Speaking of Blogroll

I am on a blog roll. This will be my third post of the day. Now I should be working on my dissertation, but I am having a few motivational issues. It wasn't helped by having a large infusion of blogs to read through. One of my goals for this blog was to share Sabbath School material with others, in hopes that Sabbath School will be more meaningful. Of course I have now learned that there are several other people out there doing the same thing, only better. For example, Pastor Greg,has an excellent post about family unity.

Back in Roman times, after all, one of charges laid against Christians was the way they subverted “traditional family values.” Christianity undermined the authority of parents, people said. Christianity weakened the ties of marriage, people said. Christianity encouraged children to revolt, women to think for themselves, and men to lose all sense of honor, dignity, and even patriotism.

It reminds of In Search of Paul, by Crossan, which I review here. Roman society was very male dominated. If you read Ephesians 5:21-33, as a Roman would have read it, it is quite shocking. It starts out, "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ." Of course today, our society is more egalitarian, which makes Pauls words seem much less radical than they were. In response to a preceived threat to the family, "Wives be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22)" is frequently interpreted by conservative Christians to justify inequality. Later, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church...(Ephesians 5:25)." If anybody thinks husbands are getting off easy, please read your Bible again to see just how Christ loved his church.