QC and SG accountability (26/5/17)
We discussed Selwyn's question from his friend whose dentist wife was thinking of going overseas for some time for higher education. And the question was, "Is it right for the wife to prioritize her career above her husband's?". He mentions Piper's point (http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/lionhearted-and-lamblike-the-christian-husband-as-head-part-2) that husbands should be the primary providers in the home.
We said that, although the usual model is that husbands ordinarily provide for their wives, the clear Scriptural mandate had to do with authority and responsibility of the husbands for the family, not with issues of financial or career security. So we affirm that husbands may have lower-paying jobs than the wife without feeling that they have not fulfilled their God-given role.It may be that the wife chooses a lower standard of living by giving up their job in order to be a housewife and mother, but we do not see that this is mandated in Scripture. In Selwyn's friend's case, the temporary setting aside of the husband's career is not intrinsically wrong, but when all factors are prayerfully and wisely taken into account, the husband is responsible for the final joint decision he takes with his wife.
We also asked why God should set a Tree (of knowledge of good and evil) in the Garden of Eden, exposing man to the possibility of disobedience, sin and punishment. We said that this offered man the possibility of a choice between obedience and disobedience. Adam and Eve, being perfect, had true ability to choose between the two. We, who since Adam and Eve's fall are tainted with sin, now have no ability to choose righteousness. We make 'free' choices according to our greatest desire, but our greatest desires are all now coloured with sin.
The Tree of knowledge of good and evil represents the ability, like God's, to determine what is good and what is evil. So the act of eating the fruit makes us God-like (Gen 3:5), but dependent on our idea of morality - God is no longer the highest source of our value system.
God foresaw the Fall, and planned it for His own purposes in glory (Eph 1:4-10) even before the creation of the world.
We said that, although the usual model is that husbands ordinarily provide for their wives, the clear Scriptural mandate had to do with authority and responsibility of the husbands for the family, not with issues of financial or career security. So we affirm that husbands may have lower-paying jobs than the wife without feeling that they have not fulfilled their God-given role.It may be that the wife chooses a lower standard of living by giving up their job in order to be a housewife and mother, but we do not see that this is mandated in Scripture. In Selwyn's friend's case, the temporary setting aside of the husband's career is not intrinsically wrong, but when all factors are prayerfully and wisely taken into account, the husband is responsible for the final joint decision he takes with his wife.
We also asked why God should set a Tree (of knowledge of good and evil) in the Garden of Eden, exposing man to the possibility of disobedience, sin and punishment. We said that this offered man the possibility of a choice between obedience and disobedience. Adam and Eve, being perfect, had true ability to choose between the two. We, who since Adam and Eve's fall are tainted with sin, now have no ability to choose righteousness. We make 'free' choices according to our greatest desire, but our greatest desires are all now coloured with sin.
The Tree of knowledge of good and evil represents the ability, like God's, to determine what is good and what is evil. So the act of eating the fruit makes us God-like (Gen 3:5), but dependent on our idea of morality - God is no longer the highest source of our value system.
God foresaw the Fall, and planned it for His own purposes in glory (Eph 1:4-10) even before the creation of the world.
Comments
Post a Comment