This One Might Get Me in Trouble

* Creation was not complete without woman. The woman is a symbol of the church. In essence, God was not complete without man. "It is not good that man should be alone." (Genesis 2:18) God didn't want to be alone either.

* Also God created all the splendor and majesty of this earth and, at the end of everyday, He said "It is good." However, when it was all said and done, the crowning jewel of all creation was the woman. This atests to the beauty and wonder of woman. But also the church. Above all things, God's most prized "jewel" is the church.

* "No longer I live, but Christ lives within me." (Galatians 2:20) "joint-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24) "What God has joined, let no man separate." (Mark 10:9) Husband and wife are to no longer have two separate identities, but rather they are each one half of a whole. The same is true with God and the believer/church. We die and accept Christ's life. We no longer have our own identity but share in the life of Christ/share in His inheritance of the Kingdom. We become a house and He becomes the resident. We are the vessel; He is the substance. We are the machine/vehicle; He is the operator. Inseparable. One.

* Paul says a woman should remain silent in church. Be seen and not heard, so to speak. This sounds terribly harsh. However, in the perspective of the woman being the church, this begins to make some sense. Psalms states "Be still and know that I am God." (46:10) Elijah experienced God not in the wind, earthquake, or thunder, but in the still, small voice. (I Kings 19:11-13) Too many times our life is too noisy with our own thoughts, ideas, lifestyles, schedules, music, etc. to truly experience God. We forget our place/our role. In doing this, we lose ourselves since our identity is in Christ. Sometimes we would just do best to "sit down and shut up!" As for me, I'm still trying to understand this passage. Perhaps it's better understood in context of other verses, or maybe it's simply harsh but honest.

* "Better to not marry at all." (Matthew 19:10) This too is a difficult passage. In a sense, it would have been better had God never created man. If so, there would not be any division, pain, strife, suffering, sin, imperfection, etc. However, God loves us so much that He could not bear life alone without us. Paul states that if our libido is too high then we should marry to remain sexually pure. God has a burning passion and desire to be intimate with us. Human intimacy brings new human life. God's intimacy brings life eternal.