@Myrrh
Hi Grace,
You asked,
Nope, generally speaking it was more to be a loving silent witness so that their husbands’ would be won over by the wife’s conduct, and become Christian.
I am also sure that some men who were into false god’s could easily become angry at their wives and forbid them to mention Jesus in the house. Like if they liked their trips to the temple to be with whores as their pagan worship. A hard habit to break for some men.
Some husbands might harm their wives for becoming believers, but I do not think it was the norm of the day, but I am sure it happened.
Husbands were considered head of the house, period. Women were easily abused in that day for a multitude of reasons and were considered as property. Many were in forced arranged marriages.
This Christianity thing often turned men off because of the upgrading of a woman’s stature. The Apostle Paul spoke a lot about this and to this day men still read and get the following passage wrong and out of context.
Ephesians 5:23-24
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
One of the biggest mistakes new Christians make, is attempting to cram Christianity down the throats of their friends and or their spouses. Once that person has heard the ABC’s of salvation, and they understand where you are coming from, let it go.
The seed has been planted if they don’t accept the Lord right away.
Someone else will come along and water it.
And when it grows, someone else will come along to feed it. But it is the Holy Spirit who does all of this work, not us.
It is the Will of the Father that no one should perish.
Can you agree that this sort of thing could potentially make a person angry, depending on the person? The last thing one would want to do is cause dissention in one’s own home.
Absolutely! And the Word of God never comes back void.
A better game plan is to PRAY, and to have the brethren praying for that persons salvation as well. There is POWER in PRAYER just like there is power in the Word of God.
God always answers prayer.
But it is on God’s timetable, not ours.
Therein lies the problem for some Christians.
They become impatient and give up on God when they don’t get an answer right away.
Not too smart move.
You know what is truly sad. JMac actually is an excellent teacher for the most part. But he like all men can fall and blow it. I can remember about 15 years ago he got himself into some pretty hot water, and I openly called him a heretic at our church. That got me is some hot water but I was right.
He had passed judgement of condemnation on another major Christian denomination.
Pastors from all over California and the US approached his Elders and complained of his sin.
To JMac’s credit he did publicly apologize and he repented.
But it was such a shame when it happened.
It just goes to show you that all pastors have to be held accountable. If something does not ring true no mater who it is, question it and search the Word of God in context for the answer.
Agape,
Ken
