Showing posts with label Divorce Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Divorce Issues. Show all posts
The idea of "having his children in subjection"...
Labels:
Divorce Issues,
From My Notebook
As I continue this thought (or is it a rant) about the contemporary idea that we have received "new revelations" about the requirements for pastors and deacons. But as I read my Bible I find that in both English and Greek it is pretty clear as to the prerequisites for these important church offices...no I mean church leaders.
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife ... One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Timothy 3:2, 4, 5).
“If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly” (Titus 1:6).
“Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:3).
In a previous posting I shared briefly about the different interpretations (or rather misinterpretations) of the word "one" as it was used to say that a man need only to have been the husband of a single woman (or of a "single eye") so that a divorced man could still pastor or fill the role as a deacon, but this is not how the greek words differienate on the word "one". [note - read that post for more info.]
In this posting, I want to take a slightly different approach and one of a more practical matter rather than a philosophical or spiritual matter. I want to focus in on the children of the pastor or deacon. I was surprised that throughout the Jewish Temple history and into our church history there was an expectation for the priest or pastor to be married and/or have children because this allowed him to relate to his audience and allowed him to apply the whole truth of God's Word. Ok this makes sense to me and yes I would like a church leader who can relate to my life, so that he may teach the Word so that I may learn to apply this teaching to my life. Of course I don't expect my pastor or deacon to have faced every trail or sin but to know that he has walked in similiar shoes helps in regards to building my trust in him and his preaching as well as the ability to relate the Scriptures to my everyday life. Now a divorced man weakens the message when he has to make interpretations or excuses that are contrary to past centuries of church, history, Bible beliefs, and traditional practices as well as introduces a misrepresentation of God's Word.
After saying all of this as an introduction, my main point is that a divorced pastor or deacon has real issues with ruling his household and having his children in proper subjection, according to the Scriptural guidelines. It is a sad fact of divorced life, but nearly all divorced men have an abnormal relationship with their step-children. Having served for over 17 years in our nation's military, I have seen the experiences of many broken marriages and the attempts at remarriage that can never amend the family unit no matter how much love or good intent is involved. A man that has remarried can never establish the same authoriative relationship with the children from another man (this is the same for a woman, but has less of an impact since the husband is to be the God directed authority in the home). I have heard a child call their step-parent (father or mother) anything other than Mom or Dad...especially considering that most still have relationships with their other biological parent. Now I know that I am painting with a thick brush and that there are exceptions to this but I ask you to think about every divorced relationship you are familiar with and honestly answer to how the relationship is between the father and the children. I already covered my military experience but let me say that I have seen the same things in the seven years of working as a Youth Pastor. In this experience not one child has ever had a proper biblical father-child relationship that one would describe as the ideal relationship for a pastor or deacon towards their children. I have personally seen that this abnormal relationship extends into the adult world as well and that maturity doesn't neccessarily make it better or easier. Now translate this father and step-child relationship that is a constant struggle in a normal setting and compound it with the pressure and expectations of being a church leaders' family. This is a continuous conflict and a terrible testimony for a man trying to lead a church body and a blight on the office of pastor and deacon.
So add these ideas that "being the husband of one wife" and "having his children under subjection" are two very real and very simple elements of the prerequitises to being a pastor and deacon. For us to excuse or overlook these elements is ignorant at best and heresy at worse. Believe the Bible more than man's opinion and develop the practice of studying it for yourself.
Want more information about this issue? Follow this link
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife ... One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Timothy 3:2, 4, 5).
“If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly” (Titus 1:6).
“Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:3).
In a previous posting I shared briefly about the different interpretations (or rather misinterpretations) of the word "one" as it was used to say that a man need only to have been the husband of a single woman (or of a "single eye") so that a divorced man could still pastor or fill the role as a deacon, but this is not how the greek words differienate on the word "one". [note - read that post for more info.]
In this posting, I want to take a slightly different approach and one of a more practical matter rather than a philosophical or spiritual matter. I want to focus in on the children of the pastor or deacon. I was surprised that throughout the Jewish Temple history and into our church history there was an expectation for the priest or pastor to be married and/or have children because this allowed him to relate to his audience and allowed him to apply the whole truth of God's Word. Ok this makes sense to me and yes I would like a church leader who can relate to my life, so that he may teach the Word so that I may learn to apply this teaching to my life. Of course I don't expect my pastor or deacon to have faced every trail or sin but to know that he has walked in similiar shoes helps in regards to building my trust in him and his preaching as well as the ability to relate the Scriptures to my everyday life. Now a divorced man weakens the message when he has to make interpretations or excuses that are contrary to past centuries of church, history, Bible beliefs, and traditional practices as well as introduces a misrepresentation of God's Word.
