Does the Bible Really Say That? Excerpt from my book, 10

[Continuing the topic of family headship, as shown in the Bible.]

Priscilla and other New Testament women

There are only two examples of New Testament married couples, whose life together is described at all. One of these is Mary and Joseph, but there’s not much about their interaction together. God did reveal some things to Joseph, namely that he should not reject Mary (Matthew 1:19-24), that they should go to Egypt (Matthew 2:13), and that they should return (Matthew 2:19-23), and he acted on those promptings, and was spiritual leader in those cases. Mary may have been the spiritual leader when she reprimanded Jesus:

Luke 2:43b the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”

But perhaps she was just more vocal.

Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned seven times in the Bible, always as a couple. Here are most of those, from Acts 18:

1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. 2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.

11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. . . .

18a Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, [text note – may be translated “brothers and sisters”] and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow. 19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.

24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Verse 19 uses “Priscilla and Aquila,” rather than “them” in some versions. There are three other references, in Romans 16:3, 1 Corinthians 16:19, and 2 Timothy 4:19, all of them greetings to the couple. 1 Corinthians 16:19 does not mention the couple by name in all translations.

If there is significance to the order given, the order puts Priscilla first more often that her husband, in all of the versions that I have checked. Perhaps the most critical verse is Acts 18:26. That is usually, but not always, translated so that Priscilla is named first, indicating that she may have been more important in instructing Apollos spiritually than Aquila was.

Another bit of evidence about spiritual headship in Acts is the matter of Lydia.

Acts 16: 13 On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.

Lydia was a businesswoman. Acts 16 reads as if she gave spiritual (and probably other) leadership to her household. However, this case may not be relevant, as there is no mention of a husband. She may have been single, widowed, or perhaps divorced. We don’t know. But at least she did exercise some spiritual leadership. Dorcas is also a woman who showed some spiritual leadership, but there is no mention of a household or a husband. (Acts 9.)

In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul refers to Timothy’s mother and grandmother, as having been spiritual influences on Timothy. But it is not clear what their marital status was, or if Timothy’s father was a believer.

The above is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here. The next post, God willing, will consider the same topic.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 444

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Computing: How to make your browsing experience safer, from Gizmo's Freeware.
Science: Jellyfish are becoming much more common in the oceans, and are hurting tourism (and tourists), among other things, according to CNN.
The BBC says that an Indian spacecraft is doing well. It's supposed to head for Mars.
Science News, and other outlets, report that the danger from meteor strikes may be considerably larger than we had thought.
The L.A. Times reports on a very strange asteroid.
(and politics) Wired thinks that the US government needs to do some radical re-thinking to keep up with the way microbes are mutating, and getting harder, almost impossible to treat.



Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible Really say that? Excerpt from my book, 9

Must the husband always be the spiritual leader?

Some Christians believe that the husband must always be the spiritual leader, in a home where both husband and wife are believers. Here’s part of the Biblical evidence for that position:

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. 24 But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect. 28 Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly

This passage seems to indicate that wives are, indeed, to be subject to their husbands. It also lays some serious responsibility on the husband – Christ-like, sacrificial love. It can’t be taken as justification for male dictatorship. However, it is unfortunately true that sometimes, when this passage is quoted, the previous verse is ignored:

Ephesians 5:21 subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

Different translations of the Bible present Ephesians 5:21-22 in different ways. The King James begins a new paragraph with verse 22, thus indicating that a new thought begins there. (There were no paragraph markings in the original Greek manuscripts. Translators have put in paragraphs where they seem to make sense.) But the New King James, and other widely used translations, do not. The New Living Translation ties the two verses together, as follows:

21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

This indicates that the verses are part of the same thought.

I am not expert enough to argue that one treatment, or another, is correct, but clearly there is at least some evidence that the submission is not all in one direction. But there is also evidence that the submission is mostly by the wife, to the godly, loving husband. (See Colossians 3:18-21, which is similar to the passage above, but without the “submit to one another.”)

It is possible that culture played a role in this matter. Having the wife as head would most likely have been a strange concept in Biblical times, among the peoples of Bible lands.

The above is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here. The next post, God willing, will consider the same topic.

Thanks for reading!

Let me get this straight -- musing about lines in nature

Natural objects very seldom contain perfectly straight lines. Man-made objects often do.

True, there are some nearly straight lines in natural objects. Some tree trunks are almost perfectly straight. Still water has a flat surface, a straight line expanded to two dimensions, as it were. Salt crystals are sometimes nearly perfect cubes, or, at least, they often have one or more flat surfaces. Some leaf veins are almost perfectly straight. But these examples are rare.

Spider webs do have what appear to be straight lines, but they usually don't go very far before joining with another line, which goes in a different direction, and, like power lines, the threads usually sag in the middle. I am not sure that there are any really straight lines in the photo above. (The photo is from my Flickr photostream. If you want to see a larger version, go here.)

Covalent bonds, such as the 4 bonds that Carbon atoms can form


are depicted as straight, as in the image of cyclohexane, above, where the dark gray balls represent carbon atoms, and the rods between the balls represent covalent bonds. But the angles of the bonds are such that, even in this model, the straight lines can not continue in the same direction. Besides, the bonds aren't really little rods, any more than the atoms are little spheres. And, even if they were little straight rods, they are very short -- just the distance between two adjacent atoms in a tiny molecule.

The two examples above, and some tree trunks, are about as close to really straight lines as you are going to find, in natural objects. Look, for example, at the trees and leaves in the first photo, or at almost any natural scene. You will see all sorts of shapes, many of them difficult to describe, but you will almost never see straight lines.

