Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
I do not believe that it is the church's mission to change society. Rather to hasten the One who will establish the kingdom that will reign in righteousness and endure forever.
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Just as your sect's view is that it is not the church's mission to do any kind of benevolence to those who are not part of your sect.
But if you note, my concern was not what was wrong with society, but what was wrong with the people of God whether or not that does or does not mirror society. The fight of the 1800s was to maintain slavery as an acceptable practice for Christians. It was also the fight of society at large.
In this case, we are not concerned whether the role and view of women is mirrored in society. In Western society the role and view of women is better than it is within the church (at least certain parts of the church — including the parts that many of us, including those in the LRC, are attached to). And that is despite the continued existence of some level of "glass ceiling" facing many women. And in other parts of the world, the role and view of women is still worse than it was in Jewish society at the time of Christ. Quite a disparity of views/roles. But for us, the first issue should be to carefully study how it should be within the church. Not study the answers that are predicated on the previous generation's answers, which are predicated upon the previous generation's answers (and on and on) back to the time of the writing of the NT. That is how the SBC went about defending slavery in the 1800s. And others used the Bible to segregate (and subjugate without actual slavery) in more recent years.
There is a hierarchy to the Bible, even within the NT. The Jews referred to what we call the OT as the law and prophets, and the commentary. While it is all inspired by God and profitable for teaching, the commentary arises in response to the specifics of the time and situation. Same can be said for the NT. There are the gospels. Then there is the commentary. The commentary is scripture, but it is designed to comment into the specific, not provide the base framework in which everything works. The framework is in the words and deeds of Jesus. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, he granted her a status higher than a devout Jew would to a proper Jewish woman. Just one example.
What your "church's mission" statement fails to recognize is that the Kingdom is here right now. But as long as we fail to live that kingdom in every aspect of our lives, it is not ready to burst forth in full. And living that kingdom is not about better lexicons, high meetings, better teachings, etc. It is about all aspects of the right-living of its participants. And having the attitude that my sick wife just needs to call on the Lord and continue doing the dishes while I go to my study and do (whatever) is
NOT part of right-living.
And having the notion that we should subjugate our wives is
NOT part of right-living. I'm not talking about some general understanding of position before God (God over man over woman) but the attitude of what that means to us.
Besides, the Bible didn't tell me that the woman is supposed to submit (no matter what that is to mean) but it tells her to submit. God tells her to submit, not me (or you).
And we think that God is going to hasten his kingdom for people who are getting this so entirely wrong (assuming it is wrong). I know the mantra that the law is abolished. But if you look closely, that is a misunderstanding of what is abolished. The law was not written on our hearts so that we could be free to ignore it. Rather that we would be quick to obey.