After saying all of this as an introduction, my main point is that a divorced pastor or deacon has real issues with ruling his household and having his children in proper subjection, according to the Scriptural guidelines. It is a sad fact of divorced life, but nearly all divorced men have an abnormal relationship with their step-children. Having served for over 17 years in our nation's military, I have seen the experiences of many broken marriages and the attempts at remarriage that can never amend the family unit no matter how much love or good intent is involved. A man that has remarried can never establish the same authoriative relationship with the children from another man (this is the same for a woman, but has less of an impact since the husband is to be the God directed authority in the home). I have heard a child call their step-parent (father or mother) anything other than Mom or Dad...especially considering that most still have relationships with their other biological parent. Now I know that I am painting with a thick brush and that there are exceptions to this but I ask you to think about every divorced relationship you are familiar with and honestly answer to how the relationship is between the father and the children. I already covered my military experience but let me say that I have seen the same things in the seven years of working as a Youth Pastor. In this experience not one child has ever had a proper biblical father-child relationship that one would describe as the ideal relationship for a pastor or deacon towards their children. I have personally seen that this abnormal relationship extends into the adult world as well and that maturity doesn't neccessarily make it better or easier. Now translate this father and step-child relationship that is a constant struggle in a normal setting and compound it with the pressure and expectations of being a church leaders' family. This is a continuous conflict and a terrible testimony for a man trying to lead a church body and a blight on the office of pastor and deacon.
So add these ideas that "being the husband of one wife" and "having his children under subjection" are two very real and very simple elements of the prerequitises to being a pastor and deacon. For us to excuse or overlook these elements is ignorant at best and heresy at worse. Believe the Bible more than man's opinion and develop the practice of studying it for yourself.
Want more information about this issue? Follow this link
The idea of "ONE" wife...
Labels:
Divorce Issues,
From My Notebook
Uh-oh! Here comes trouble! That is the reaction I will more likely receive especially with a blog title like this. But I'm tired of quite a bit of convenient 'RE-interpretation' that pastors, church leaders, and religious organizations have taken with the requirements established for deacons and pastors.
Okay, our primary look is at I Timothy 3:1-12 and Titus 1:5-9 where we read of the requirements laid out for bishops (pastors) and deacons. When we look at church history [note: I refer to our Christian faith more specifically the Baptist history] we see that most Bible scholars had no issue with the understanding that a divorced man could not be a pastor or deacon, but in the last century we find a new "revelation" that conveniently falls in place with other "new revelations" like women preachers, homosexual-practicing 'Christians', and other twisted lies from Satan. Should we cast the blame for the acceptation of these lies on the preacher or the audience? I think both bear responsibility but the preacher definitely has more accountability before God. Sadly, the audience is leaving itself open for these lies as more and more of them forgo the idea of true personal Bible study and rely on the preacher to tell them what to do and what to believe. My desire is for more church members to as those of the church at Berean (Acts 17:11). Now I don't have any in-depth scholarly studies nor do I have any studies in Biblical languages (unless you count the Greek I studied in High School back in 1986...which I forgot by 1987) but I do have a Greek Study Bible, a couple of Concordances, and a computer that aids in my study of the Scriptures. I downloaded the free E-Sword software to both my laptop and my PDA [note: the PDA version came with the Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus), the Greek Old Testament (The Septuagint), King James Bible, Strong's Concordance, Clarke Commentary, Thayer Commentary, Strong's Concordance, Webster's Dictionary, and a couple of more reference materials.] which I love to use in church services to keep a preacher 'honest' as they show off their knowledge with Greek or Hebrew words. For example, I recently listened to a sermon where a preacher used 10 Greek words and 6 were either the wrong word or the wrong definition. Oh, the preacher sounded good with his expansive vocabulary and biblical knowledge but a true study by the audience would verify whether the preacher was speaking the truth or just trying to impress. I don' t mean any unkindness but this seriously weakens the message when the messenger is at best weakly presenting the very words of God and at worse willfully misleading or downright lying to God's people. Oh the responsibility and accountability!
Back on point, the most convenient method of twisting is through ignorance more than an intentional twisting of the Bible. Without overwhelming you or taxing my limited knowledge of Greek, I do want to point out the most common misinterpretation in this particular case of the subject matter...is simply the word "ONE." This simple word is translated a few different ways in the New Testament, but most people easily confuse this (especially when they don't learn to study and prove the pastor - Acts 17:11). In I Timothy 3 & Titus 1 the phrase "the husband of one wife" is often confused as being the same translation of "the wife of one husband" used to describe the 'enrollment' requirements of a widow into the churches 'widow support program' (see I Timothy 5: 1-17) but upon closer examination one discovers that the Greek words used for "ONE" are different. I Timothy 5 uses the word heis which is usually used in the sequence of numbers most often translated as the numeric value of one. I Timothy 3 & Titus 1 uses mia which is usually used as the numeric place value (most often translated one or first). So a pastor or deacon is to have one wife only. Now before you ask an exception could/would be made in the case of the death of a spouse. God doesn't judge this as immorality or adultery, because in God's eyes He sees one man and one woman i.e. marriage as a living relationship. So how can something this clear and this precise in either English or Greek be so easily confused or misconstrued? Well, simply the serpent has been twisting the truth of God since the garden, so why are we so surprised? And as we Christians sit in our comfortable pews we expect the preacher to feed us and we do little any real studying ourselves. No wonder the devil has his way with us.
