Feminine does not mean passive, helpless, weak, stupid, or servile.
If you have ever once been tempted to think I believe that feminine means any of those things, go read this article right now. Peruse the links under “Feminology” in the right hand margin of my blog. Then go stand in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
Technorati Tags: feminism, feminine, femininity, womanliness, womanhood, patriarchy, manliness
Michael Webb seems like a pretty smart guy sometimes. In December’s edition of Secrets of Blissful Relationships he wrote,
Every blissful relationship is built on a solid friendship. Not on awesome s.ex, religious beliefs or common dreams and goals — all those things can change over time – the only thing you can count on to remain is a strong and loving friendship….Save any sort of physical connection (hugging, kissing, holding hands, etc.) until AFTER you have already become close friends and are ready for the next stage. It should be RARE that you actually make it past the friendship stage.
The best friendships can survive just about anything, because very few attacks come from every possible direction simultaneously. When you’re shopping for a spouse, look for someone with whom you can connect on as many possible levels as possible without getting too creepy. You’ll never find a perfect 100% connection, but you don’t want that anyway. Because everyone changes over time, you can only go downhill from a perfect match. The connections you have must be strong enough to stretch and regrow in other ways without breaking the relationship. Some of those connections are vital, but most of them should be able to come and go without breaking the friendship.
A few ways to connect:
Those are just a few obvious things that come to the top of my head. There must be a million more.
P.S. You can subscribe to Mr. Webb’s newsletter by sending a message to: secrets-on@mail-list.com.
My mother told me there was no need, but I never claimed not to be a fool.
Proverbs 12:16, 29:11
I’ve been in Phoenix visiting with family for the past few days. The scenery was straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.
Phoenix sits in a valley that looks more like a giant crater ringed by red-hued mountains. Very Martian. The vegetation is just as alien: wierd things that look like candles that have been sitting in the sun too long, other wierd things that look all soft and cuddly but are actually bristling and very unfriendly, things like strings of green sausages thrown up and frozen in mid-air. Lots and lots of dirt. People use rocks instead of grass.
They paint their rocks.
It’s like they meant it to look like grass that never needs watering, but they forgot what color grass is supposed to be. Folks, it ain’t blue.
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Days were divided into seven-day weeks at Creation, with the seventh day set aside as a day of rest. If you are at all familiar with Hebrew numerology, you’ll know that the number of each day corresponds in meaning with those things created on that day. Two obvious examples are six and seven. Six is the number of man, who was created on the sixth day. Seven is the number of completion and perfection. Creation was complete and God rested on the seventh day.
Eight is the number of new beginnings. On the eighth day of Creation, a new week began–the first week of the completed creation. Throughout the Bible, eight is a day for starting new things. The eighth day of Sukkot is a high sabbath in honor of the start of a new life in relationship to God. The eight days of Hanukkah represent the rededication of the Temple and are a shadow of the Great Sukkot to come (Isaiah 4, among others). Yeshua rose from the dead at the very beginning of the eighth day not to change the Sabbath from the seventh day–that is actually one of the signs of the antichrist (Daniel 7:25)–but to symbolize the new life we have in him.
Technorati Tags: sabbath, seventh day, eighth day, numerology, Yeshua, resurrection, second coming, antichrist, sukkot, tabernacle, hanukkah
Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
A husband is to love his wife, being willing to give up his life if necessary to allow her to become more “holy and without blemish.” What if she doesn’t want to become unblemished? What if she wants him to give up his life so that she can be more comfortable or more “appreciated?”
Although the answer can be found in Paul’s writings, we have something better. In Revelation 2 and 3 Yeshua told us exactly what he would do in such a case:
Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent….
Repent! But if not I will come to you quickly, and will fight with them by the sword of My mouth….
But I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel to teach, she saying herself to be a prophetess, and to cause My servants to go astray, and to commit fornication, and to eat idol-sacrifices. And I gave her time that she might repent of her fornication, and she did not repent. Behold, I am throwing her into a bed, and those who commit adultery* with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their deeds….I will give to every one of you according to your works….
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth….
That doesn’t sound like the eternal, all-enduring love I’ve always heard preached in our churches. God is patient and forgiving, but only to a point, and only with those who are truly repentant.
*Adultery? Then the woman is married, but to whom? I say she was married to Yeshua. In Biblical usage, adultery can only be committed between a married woman and a man who is not her husband. Those who commit adultery “with” her are not the male perpetrator, but co-adulteresses with Jezebel. Yeshua would not be so harsh with her if he was not claiming the place of her husband. Therefore, this Jezebel was an accepted member of his corporate bride, and Yeshua is threatening to divorce her with all her co-conspirators.
No wonder everyone thinks so poorly of so-called Christians.
“Knowing the righteous order of God…those practicing such things are worthy of death…” Rom 1:32
“And, O man, the one judging those who do such things, and practice them, do you think this, that you shall escape the judgment of God?” Rom 2:3
“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, with my spirit; also, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ; to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Cor 5:4-5
Technorati Tags: Ted Haggard, homosexuality, gay, prostitute, prostitution, hypocrites, christians, antinomian
Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t, but who is more believable? A male prostitute or a preacher and successful businessman? Preachers have certainly had their moments over the years, but considering the source of the accusations, I’d put my money on Ted Haggard.
Technorati Tags: Ted Haggard, homosexuality, gay, prostitute, prostitution
Not only can one man never know the depths of suffering or joy in another man’s heart, but no man can know the depths of any emotional state in another’s heart. I have said that I don’t believe mere humans are capable of unconditional love, but what is my belief to reality? I don’t really know how anyone else can love, just as they don’t know how I can love. One man will give up his life with no hope of gain in this world or the next. Another man can love five women with the same intensity and passion that other men love only one. One man can love and hate at the same time. Yet another man cannot love at all, and another man knows only hate.
We feel and experience our own lives, and we build a template through which we gauge all future events. Then we take our template and judge other men by it. What pathetic little morons we are.
(Don’t mistake this for a misapplication of the “judge not, lest ye be judged” principle. I’m only talking about what a man feels, not what he does. That’s a whole other story.)