Stopping to Think

An Exegetical Paper on Malachi 2:10-16 Text 10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts!  13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God...

  "The society that promotes chastity promotes true wedded love. The land of marriage, despite all the troubles that sinful human beings bring upon themselves, is a paradise by comparison with the land of easy fornication and childlessness by choice." Anthony Esolen, Life Under Compulsion, pg 123

The Superstition of Divorce by G.K. Chesterton My rating: 4 of 5 stars The original articles toward the front are typically brilliant Chesterton. The chapters he adds in addition to the original articles are good, though perhaps a bit tedious in comparison. The thing I found primarily fascinating was less his arguments, and more the fact that he saw this as a problem 100 years ago, at a time which many of a conservative bent today look back upon as some sort of golden age. But modernity and its individualism at the expense of the family was already doing the destructive work which we now see in fuller fruition. View all my reviews

Today marks my parents 27th anniversary. 27 years of commitment, 27 years of struggle, 27 years of life together. 27 years of good, bad, and everything in between. My parents are far from perfect (doesn't that go without saying, at least assuming that we have human parents?). But today I want to meditate and dwell on one thing that I have learned from my parents that has already served me well, and I pray will continue to do so. What is this one thing? That staying married is a matter of desiring to stay married. What do I mean? Well, there is a self-evident reality to this. Why do marriages, over half of them today, dissolve? Because one or both parties desire that they no longer wish to be yoked together. Now, my parents never sat down and explained this fact to me. But when you watch two people, who in very many ways are polar opposites in thought, opinion, personality, etc., and watch them disagree, be frustrated with one another, argue--many people in our society wo...

I have oft pondered the question, especially in recent months, are American Christians ready for what is coming?, a question which I must firmly answer with a no. But what do I mean by the question, let alone the answer? What is coming in America, indeed is already upon certain parts of our nation, is the full-scale rejection of Christian virtue. By rejection, I do not mean in a personal sense. That happened long ago for many Americans; what might be considered "orthodox" Christian views on issues of homosexuality, the nature and purpose of marriage, etc, have long been turning away from "our side", though these turns have been accelerated in recent years. But what I mean when I say rejection, is the rejection of any possibility that such values may be right or have any potential validity. In short, it is the refusal to acknowledge Christian virtue, particularly as pertains to sexual ethics, as anything besides unabashed bigotry and hate. This rejection is largel...

As most of you know, Justice Antonin Scalia died two days ago . Ross Douthat has a nice piece on him, and the impact of his death, over at the New York Times . While I have not always followed the proceedings of our nation's high court as closely as would probably be wise, I have enjoyed and appreciated nearly everything I have read from the pen of Justice Scalia. His dissent in the Obergefell was of particular brilliance (it begins on page 69 , here ), and I thought I would post a few quotes from it for your mulling, enjoyment, learning, and remembrance of perhaps the greatest Justice of my lifetime. The substance of today’s decree is not of immense personal importance to me. The law can recognize as marriage whatever sexual attachments and living arrangements it wishes, and can accord them favorable civil consequences, from tax treatment to rights of inheritance. Those civil consequences—and the public approval that conferring the name of marriage evidences—can perha...

Commonplace Monday is a series of post wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. Anyhow. Here's this week's installment : I wasn't looking for someone perfect. I was looking for someone I could love. Unknown

Commonplace Monday is a series of post wherein, on Monday mornings, I share short quips, sentences -perhaps as much as a paragraph- which I have collected in my various commonplace books and files. If I wrote down or recall where it came from I will certainly give attribution. However, sometimes I write down things and not where they came from. So if you see anything like that here and recognize it, that's what comment sections are for. Anyhow. Here's this week's installment : Marriage is a pre-political institution.   Fred Gums

Today (I'm sure it will be yesterday by the time I hit Publish) I turn twenty-five. That may not seem like much to many of you, for you passed it up long ago. Or you haven't yet, but to do so is a forgone conclusion. But it feels significant to me. Maybe it's because I'm the morbid type. Perhaps it's because I've known so many who didn't make it. It could be that I've never been able to imagine myself as being older than twenty-four. Or maybe it's just my megalomania at work blowing every aspect of my life out of proportion. But I wanted to pause here, and reflect on twenty-five things I've learned in these years. The order is completely stream-of-consciousness, which at this time of night can be...scattered.  Life is short. Like a mist. Here today and gone...well, today.  Because life is short, every second counts. Which doesn't mean every second must be filled with frenetic activity, but it does mean that one should pause and evalu...

