Speak of Love

The other night after Bible study, Rebekah called me her favourite. You know how she does that. Anyway I happened to think about it this time, and it occurred to me that this was a veiled way of voicing appreciation for another person. It's hard to just be talking to someone and come out and say, "I like you," without feeling dumb or sounding silly. It's easier with a group, and especially with the interweb between us I have no problem saying that I love you guys very much. (cue the Full House 'aaawww')

It's easy to state 'feelings' factually. From a distance it's easy to say that we like someone. In person it's harder, not only because they might react, but because being around them reminds us of why we like them so much.

Prayer can be very similar. Generalized well-wishing and vague, even clichéd prayers roll off the tongue of anyone with a little practice. Praying for what you really feel, what's heavy on your heart, that can be harder. Hopefully we've learned to trust Jesus better than we trust humans to understand us, but it can still be difficult... and more meaningful.

Prayer, that word which encompasses the entire process of communication with God. All by its lonesome, it could probably be the subject of as many classes as are about communication between humans. What is it really for? Surely God knows all; the Bible at times describes Him in human terms but overall it seems clear that He is never swayed nor is His opinion changed.

Mostly I'm interested in what you guys think. I know there are a whole lot of ideas about prayer floating around. Some things to consider are the place prayer puts us in. Thanking God can remind us to be grateful. Praising Him can remind us how great He really is. Inviting him can remind us that He's here, with us and within us, all the time. Seeking His will can remind us to listen and help us remember what we already know. Bringing our requests reminds us to do what we can to see those requests filled... and that when they're not, God is still in control.

There's also another old theory I had. I'll try and blow the dust off for you. It's also a little cold and mathematical, but obviously even if true, it would be but one tiny fraction of the whole picture of prayer. The real world is nowhere near so cut-and-dry.

Three scenarios:

One - God performs a miracle, a supernatural occurrence of some kind which affects only one person... and nobody knows why, or even notices.
Two - One person prays for this miracle off-handedly, and his request is granted! He's happy.
Three - Fifty people pray fervently and passionately for this miracle, and when it is granted, all of them celebrate and praise God together, the story spreads and people who hear it are amazed.

In which scenario is God most glorified, which one really brings the most good into the world? The good effect of any worldly 'miracle' in itself pales in comparison to the strengthening of faith in Jesus which actually saves souls. When something matters to us, what can prayer do? Surely we cannot change God. Yet through prayer, perhaps we can change ourselves, change the world itself, to make a positive response more valuable...

Even if true, this is probably one of the smallest reasons to pray.

*sigh* I wish I would pray more...

a hot topic for your enjoyment

Umm... so yeah. I was reading a blog belonging to a friend of mine (Hilary, the one with the red hair who worked at LBE for awhile this summer). Anyway she wrote about a short story she'd read, one big theme being patriarchy, gender issues. Anyway, a dude commented, but I don't think he was very clear and honestly I wasn't sure where he stood by the end of reading the comment. Some of the things he mentioned included a number of acheivements men had to their credit, but then how women might have related to them and that women had done their 'duty' and et cetera. Also how the Bible describes a very patriarchal society. The point is I started writing and it got kind of epic so I figured you might want a shot at it. I didn't polish it as much as I usually do with such heavy stuff, so don't judge too harshly. Or do, whatever. :) DISCUSS.

Men have done lots of stuff first, including being made. If my brother is born first he has certain special rights but it doesn't make him better than me, nor imply that I couldn't handle those rights as well as he, or better even. It's just a way for society to be organized which some cultures rely on to keep order, while some cultures basically dispense with it entirely. It's not about 'wrong' or 'right', it's about what's best and how people want to live.

The Bible, our guide in life, depicts an extremely patriarchal society. It also depicts walled stone cities with flat roofs and other outdated concepts. Not to say patriarchal society is stupid or no longer relevant - far from it. There is still meant to be order in family as in the world, but what that means is as much up to those involved as it has ever been.

I don't want to own my wife, personally I have no desire for her to feel that she is beneath me in any way. I'm sure this is partly due to the modern culture I live in, but keep in mind why that modern culture has come to be that way. We are a very rich culture that values freedom highly. We have the power to make our lives how we want them. In this culture a boy doesn't go out at thirteen, find the prettiest girl in the market that day and tell his parents to help him marry her. That's a very extreme example, but the point is that cultures with less freedom require more stricture on relationships of all kinds, marriage included.

It's just like how an army requires a strict chain of command because it faces extreme adversity, and also because despite some unity of purpose, the people involved start off strangers. That chain is based on things like aptitude, experience and education. Men are stronger so it would make sense that they generally do more of the heavier work while women do more detail stuff. Women share a physical bond with their children so it makes sense they would better bond with them emotionally as well. If men are more educated they should make a better living. If they're more experienced they should make better decisions.

However, we no longer live in a world where that's always true. Men are still apt to be stronger physically, but far fewer of us do heavy labour anymore - in fact, given labour laws, there's no reason a woman couldn't do almost any job in Canada. Not to say they'd want to, but still. I think they're letting women into universities, too, nowadays.

Someday, I hope to fall in love and for us to be perfect for each other. Nothing will make me sacrifice that, unless God makes it clear I'm not meant to marry at all, or puts some other crazy spin on my life that I couldn't possibly predict right now. Sometimes we'll disagree of course, but we will decide how to live with love - discussion, logic and comprimise, not just tradition - because that's how I want it to be. In this culture, we can have that.

Patriarchy is just one of the nearly infinite social systems which governs humankind. Sometimes they definitely do create oppression and strife, but that's not why they're there. Order is generally better than anarchy, but it doesn't fix human nature, and people suffer under it as surely as they would suffer without it. What we need to do is discern how much order is best, and how God wants us to share it.