitutes….
Glorious sex… for the glory of their goddess….
Sex is tremendously tempting….
Sex… except in the confines of Christian Marriage… leads man away from God’s Will and Plan… never towards God….
But… God’s plan is for EVERYTHING in Christian Marriage to Glorify God…. And to lead towards Oneness… like the Trinity….
Married women wore veils in the First Century Anno Domini, much like Muslim women wear a burqa and Orthodox Jewish women wear a snood or tichel. The underlying idea is Tzniut in Hebrew… or modesty… or privacy…. Married women should present themselves as married and thus unavailable…. The wedding ring is a pagan Egyptian tradition involving Hermetic magic…. While the idea originated from modesty… it transformed into women trying to outdo one another with expensive wigs…. Shaving their heads… ostensibly so they would be unattractive to other men…. A perversion of the meaning….
Men are commanded NOT to cover their heads….
I’m not sure what this even means…. Not the part about head coverings…. And the number of interpretations…. And Paul seems to be talking about the Traditions… or perhaps the Oral Law…. I don’t know…. I don’t recall Jesus ever teaching about Head Coverings….
But the rest sure seems pretty clear….
God created Adam. Then God formed Eve from man.
That was God’s plan. I have seen no indication that God’s plan has changed. Nor any indication that God’s plan needs to evolve.
I do not claim to understand God’s plan. But I DO understand that Jesus said that if I love him, I WILL keep his Commandments….
Of course… I’m still forgiven when I don’t….
When I miss the mark….
When I sin….
But… I will be happier and have a more full life… if I choose to serve God… rather than simply pursue my own pleasure….
Which was actually what I originally was going to write about today… but I think this Introduction is far too long already….
Wright-Wang Extreme Mystery, Inc. 