Date Posted:06:50:19 03/07/05 Mon Author: Anonymous Subject: More thoughts In reply to:
Mike K.
's message, "Re: Some thoughts" on 00:31:32 03/05/05 Sat
>The principle is: what relationship should a person
>have to the Lord? The Lord says "You do this" and the
>person say "Naw, I don't want to", the Lord says "We
>need to", the person say "I don't care"?
Not to diminish the Lordship of Jesus, but I'd like to think of the Lord as a friend. Now, if a friend asks me to do something, does it mean that I necessarily do it? No. It is within my right to say no. Does it mean that I am disrespecting my friend? No. In the same way, in my relationship with Christ, I might say, "No, I don't want to do this. Instead, let's do this." It's not that I don't care, I do care, but it is a kind of a partnership rather than a one-way relationship.
>Now you said "mutual respect", but does this imply
>going against the proclaimed will of the other when
>they just will the best for you? "Biblical submission"
>is of course impossible without mutual respect, but is
>there such a thing as genuine "respect" when one
>doesn't act in appreciation of the other's will?
As I explained before, I envision this relationship as more of a partnership. One person may have the best in mind for me. But I might have a disagreement or, an even better idea. In the idea of mutual respect, this would lead to productive dialogue. This would be more valuable for both persons invovled than just blind "submission" of one to the other.
>The idea is that the role of the husband and of the
>wife in the family are not the same.
I agree with you. But times are changing and I believe each husband and wife should decide together what their role should be in the family, rather than have it dictated by culture, or past precedent.
>In the end, our perspectives don't separate as far as
>you might imagine, but it really ends up that without
>respect, there can be no submission but without
>submission, where is the respect?
Mike, you sound very reasonable. Thanks for your thoughts.
