I was debating between two topics for tonight's blog. I have had a topic in mind for a while. It was sparked by a sermon I had heard on the radio. I also had a bit of an add on to last night's blogs on my mind. Two completely separate themes.
This morning I woke up and was mulling over the first topic, as I was getting ready for work. I got into my car, turned on the radio and they were repeating the same sermon that had [more than a month ago] sparked my train of thought. So I am going to write about it . . . however ...writing this topic could be like opening a can of worms. To some it will be controversial. So please note that this is my opinion.
I am not really wanting to spark a debate, or examine this from different angles, or teach on it. . . there are more than enough resources for both sides of the debate. . . but if the worms get out, and squirm around and make you uncomfortable for a bit, well so be it.
This pastor was speaking about the scripture in Genesis 3:19 "You were made from dust and to dust you will return." This particular pastor was saying how it is often a scripture used at funerals but he personally doesn't like to use it. He says if you look at it in context it was when God was pronouncing a curse, why would you read a curse over a dead person at a funeral?
That was food for thought for me. . . so i pulled out my bible and looked at it ...true enough, it was part of the curse that God pronounced after the fall of man.... Then I read the rest of the curse. My brain went into overdrive, and some of my opinion shifted.
The whole of Gen 3:19 [NLT] says this
By the sweat of your brow
will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
and to dust you will return.
In a way this negates retirement. It literally is saying you will work until you die,to eat. Now many Christians and non Christians I know manage to enjoy retirement, or at least retired to some degree. We can, as Christians almost attest to the fact that is one area we can be free from the curse. We recognize and come back under God being our provider instead of having to work our fingers to the bones to barely make a living.
That is a bonus. Most Christians believe that when Christ hung on the cross He became a curse so that the curse is broken. In this way, because we are free from the curse, we can come back under the original intent and blessing God had for mankind.
It lifts the pressure off us, in so many areas. It's no longer dust to dust, as Christian's, because we have eternal life ahead of us. And we are no longer merely dust because there is restored worth and value.
Now I can see that we no longer have to work ourselves, literally, into a grave. Yes work was before the curse, but it was enjoyable and fulfilling. God could freely provide as well. It wasn't a miserable exhausting, fruitless exercise.
Doesn't that take some of the pressure off of being the bread winner. I know [culturally] men struggle a lot with needing to be the bread winner and provider and get identity wrapped up in it. But coming out from the curse of Gen 3:18-19 should lift that pressure of their shoulder's completely.
In the Garden Adam and Eve had a partnership, ruled together.
Genesis 1:27-28 It says the God made THEM in His image. It also says that God blessed THEM and told THEM to govern/subdue the earth.
Interesting when God blessed THEM, he didn't differentiate or give each a specific role. He blessed them as a pair/in unity/one function together. However when curse came it was individualized, singled out. . . shall we say...divisive?
The curse highlighted the division in the union caused by sin.
The original blessing didn't.... just some added food for thought.
are the worms starting to wriggling about in the can yet? do you see where this is going? Cause when I [personally] embrace freedom from the curse, I want the whole package. I don't want half measures, where I only get a portion of it, and live cursed in the rest of the areas. His blood, Him becoming a curse, was too costly for me to only pick and choose certain areas to be free in.... but I digress.
So the curse shows up the division, that God never intended to be there. In the curse it states this. . .pertaining to the woman.
Genesis 3:16 [NIV]
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.
Ouch. Not the nicest thing. But it is the general school of thought in Christian and even non-Christian marriages. [especially in South African culture - and other cultures I have been in]. Man is the head of the house, and woman must submit. We don't realize it, but that is divisive. separatism. Hierarchy. That is the husband ruling over you, and you desiring him. in a nutshell. Just different wording. Yes I know some will throw out a single New Testament scripture that says this....I encourage them to discover what the word "HEAD" means in that context because it wasn't referring to the word Authority. It is a different kind of relationship, marked with love and sacrifice, laying down of your life as Christ's example. Before the verse "wive's submit to your husbands" it says "submit to each other." It's so convenient to skip that part. The authoritative lordship of man over woman is the curse, not the picture of marriage that the bible is truly talking about. There is so much that could be said here, but honestly enough great men and women of God have written volumes. So I wont go further than that.
I, personally, wouldn't want to start my marriage by pronouncing [and living a curse] over it anymore than I would want someone to pronounce a curse over my corpse at my funeral. For the curse is broken.
Why do we do that? And think its OK? Yes, please Lord heal my sickness, because i believe sickness is a curse and i am free from the curse by the blood of Jesus, but don't touch the way I view marriage, that isn't convenient for me. That doesn't fit my mindset. It is illogical. Then we wonder why the divorce rate in the church is as a high as in the world? And why so many marriages struggle and fail. Marriage is difficult enough, I hear, without living it out cursed.
The original intent of marriage is meant to be a blessing. It baffles my brain that we would choose to not embrace that. There is a scripture on Songs 7:10. It is one of my favorite scriptures, and is actually the first thing i had tattooed on my earthly body.
It is significant to me, because it depicts my restored relationship with God, and my commitment to Him, and vice versa. It is also significant to me because I believe it is God's redemption answer to the curse, and what He can and will restore in a marriage. I won't settle for a cursed marriage, and am happy to remain single if I don't find someone with the same heart in God, because I fully believe that many [not all] of the pictures I see of christian marriage in the church today is far from what God's original intent and plan was. As I said I want freedom from the curse in EVERY area, not just the convenient ones.
Songs 7:10
I belong to my lover and his desire is for me.
Simple. Powerful. Totally contrary to the curse.
As I said, I know I have opened a whole can of worms by touching on the topic of man and woman. I know that some of you are already rising up with arguments. That is OK, you are entitled to your opinion, as much as I am entitled to mine.But as this is my blog, it is my space to share my thoughts and feelings, so it is ok if you dont agree with me, because you are not me.
I will say that I have sat on both sides of the fence when it comes to this topic, and defended both sides equally. I have also spent years in researching and studying this topic before coming to a conclusion. I don't pass comments or share opinion lightly. I am not a feminist. I don't think woman should rule over man any more than man should rule over woman.
And hopefully my worms wont scare you off from following my blog, cause i guarantee from time to time i will touch on the controversial.
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