It is a micro-cosmos. Every household is one atom in the substance of God’s kingdom. And it is through man's powerful sex drive that these households are built.
Then, through households, societies are established.
2 Culture begins and emanates from the household. It is where the next generation of men is shaped and trained, until they leave their father and mother, join themselves to a wife, and start the process anew.
It is through households that dominion is exercised.
3 One man alone achieves very little. A man and wife achieve more. A man, his wife, & their grown children are a force to be reckoned with—especially as those children in turn build households that fit together into his, establishing an extended house of considerable power.
4 As households multiply like this, cities are formed.
Soon the relationships of this network of households must be managed and protected, and so the natural role of the patriarch is extended into the office of the magistrate; civil government is established.
5 Cities form alliances with other cities and form states. States covenant with other states and form nations. Thus it is that commonwealths, kingdoms, and even great empires spring forth from the natural, God-endowed sex drives of men.
6 Sex is the engine of God’s dominion: the means by which he designed man to establish heaven on earth.
Well, I'm glad that chattel slavery came to an end in the states. Not a fan of a bloody civil war. But I understand why those who descended from slaves would want to celebrate their freedom & look to do so on a day that represents a milestone.
2/ I'm not offended by it. Does it warrant a national holiday? I don't know. My attitude is pretty ambivalent. I think most national holidays are unnecessary.
3/ I do suspect that Juneteenth will be used as yet another tool to further advance Critical Race Theory and shame anyone who doesn't bow the knee to the religion du jour.
So I get why many will be annoyed and even angered at the conversation around Juneteenth.
Our society, in general, is rejecting the biblical teaching that marriage, sex, and children are inseparable and interrelated components of a household.
So much so that if one is missing there are real and lasting consequences...
2/ For example, a marriage that is sexless is an exceedingly difficult marriage. Sex is one of the chief benefits of marriage. It helps alleviate sexual temptation and is source of comfort in a fallen world. That is the teaching of Scripture and the Westminster Standards.
3/ Sex that is marriage-less is destructive. It leads to children growing up in homes with a single parent and is a major cause for abortions.
Moreover, there are the improper emotional bonds that it creates between two people with no covenantal commitment made to each other.
My thesis is simple: both sexes are attracted to the sex-specific attributes that are central to fulfilling the creation mandate (Gen. 1:27-28).
1. The creation mandate has two interrelated commands 1) be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth & 2) subdue and rule the earth. In other words, God commanded mankind as a whole to reproduce image-bearers (children) that will subdue the earth for God’s glory (culture).
So…
a. Mankind is designed to have fruitful sex.
b. The fruit of that sex (children) is essential to creating God glorifying culture.
c. Therefore, the fulfilling of the command requires the sexes to cooperate biologically.
When women hold power in a church—whether officially or unofficially—two things tend to happen:
1. They strive to include anyone agreeable, regardless of error;
2. They strive to exclude anyone disagreeable, regardless of orthodoxy.
The reason for this is not due to some defect in women; on the contrary, it is exactly because God designed them to be the knitters-together of a society. Comity & harmony are women's forte & their ability to influence others toward such togetherness is both good & glorious...
...in its proper context. If you think of polite society at its best, of the way that it tempers the hard edges of men & establishes a structured space in which everyone can be included & feel confident of a place through observing the proper decorum, this is largely driven by...