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రొట్టెల ఇల్లు | House of Bread | בית לחם Forum Index
రొట్టెల ఇల్లు | House of Bread | בית לחם Forum Index What Christians believe (Theology) Male-Female relationship -- A discussion with an Apostle
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Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:14 pm
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Caleb
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Joined: 11 Aug 2006
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Location: India
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Male-Female relationship -- A discussion with an Apostle

The following is an excerpt from a letter dated July 19, 2005 to an Apostle.

Dear Brother, (Name is hidden to protect the individual)

Greetings once again to you and your dear wife!

You wrote:
Quote:
Caleb Wrote
Quote:
Dear Brother,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Yeshua who died for us and who was also the One who indeed stooped down (submitted as you said) to His wife by washing her feet (John 13:1-20).

My participation (http://www.studylight.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40465#40465) in the online forum of StudyLight.org on the 12th of this month is proof that i believe in submitting one unto another (Eph. 5:21) even in regards to husbands and wives including Christ and His Church.

As a husband, God has called me to be the head of the household that He entrusted to me and Anna. As a wife God has called Anna to be my helpmate in accomplishing the purpose God has for us. In general, we are both called to love and respect (submit to) each other as it should be among the brethren. However, when feelings die or even when there is an issue about role playing between husband and wife or Pastor and church, Ephesians 5:22-33—the injunction of the exception to Ephesians 5:21 kicks in. As a husband i would then have a greater responsibility of loving my wife out of choice. Anna on her part would then have a greater responsibility of respecting me and being in submission to me out of choice.

The feminists propose a 50-50 partnership but there will be only deadlocks in it all the time. Not only that, as Margaret Thatcher put it, “Consensus is the negation of leadership.” In a 50-50 partnership there will be endless contentions. I love Anna enough that i am careful to consider impartially Anna’s feelings and concerns regarding any specific issue. Anna respects me enough that she is willing to let me make the final decision. Anna is a helpmate God gave me. She is there to help me do my work, not the other way around (Gen. 2:18; 1 Cor. 11:8-10), which in my case is my ministry. Success in life is not all about making money. It is being able to do God’s will for our lives in God’s way. Even though Anna is the one who brings home the bucks, she is the one who does all the cooking, gets Clay ready to school by giving him bath and dressing him up; she is the one who washes all the dishes, cleans the house, does the laundry, changes the sheets and folds them. She does all that work and on top of that i ask her to review and comment on my ministry work including this letter. She is doing all this work of a housewife while all the time preparing at home to give lectures at the Medical School. She goes to work Monday through Friday at 9 and comes home at 12 for an hour or so, which we use to take lunch for Clay. And then she returns to work and comes back at 4pm.

Though Anna is designed to be my helper to accomplish the God given work in our lives, that does not stop me from submitting to her when she really needs me in the kitchen or somewhere and follow her orders. I do this because i love her.

Biology however, determines the role of women. Even though a woman can take a gun and shoot a relatively stronger man, and sometimes earn more money than her man in the market place, and sometimes drive a car better than her man, what remains is that physically, emotionally and in making decisions, woman is a weaker vessel (1 Pet 3:7; Differences in Male and Female Brains, Scientific American, May 2005). For this reason the command to man is to love his wife; and to the wife it is to respect her husband (Eph. 5:22-33).

A baby is first nurtured in the mother’s womb and therefore develops bonding more with the mother even before he/she is born. National Geographic television channel had a nice documentary about “In the Womb.” I am told the baby inside knows the mother’s voice by 6 months while still in the womb. The attachment the baby has with the mother dictates that she be the one to continue to nurture the baby after birth with breast milk and prepare the right kind of food and environment that the baby likes. In short, God has designed women to be the primary home-maker.

As a husband God has given me a greater responsibility and therefore more to account for in work (the purpose that God has for the family as a whole). Because we are one flesh and one body, Anna does not have her independent purpose in life apart from the purpose that God has shown me, which i carry to her. As a wife Anna has less to account for and therefore more to be happy about. But to the extent that each of us has been entrusted with something, we have to be faithful in discharging those duties.

I hope this changes your mind about my being in submission to authority. For the Lord Yeshua has once again personally told me today when i was in the Spirit on my way to Rivers through John 20:21, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

In Christ,
Bro. Caleb Motupalli.

