But for an undue judgment, I’d say for Christians it’s whenever judgment is exercised in a way that does not honor God.

Tim

I would still like to meet a BDSMer who practices and still believes in absolute truth and the God of Israel as revealed in Scripture.

I love your points about looking to the fruits of the spirit to gauge maturity. I think that’s a lot more reliable than church attendance, for instance.

I think the most helpful idea about the husband is the head is to re-consider that this is a metaphor, not a role. In other words, just as “head” can mean authority in some passages, it can also mean source (headwaters of a river) in other passages. So it helps to consider that head may mean more of an organic dependence on the body (wife) than it means the boss or leader.

I’ve found that the man is not put over the woman until they sin in Gen 3. In fact the judgment “and he shall rule over you (woman)” seems to indicate that the woman was not under the man UNTIL they sinned. I wrote more about this in Ruby Slippers the book, last chapter.

Wondering what you do with Ephesians 5:21 where Paul says that all members are to submit to each other?

I agree with you that submission and sacrificial love are often the same thing. I’ve found the role reversal of Ruth proposing to Boaz a good example of that. Ruth sacrificially loving Boaz, and Boaz submitting to her idea.

Glad to hear you thoughts on this.

Well, I’m glad I bet ya to it.

Your answers soar.

I also would take Polanyi’s line about tacit knowledge. I think we learn to use the tool of prayer. The more we use it, like the surgeon with his blade, the more it becomes an extension of our spirit to search the spirit of God. Or is that stretching 1 Cor 2:10 too far?

I know God’s voice like I know the ones I love, it is more honest and steady than my own. He is also quicker to give pardon and to suggest wild ways of living than I. Scripture does help in setting a precedent, but in other ways it doesn’t assure me that God will not also ask me to do strange things like living in the desert on raven’s visits.

We follow a God who is all love and curious novelty in his ideas. But the steadiness of his presence is perhaps the single most identifying factor. I’m not always euphoric or discouraged, but I always sense he wants me to know how he is FOR me.

No other human can come close to that.