What Difference Does It Make! (part one)

Some time ago then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while being questioned about the Benghazi debacle made the fateful statement, "What difference does it make!"  Much criticism has come her way for that fateful statement. In life we each have moments of --what difference does it make-- and our relationship to that statement comes with the context in which it's made. 

I would like to believe that I am a writer, that I am an intelligent thinker, but of all of these things that I believe, it is most important that I know I am a Christian.

Because of the supposition that I am a writer I do quite a bit of research for my writing.  In researching things I often come across things hard to wrap my mind around.  A few years ago I came across a somewhat prevalent philosophy stated by some young --I would call them scoundrels.  The philosophy was that they didn't need marriage.  They had several women that would come and take care of their needs--be it clean their house, prepare food, or ...other.  And if for some reason the woman came up pregnant--well she could just go on her way and take care of the situation in whatever way.  It was none of their concern...what difference did it make?

Another prevalent philosophy is the one of living together...trying it out, seeing if as a couple they fit.  I mean, again, what difference does it make?

As an intelligent thinker I ask myself, what difference does it make?  We have heard Proverbs 14:34  "Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people." for many years.  Often when people talk about the sins of our nation this is the verse that is used, but let's stop and consider a few things.

In a recent conversation I had another person reply to a statement --"I just don't think the Bible is the best way to live--why, what do you think people need it for?  You think people would be walking around stabbing one another with out it?"--  I don't know what la la land that person lives in, but even with God's moral code people are stabbing one another, knocking people out, and much more.   And no one has ever come up with a better moral code than the one God has provided.  As an intelligent thinker--what difference does it make?

 Jamestown was begun with young single men looking for gold and treasure.  They believed all they would need to do was walk along the beach and pick up gold and treasure.  So they came, some with their servants, but it didn't work out well for them.  The English investors found that men with families made much better subjects for building communities.  God could have told them that--matter-of-fact he did back in Genesis 2:18  "And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him..."  Genesis 2:23  "And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24)  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

It is not good for man to be alone-- Some people say that marriage was for 'procreation'.  To bring children into a home environment, and according to their way of thinking, since we now have birth control they can shack up and just be fine.  Marriage is passe, just live together for your own pleasure...  However narrow minded it may seem to these folks that isn't what God said it was for.  Reread Genesis 2:18, God said 'it is not good for man to be alone'.  Marriage is for companionship for men and women, for love as well as having a 'help meet' for life.  It is a committment to love and honor your helpmeet.  Some 'one man, one woman' unions are blessed with children, some are not, but they can still be a strong building block in the community.

Recently there have been many 'flaps' centering around the narrow-mindedness of people of faith who  quote scriptures supporting the view that anything that veers from the 'one man, one woman' doctrine is wrong.  Because I believe that I am an intelligent thinker, one of the questions that I ask (again) is --what difference does it make?

Take a look around, just pause for awhile and look around.  Just as the woman back up a few paragraphs tried to dismiss the Bible and God's standards as passe with a ridiculous remark, when we dismiss God's standards for people's lives in any area we create havoc in society in  general and individual lives specifically, and it moves beyond ridiculous into horrendous. 

There have through the ages been both men and women who have kicked against their lot in life.  Within the last hundred years give or take a few years, women's rights and women's liberation has become popular.  Now, I'm not saying anything about injustice and basic human rights for either men or women.  There are times when basic human rights need to be upheld, when in the name of mercy and justice these rights need to be protected no matter if one is rich or poor, man or woman, weak or strong.  God means for women, children, the poor, and weak amongst our communities to be protected and cared for.   Sadly, women's liberation was not meant to help or protect women and children, and indeed it has not done so.  It has only torn down and destroyed much of what God put in place as a hedge and a protection for women and children. 

A few generations ago people threw off all traces of integrity.  Like a super nova flinging off fingers of light in every direction, people of the 1960's suddenly rebelled and questioned the bedrock of our foundations as a society.  Questioning is not in itself wrong, but apparently there either was no one with answers, or the rebels didn't have enough sense to discern what the right answers were.  People are their own worst enemies in all too many cases.  They are victims, but they are victims of themselves. And what difference does it make?

"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too!"
(Tilbury speech, 1588. See section on The Spanish Armada)

Even Queen Elizabeth I acknowledged in a sense that she as a woman had her limitations.  Many is the time women of today have been encouraged to believe they can do it all.  They are super women.  They can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in the pan...but this mentality has left many women trying to juggle home, children, jobs, finances--by themselves as single moms.  No longer are they considered the fair sex to be protected and cherished, they are something to be used and tossed away.  To be continued...