God said what? "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom." (Jeremiah 3:2) Here, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, God chastises his people. And he does so in a way that many church folk (or anyone) might find offensive. He calls them whores. Coming across this as I read in my devotions this morning did not exactly bring a case of the warm fuzzies to my heart. It called me out, forcing me to look at the sin in my life, and it furthermore reminded me that this is not an uncommon use of language for God. The use of marriage and sexual metaphor to explain the covenant relationship of God to his people, and the way in which his people violate that covenant, is found throughout the Scriptures. Ezekiel 16 being perhaps the most notable case. There God explains his calling of Israel unto himself, ad...

I'll make it short and sweet: Husbands: Actually listen to your wife. Talk with her, not at her. Listen to her concerns and talk to her about the things happening in your life. Communicate. Spend time with her. Act like to you really like her. Wives: Quit nagging your husbands and have sex with them instead. In all seriousness. Take a minute and actually talk to your spouse about their needs and how you could better serve them. Pray for your spouse and with your spouse. Read the Bible together. And put the other person first. I can't guarantee these will work. But I'd be willing to wager they'll help.

Earlier this week my wife and I welcomed our sweet daughter into the world. Surrounding this  I spent almost 15 hours with my wife while she labored, and because they had to do a c-section, there followed a two day hospital stay. This experience left me with some adivce for husbands and dads. 1. Do not crack jokes at a laboring woman. She will not appreciate the genius of your wit. 2. Make every effort not to laugh at your wife, regardless of what funny things she says and does. Again, her sense of humor at this point is somewhat off-kilter. 3. At the hospital, you have to pay attention to what doctors and nurses are saying, and be willing to say no for your wife. She may very well be drugged past the point of understanding a word they say. 4. Bring coffee money. Hospital coffee is something akin to paint thinner. Although that may be slanderous to the paint thinner. 5. On a serious note. Husbands, this is a life changing event. Obviously I have to say that b...

Love your own wife As Christ loved the church Paul's word's here are brief But I admit that they hurt Will I chase for myself This life's fleeting pleasures? Or will I give to my wife Make her good my endeavor? Paul said that Christ Was our chiefest example One who laid down His life Whose love was shown ample Will I rise to this challenge By trusting His power? Or will I shrink back In the darkest of hours? Oh God I cry out for the faith To trust You every day And pursue my dear wife Lord, for Your help I do pray

I want to use this post to address three points, all brought up in comments to the last one. First, I want to address the comment made by an Anonymous individual whose main thrust in argument was that prohibiting homosexual marriage a)prevents no one from sinning, and b)is a violation of religious freedom. On point "a", of course I agree with that. I can never do anything to stop another person from rebelling against God, because ultimately that is a heart issue, and I cannot see their heart, let alone change it. That being said, laws exist not because their existence precludes the possibility of evil, but because sinful human beings need both encouragement towards right behavior, and punishment for wrong behavior. Simply put, laws exist for the good of society (see Romans 13-or the entire Pentateuch). If a person believes, as I do, that the basic human relationship that society is built upon is the relationship of husband and wife in marriage, then encouraging and fig...

I want to make a few brief comments on marriage, and the debate over whether or not homosexual marriage should be created by our government. I use the word "created" very intentionally. Note: none of my thoughts or ideas here are original, and most are being expressed by some in this ongoing national debate. However, they are certainly the minority, and so I have decided to add my small voice to the choir. It seems to me that, while not universally, the general slogan of those opposed to same-sex marriage (from here on "SSM") is that they "support traditional marriage and traditional values." Less frequently I hear of a support for "Judeo-Christian" values. Here is my rub with both of these terms, especially the former-they utterly miss the root of this entire issue. The question is not whether marriage should conform to what is traditional. If it were, of course marriage could change into whatever we would like it to. This is because traditi...