Why is that? I don't know. But this fact suggests that it is very difficult to grasp nature clearly. In a way, our use of straight lines, angles, flat surfaces, and curves, in the things we build for ourselves, is a reflection of our power over such artifacts. But we have much less power over nature -- we can't create it. Its shapes are too complicated for us to easily duplicate, and comprehend.

The word, "straight," is used several times in the Bible. Of the twelve versions that the Blueletter Bible offers, the New International Version has the most occurrences, 40. Here they are.

I am not sure that any of these 40 refer to a straight line, as such. Most of them are used in the sense of going straight toward some destination.

Here's one instance of the use of "straight" in the Bible:
Matthew 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.” (This is referring to Isaiah 40:3, which uses much the same wording.)

Did the people of Bible times understand the concept of straight lines, or straightness? Surely they did. In Acts 9:11, a street in Damascus is called Straight Street. 2 Kings 21:13 uses the concept of a plumb line as a measure of straightness.

To sum it up, God, and God's nature, are more complex than we often like to make things. But that is not to say that God doesn't understand our simple patterns and constructions, often with straight lines all over the place. He does. He made straightness possible. We should see beauty in the seemingly complex, and  difficult to describe, shapes that we find in nature, such as the lichen below:

(Larger sizes here.)

 

Thanks for reading! Keep yourself straight, but appreciate complexity.

Sunspots 443

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:  

The Arts: A photo of an amazing lavatory (two washbasins and a mirror) in a German railroad station, if I understand the description. There's a small cross on the wall, too.

Christianity: Why marriage isn't for you.

Politics: "Republicans seem unin­terested in governing, Democrats seem incapable of it." - Michael Gerson, columnist.

(Sort of -- it's really about leading a church board) Ken Schenck discusses Persuasive versus Coercive Leadership.

Science: One of my Flickr contacts tells us, with a photo, that some monarch butterflies migrate to California for the winter.

National Public Radio on why you might want to have your gut bacteria analyzed, and why you might not. (It can be done, fairly cheaply.)

Sports: Kenyans are great long-distance runners. Actually, it's one tribe of Kenyans, according to a report by National Public Radio, which explores the question of why this is so.



Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 8

[The previous post in the series was about the importance of praying for other believers, according to the New Testament. This post continues that topic.] 

 

That they may be able to effectively communicate the gospel, and that opportunities to do so will occur: 2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you; 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.

Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; 3 praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;

Christians are to pray especially for other Christians who are leaders: Romans 15:30 Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints; 32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.

1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brothers, pray for us.

Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things.

The passages above are from the writings of Paul, James, and whoever wrote Hebrews. Other New Testament writers were also concerned to pray for those who would read their writings:

1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep them* from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, 25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

*Text note – or “you.”

Jude 1:24-25 is more adoration than supplication, but it is also a prayer for believers.

Perhaps the greatest mass conversion of unbelievers in history took place in conjunction with Pentecost. Although it is possible that the 120 disciples, meeting as described in Acts 1-2, were praying for non-believers, there's no evidence of that. It's hard to believe that they were praying for each of the 3,000 or so who came to belief, since this was a diverse group, people from several different racial and ethnic types, even speaking languages that the 120 didn't know. But the 120, especially Peter, were transformed, as a result of drawing aside and praying, and as a result of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told them, in Luke 24:49, to “wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Presumably that's most of what they were praying for.

The last words in the New Testament are a prayer for believers:

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.

In conclusion, the Bible doesn’t say that praying for non-believers was important in the early church. There is more in the New Testament about praying for government leaders than about praying for unbelievers. It does indicate that prayer for believers was very important. I need to pray for Christians with unbelieving family members, Christians who work and go to school with unbelievers, and other believers who can be representatives of Christ to someone who needs it. It’s good to pray for unbelievers, but I should also pray that some godly people will influence them, in ways that I can’t. Perhaps I can be a godly person, influencing an unbeliever that some other Christian, one I don’t even know, is concerned about, and help win that unbeliever to Christ.

The above, except for the insert in brackets, which was put in for clarity in changing from a full book to a series of blog posts, is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here.

Thanks for reading! 

Ender's Game: the movie

In the last post, I discussed Ender's Game, the award-winning book by Orson Scott Card. Ender, by the way, is from a rendering of the name of Andrew Wiggin by his sister, when she was small. It also can have another sort of meaning.

I have now seen the movie. Let's put it this way -- my wife liked it. It's a PG-13 film, for violence. There's no sex at all, and very little questionable language. We thought that the sound track was louder than it should have been, but have heard worse.

As would be expected, there were some deviations from the book. The most obvious one was the age of Ender, and the other battle school trainees -- they were 5 years, or more, older, than they were in the book, which actually makes more sense.

There were some other minor changes. The enemy species was called formics -- bugger was not used. The role of Petra Arkanian was magnified somewhat, which is a good thing. She was well played by Hailee Steinfeld. Asa Butterfield played Ender, the lead role, and did a good job, also, although we couldn't understand a few of his lines. Harrison Ford did a good job in an important role, and Viola Davis looked like she belonged in service in a future military.

There was even less religion in the movie than in the book. Ender's brother, Peter, was less important than in the book.

I don't wish to give away the plot, any more than in the last post, but will say that the theme, in the movie, is not so much relationships, and how they work, as it is war, and the morals of it. Is all fair in war? The book did deal with that, quite a bit. It was written before the war expense, fatalities and injuries, drone attacks, invasive data collection, and, depending on who is talking, torture, of the Bush 2 and Obama administrations, so was not a commentary on them, and the movie shouldn't be taken that way, either. There will be serious moral questions about war whenever one is fought or contemplated, and Ender's Game brings some of them to the fore.

Thanks for reading.