Now I think I said everything I wanted to so how do I end this long posting? Let me say that we must always honor the man of God and should never disrespect the authority that God has placed over us, but we should not automatically accept everything that is said (Acts 17:11). So I guess the best, last words I could say is STUDY THE WORD.
Let's prove the preacher and in the process learn a little ourselves!! God bless you as you seek to know the Savior and strive to share Him with another this week.
Uh-oh! Here comes trouble! That is the reaction I will more likely receive especially with a blog title like this. But I'm tired of quite a bit of convenient 'RE-interpretation' that pastors, church leaders, and religious organizations have taken with the requirements established for deacons and pastors.Okay, our primary look is at I Timothy 3:1-12 and Titus 1:5-9 where we read of the requirements laid out for bishops (pastors) and deacons. When we look at church history [note: I refer to our Christian faith more specifically the Baptist history] we see that most Bible scholars had no issue with the understanding that a divorced man could not be a pastor or deacon, but in the last century we find a new "revelation" that conveniently falls in place with other "new revelations" like women preachers, homosexual-practicing 'Christians', and other twisted lies from Satan. Should we cast the blame for the acceptation of these lies on the preacher or the audience? I think both bear responsibility but the preacher definitely has more accountability before God. Sadly, the audience is leaving itself open for these lies as more and more of them forgo the idea of true personal Bible study and rely on the preacher to tell them what to do and what to believe. My desire is for more church members to as those of the church at Berean (Acts 17:11). Now I don't have any in-depth scholarly studies nor do I have any studies in Biblical languages (unless you count the Greek I studied in High School back in 1986...which I forgot by 1987) but I do have a Greek Study Bible, a couple of Concordances, and a computer that aids in my study of the Scriptures. I downloaded the free E-Sword software to both my laptop and my PDA [note: the PDA version came with the Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus), the Greek Old Testament (The Septuagint), King James Bible, Strong's Concordance, Clarke Commentary, Thayer Commentary, Strong's Concordance, Webster's Dictionary, and a couple of more reference materials.] which I love to use in church services to keep a preacher 'honest' as they show off their knowledge with Greek or Hebrew words. For example, I recently listened to a sermon where a preacher used 10 Greek words and 6 were either the wrong word or the wrong definition. Oh, the preacher sounded good with his expansive vocabulary and biblical knowledge but a true study by the audience would verify whether the preacher was speaking the truth or just trying to impress. I don' t mean any unkindness but this seriously weakens the message when the messenger is at best weakly presenting the very words of God and at worse willfully misleading or downright lying to God's people. Oh the responsibility and accountability!
Back on point, the most convenient method of twisting is through ignorance more than an intentional twisting of the Bible. Without overwhelming you or taxing my limited knowledge of Greek, I do want to point out the most common misinterpretation in this particular case of the subject matter...is simply the word "ONE." This simple word is translated a few different ways in the New Testament, but most people easily confuse this (especially when they don't learn to study and prove the pastor - Acts 17:11). In I Timothy 3 & Titus 1 the phrase "the husband of one wife" is often confused as being the same translation of "the wife of one husband" used to describe the 'enrollment' requirements of a widow into the churches 'widow support program' (see I Timothy 5: 1-17) but upon closer examination one discovers that the Greek words used for "ONE" are different. I Timothy 5 uses the word heis which is usually used in the sequence of numbers most often translated as the numeric value of one. I Timothy 3 & Titus 1 uses mia which is usually used as the numeric place value (most often translated one or first). So a pastor or deacon is to have one wife only. Now before you ask an exception could/would be made in the case of the death of a spouse. God doesn't judge this as immorality or adultery, because in God's eyes He sees one man and one woman i.e. marriage as a living relationship. So how can something this clear and this precise in either English or Greek be so easily confused or misconstrued? Well, simply the serpent has been twisting the truth of God since the garden, so why are we so surprised? And as we Christians sit in our comfortable pews we expect the preacher to feed us and we do little any real studying ourselves. No wonder the devil has his way with us.
Now I think I said everything I wanted to so how do I end this long posting? Let me say that we must always honor the man of God and should never disrespect the authority that God has placed over us, but we should not automatically accept everything that is said (Acts 17:11). So I guess the best, last words I could say is STUDY THE WORD.
Let's prove the preacher and in the process learn a little ourselves!! God bless you as you seek to know the Savior and strive to share Him with another this week.
PS. Bible study is more than just reading your Bible once, in a year, or daily...it is truly studying it with study resources and reference materials. Try it you may like it!!
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