P.S.: Thus said the Lord Yeshua on the 4th of July, 2005: Mark 12:1-11.

Goodmorning Caleb,
Greetings to you and your family. Thanks for your well-written letter. It was nicely put together.


Thank you for your encouragement.

You wrote:
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I am about to take our Jamaican brethren on an island tour, and may not do justice in responding to your letter. However, just a few observations.

Considering the promptness of your letter, amidst visitation of the brethren from abroad, i give you an A+ for taking the time to write to me. But I am afraid indeed you have not done justice in your response. For the exegesis which you say, is sounding more like eisegesis to me.

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In paragraph four on page one, you mentioned the feminine concept of 50-50 partnership. Perhaps an exegesis of the words "help meet" (helpmate) may shed some light. The thought of woman being taken from the frontside of the man may bring further definition to the concept.

While "frontside" is an assumption you are making, even when we know that a rib extends from the back to the front along the side, we must note that Adam is the only one with a missing rib--Cain and Abel and others that followed had all the ribs just like us. She is therefore the one by our side close to our heart to assist or help in the work given to Man even before the curse, though the work became one of sweat and pain after the curse.

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In Western Culture, and specifically the Caribbean, we are not influenced by the feminist philosophy,

Ironically, even though they "do not have the Law," statistics indicate that in Indian culture there are far less divorces and far less born outside of wedlock. For, "they (Gentiles) show (with their deeds) the work of the Law (Order) written in their hearts" (Romans 2:14,15 paraphrased).

But i believe the feminist philosophy has its roots in the curse given to Eve (Gen 3:16--"...Your desire (Hebrew: tesh-oo-kaw') will be for your husband (to rule over him as sin's desire too in Gen. 4:7 is to rule over him), and (but) he will rule over you."). Compare Gen. 3:16 and 4:7.

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but roles are equally shared by the choice of the couple. Our wives do not do all the cooking, washing, cleaning, etc., and baby-care, we share all these roles. It is not feminist!

I would like to draw your attention once again to what i wrote:

"A baby is first nurtured in the mother’s womb and therefore develops bonding more with the mother even before he/she is born. National Geographic television channel had a nice documentary about “In the Womb.” I am told the baby inside knows the mother’s voice by 6 months while still in the womb. The attachment the baby has with the mother dictates that she be the one to continue to nurture the baby after birth with breast milk and prepare the right kind of food and environment that the baby likes. In short, God has designed women to be (take the role of) the primary home-maker.

Though Anna is designed to be my helper to accomplish the God given work in our lives, that does not stop me from submitting to her when she really needs me in the kitchen or somewhere and follow her orders. I do this because i love her; though not because it is my role to do so."

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Before Adam was married, he had no Ministry! ALL the work was his. Eve was given to him to help him to continue to raise up a prototype family, with God at the center. According to the Apostle Paul, our first and only Ministry is to our family (lettes to Timothy and Titus). Anything else falls under God's authority and responsibility. In other words, it is HIS Ministry, we are only workers with Him (II Corinthians 6). According to 1 Peter 3, the woman is the "weaker vessel", but what does that make the Man? Certainly, A weak vessel! that was why we needed a help meet in the first place, because we could not accomplish our assignment alone.


Are you saying this referring to Christ as well, for, He too is a husband? He does not need us to accomplish His task but it pleases Him to do His work through us. For it is written, "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham."

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By the way, 'weaker' does not mean inferior. In fact, it may even mean superior! In other words, it may mean that part of us that we could not survive without.


One of the meanings of the word Inferior according to the Princeton University's WordWeb Dictionary is:
"One of lesser rank or station."

1Co 11:3 reads: "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ."

Since the word "head" is applied in reference to Christ and God Himself, can we not infer and say that to be head means to be superior because we know for a fact that God is superior to man?!

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Discovering this reality will answer the question of why the weaker vessel (woman) live longer than the weak vessel(man)! Just some exegetical nuggets to consider and even share with Anna, if the courage exist.


I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And if i may add (but not to scripture), to the male first and also to the female!
_________________
© 2006-2015 Caleb S. Motupalli

~Most of our problems will be solved if only we yield our freewill to the Lord's will.~
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