Sunday, November 02, 2008
Dating and singlehood
3:59 pm
I just happened to be searching about other christian authors articles when the topics of these articles on the website caught my attention. I have noted in here, the articles of which has held my attention.
I found an article about a conversation of a group of friends about
Missionary Dating, that is dating a non-christian in hope of evangelising to them. It talks about the common questions and answers and arguements that people make about dating as well. This is reality.
http://www.boundless.org/2000/regulars/office_hours/a0000290.htmlAnd there was another conversation about this guy who was
just close friends with a girl, but never considered their little outings together alone as dating. It wasnt till the girl mentioned about commitment that he became frustrated because he felt that she had "turned the
friendship rules into dating rules". It also talks about how some girls may view their close guy friendships, and also the fear that guys may have about friendships with girls.
http://www.boundless.org/2001/regulars/office_hours/a0000591.htmlA Soul is Like a House by J. Budziszewski
A soul is like a house. All in a moment, I open the door of my house to Christ, bidding Him to come in. And so He does. Right away he begins scouring, throwing out trash, and letting in light and fresh air. I imagine that I have made Him the Lord of the manor, but have I? Not necessarily. I may only have given him possession of the entrance hall. After a while -- maybe after a very long while -- I permit myself to hear his tap-tap-tap on the door of the living room. Reluctantly, I relent and open that door too. He now has possession of both entrance hall and living room. What a relief to get them cleaned up. So has He the whole house at last? No, for even now I am shutting him out of my innermost, secret rooms.
Will I ever allow Him to be truly the Lord of the manor? If I do, how long will it take? For most of us, years, and perhaps with great suffering and struggle. This is normal. The suffering is part of the healing, like the pain of dental work.
When a sin is repented and forgiven, the guilt of the sin is gone, cut out, utterly vanished. However, the damage of the sin remains. Already-forgiven sexual sins, for example, may leave not only damage in the body, but deep stains in the imagination and desires, as well as injuries in the part of us that loves the truth. These stains and injuries generate stronger-than-usual temptations to relapse into the sins themselves. Just as it may take a long time to yield every category of sin to Christ for His forgiveness, so it make take a long time for the Holy Spirit to repair the damage of already-forgiven sin, and to heal those pre-existing weaknesses which make us susceptible. This too may involve great suffering and struggle. And the following passage by Candice Z. Watters talks about how people have misunderstood what Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 7 about
singlehood and the gift of celibacy:
The common misconception: The single years are more virtuous than the married ones, characterized by more faithful, focused and selfless living for the Kingdom. Christ is the sum total of what fulfills us -- to suggest that marriage can, or should fulfill us, is to devalue the role of Christ in our lives. Simply put: all we need is Jesus. The response to this could be an article in itself, because this belief seems to be an emerging motto of Christian singles everywhere. There's just one problem: Adam had perfect communion with God in the Garden of Eden and still God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Genesis 2:18) Everything else about Eden was said to be "good" by God. Everything, that is, except a man. Alone. People who claim that Jesus is enough typically quote 1 Corinthians 7. In it Paul says, "It is good for a man not to marry" and "an unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit." Paul is describing celibate service -- a calling God places on a select few men and women. Though Paul does say, "I wish that all men were as I am," he goes on to say, "But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that." The gift Paul is describing is celibacy -- a gift that equips a person to not "burn with passion" while enabling them to fully expend themselves in God's service without the distractions of spouse and children. How do you know if you have this gift? Dr. Albert Mohler , president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and member of Focus' board of directors suggests asking yourself, "can I go the rest of my life without sex, without the companionship of marriage, without having children and without being bitter about it?" If you answer yes, it's likely you do. For everyone else, the call is to marriage. To marry doesn't diminish the need for Christ. In fact, it increases it: The reason Christian marriage requires a vow is that no mere promise is enough to hold two mortals together for life. We're dependent on Christ to help us fulfill it. It's adapted from
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001145.cfm
