I wanted to take a moment to respond to your comment with hopes of being a help to you and others. I must admit being concerned/disappointed that you didn’t interact with what the verse said but only have communicated that you do not like it. Whether we like something God has said is not the issue. I asked some questions in my post that you did not address and I wish you would have. What does it mean that God created the man first? The verses mention that it was Eve who was deceived not Adam. I think you need to consider these items more than reacting in a way that you must know could not be proper and I am afraid was close to flippant.

But on to the matter. The command for women to be quiet is in the context of the church setting and this if one reads the Bible completely is not an absolute silence it has to do with women giving instruction to men which God has forbidden because of the order of creation, the man being made first and the woman being his helper not his instructor. The Bible in no way means that a woman is not to share her belief in God and love for the Lord with others.

But on to deeper matters…In your comment you mentioned believing in the Bible…believing it would mean accepting what is says is true correct? Do you believe it when it tells you that a woman is not to instruct a man? You also mentioned love for the Lord. Jesus tells us what loving Him means and I am afraid that it hardly matches the definition that most of us have. When we say love we tend to mean feelings when Jesus speaks of love He means actions first.

John 14:21-23
“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

What would loving Jesus look like in light of the verses I mentioned in the post? It would mean that a woman accepts that God in His wisdom has a place for her in His created order. This place includes many privileges and opportunities to do God’s work but it does not include assuming a place above her husband or any other man to be his instructor. To love the Lord in light of these verses would be to embrace what He made you to be and not to argue or find fault with Him.

The question for all of us is do we love the Lord when He tells us things we don’t immediately like? Does He for instance have the right to tell me or you to be quiet? Will I love Him if He does?

The effects of the fall are still in full swing in our day. For men this often means being weak or harsh, for women it means an ongoing attempt to rise above her husband and take his place which is what the first woman certainly did. We must look forward to the day when God fully rescues us from the curse of the fall then and only then will men fully be what they should be and likewise for women.

Let me lovingly encourage you to embrace what the Bible has said to you in these verses. Look carefully to see any evidence of a rebellious spirit in yourself. Your happiness is found in obeying God even when what He has said to you is difficult.

But that’s not the main reason for this. Myself and my bride to be are planning on getting married January 8th and traveling to Ocean City that evening. I was looking for local Reformed churches and found yours, but I can’t find any way to contact anybody there. No e-mail, no contact form, no phone number. So I’m trying a more circuitous route. I’m interested in knowing what a typical order of worship is and whether or not your congregation sings psalms.
Logan West
west.logan AT gmail.com

When Brenna and I discussed the Terri Schaivo case, it was during research she was doing for a criminal justice class. No emotional attachment. I knew she wanted to live. All her body functions were operating as God intended. The only answer the medical profession had was “turn off the feeding tube.” Not on my watch!

Each day I sing to her, read to her, and pray for her. We beging the day with devotions. I sing, to paraphrase a Gaither song, “Because He lives, You can face this moment.” I follow that with my own song, “In the name of Your Son, we claim the healing.”

I told the hospital case manager that Hitler was dancing with glee through the fires of hell because we appear to have legally perfected a way to ensure survival of the fittest.

Brenna had hopes, plans, dreams and a deep faith in God’s abiding plan for her life on the 25th of May. Nothing changed on the 26th except her health condition.

When I looked at my daughter in CCU and saw the abject horror on her face at hearing the insensitive comments around her, and realized that she recognized my voice, there was no way I could let her life end. During the constant badgering by the medical profession, I reminded them that Brenna’s case was not like Terri Schaivo’s. I had no insensitive husband to deal with. Shortly before this happened, Brenna and I had talked about Terri’s case. Brenna felt it was wrong, immoral for Terri’s husband to keep Terri’s family away from her in the end, and not to allow them the right to rehabilitate her in the beginning.

Brenna is not a burden. This is not a sacrifice. I am not a hero. I am a mother who loves her daughter with her whole heart and soul. Yes, she will never reach the “normal” people claim as normal. But she will reach a new normal and will be a messenger of God.

In the days following her tragic event, I cried and prayed long in the hospital chapel. One night I said at last, “Thy will be done.” As I walked back into her room that night, I heard a voice say, “And do you trust me?” YES, LORD, I trust.

Last week at 3:22 AM. I was awakened from a deep sleep. I heard a voice clearly say to me, “SHE SHALL BE HEALED”. The healing may not be on the level of acceptance by many in society. But, God will use her circumstances to His Glory.

I believe it. God said it. And I know tis true.

I was actually pondering this as well. That’s how I stumbled upon this post. As a believer in both irresistible Grace and the actual Word, I concluded that the Rich Young Ruler (RYR) was never offered grace.

Let me explain. Grace by definition means to receive something you don’t deserve. However, the RYR felt he DESERVED eternal life as shown by his response to Christ’s answer. Therefore, even though Christ extended eternal life to this man, to him it would not be considered as an offer of Grace, but rather reward.

Since he does not acknowledge his own sin, he is unable to recognize Grace, even when offered to his face. Since he was unable to recognize Grace, from his perspective, he was never offered Grace. As far as he was concerned, Christ merely gave him a difficult command with a reward.