Ephesians 4-6

[wolfpurplemoon]

Paul urges those who have been called to live in a way worthy of their calling. He also wants them to get past the stage of their faith that makes them vulnerable to being swayed to the 'wrong' beliefs by deceitful people. They must put aside their sinful ways and falsehoods and instead be the image of God, apparently righteousness and holiness come from truth. The followers of Christ are to labour with their own hands to create something to share with those in need and to only say nice things and be kind and compassionate.

The followers have to let nobody deceive them with empty words, but there's no instructions about how to tell whether words are empty. They also have to expose the deeds and shameful secrets of the darkness, but with no directions as to what exactly is considered impure and immoral (apart from that 'sexual immorality' that is mentioned a lot, the leaders of the church were obsessed with what everyone did in their bedrooms even then).

You should not be foolish and understanding the Lord's will makes you wise. Some specific rules include not getting drunk with wine (but spirits and beer OK?), but instead be filled with the holy spirit and sing joyous songs.

Paul likes giving instructions about how husbands and wives should treat each other, mostly reasonable (husband to love wife as he loves himself) if misogynistic (wife to submit to husband in everything).

Oh Paul, it was going so well, reminding children about honouring their parents and then segueing straight into telling slaves to be subservient and to obey their masters enthusiastically. At least he tells the masters to stop threatening their slaves.

Paul thinks there is a battle going on against the schemes of the devil and you have to put on your God armour for this spiritual battle, the parts of this armour even have important sounding names, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. Also you'll need the breastplate of righteousness and the sword of the spirit. I get the whole be good and be nice to each other stuff, but why wasn't Paul laughed out of wherever he was after coming up with God armour?

Comments

Husband and Wife

[blesserbeing.livejournal.com]

Very simple. Basically in marriage there are only two people. There is no third party involved.
So when the wife and husband fail to compromise on something, what the husband says goes.
This may have been taken out of proportion in the world.

Prayer

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious, are you praying at all during this time? Ask God to help you see. Even if you don't believe he's there...would it hurt to try?

Re: Prayer

[wolfpurplemoon]

I don't understand the purpose of talking to myself about what I'm reading, surely thinking it through and writing out my thoughts is enough?

Re: Prayer

[liedownlovely.livejournal.com]

But you're not 'talking to yourself'. You're talking to god. Supposedly. And by doing so you'll reveal secrets of the universe ™ . But if you don't do it then you just suck.

Ugh. Don't get me started on the creationist logic circle of "to understand the bible you must be saved, and to be saved you must read the bible". We've been there before, lol.

Re: Prayer

[wolfpurplemoon]

Yes, I do remember being there before! :)

Re: Prayer

[blesserbeing.livejournal.com]

Ya and praying without faith doesn't amount to much.

Re: Prayer

[liedownlovely.livejournal.com]

According to your Facebook profile, you're a fan of Futurama, True Blood, That 70's Show, Green Day, and some other things that would make your bible curdle if it knew you watched.

But you do like Pokemon. I can't fault you for that.

I don't get it. You're preaching to us, yet you subscribe to liking these really worldly, really sexual, really obscenely blunt things. Shows that I have no guilt in watching because well, I have no need to keep my thoughts and heart 'pure' the same way Christians are called to. Are you a believer in the whole "god is love" thing? No punishment for sin? Are you a modern-day American evangelical? Or what?

I'm just... really curious what your faith is, exactly.

Re: Prayer

[blesserbeing.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll have to admit, True Blood is pretty bad. But seriously, all the other shows? Yes, I'm a Christian. Yes, I try to follow that path to the best of my ability. And Yes, I am not perfect. At times I stray from bible teachings without realizing it, other times I remember the bible and don't.

Thanks for the help, though. I do need to be reminded of things like this more often. And I should definitely quit watching True Blood...

I believe in a God of love, punishment for sin, and I am a Christian. We good?

Re: Prayer

[blesserbeing.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Pokemon comment by the way. I've always wondered if people would consider me a weirdo if I started playing those games again...

Re: Prayer

[wolfpurplemoon]

No point me praying then!

[(Anonymous)]

Slavery in the Bible was very different to today. In the Old Testament, it was something one person could sign themSELVES up to if they had debts they couldn't pay back in another way.

I don't think Paul is affirming slavery here. I think he is affirming the Christian way to act if you are a slave or if you are a master. Remember, Christianity didn't start to change massive social structures outside the Church for quite a while (few centuries at least, I think).

Keep in mind, there was still revolutionary change within the Church. Male & female, slave & free, Jews & Gentiles were all of equal value and equally saved in GOD's eyes therefore they should all fellowship together (yes Paul does take on a complementariam view of marriage here but I think he still thinks they're equal- he's just affirming a particular social order of marriage). THIS WAS HUGE. And the start of the process that eventually led ppl on the basis of their Biblical understanding to end slavery, especially the sortnof slavery seen in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

I'm reading your blog backwards but.....

[aaron jones (from livejournal.com)]

Okay, Spiritual warfare is a quite physical event. Just last week my daughter who's almost 13 accepted Christ. Then the very next day she gets in a fight at school(1st time ever) and later in the week stayed home from school without permission(also a 1st) We read the Ephesians 6 with my life application study bible and also I explained my experiences in this matter as a former drug addict. Satan will tempt. Others and yourself to disrupt your journey with Christ. Doubt, fear, fleshly desires, and dis obedience are just many of the weapons he uses. Satan hates losing his people and will do anything he can to keep you far from God.

Chapter 5 states a man should love his wife as Christ loved the church. If he can do that he'll never have to worry about her respecting him. I'm needing to sleep but I can go on and on about what I've learned about this chapter.

Re: I'm reading your blog backwards but.....

[wolfpurplemoon]

Is your daughter getting in fights because she's being bullied for accepting Christ (and then staying home to avoid the bullies)? Because that's the only way I could see that these events would count as some sort of spiritual warfare.

To me it sounds very egotistical to say that not only does the creator of the entire universe care about some intelligent apes on an insignificant planet but there's some kind of omnipotent evil being that wishes to fight said creator over the fate of those same intelligent apes. Obviously I don't believe in either of them, I just don't understand why an all-powerful being would create the entire universe in order to make life on one tiny planet and then take an interest in the affairs of individual humans.

Re: I'm reading your blog backwards but.....

[aaron jones (from livejournal.com)]

I can see you point. Though Try to pray to God and then watch all the doubt flood your mind. Submit to Christ on sunday then watch how things on monday seem to be against you in way that is out of the ordinary. The evil one wants to keep his people. His mission is to keep you far from a holy God.