Rumblings Of A Revolution On Singleness...?
Captain Sensible writes: Hmm, rumblings of a revolution are appearing, and I have posted a comment from Sarah to that effect on this thread here. Debbie Maken has also mentioned that the time might be right for something along these lines.
However -- I find myself hesitating.
We do need to change tactics. I am coming to the conclusion that the blogosphere is fruitless. Too much rubbish being posted here, there and everywhere (well, I like to think not here exactly ;)), and it just sucks up vast resources of time and energy.
But is the time right for direct action or not?
My feeling at the moment is that this is very much a spiritual battle. I firmly believe God has revealed to me that we need to remove the scales from people's eyes (and I even heard "something like scales" falling to the ground en masse at the same time as I received this revelation!).
So to me, trying to persuade church leaders and others with words, is not going to help. (And personal experience seems to bear witness to this.)
The battle is in the spiritual realm and it's there where we need to focus our energies now, in my opinion.
My proposal would be to aim for 24-hour continual prayer about this issue (including in it that God will remove the scales from people's eyes and liberally using the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word!). Several of us live in different time zones, which will help. :) And even if we are unable to make it 24 hours exactly, drenching this issue in prayer is going to have an effect for certain.
It will also help wherever possible for people to gather in twos and threes and pray together weekly.
My concern is that if we weigh in with protests locally or whatever, without this prayer offensive, we are just going to get tired, disillusioned and demotivated, because no amount of reasoned argument can remove the spiritual blindness -- only Scripturally-seasoned prayer (and maybe fasting if anyone is so inclined).
Thoughts anyone? Anyone willing to commit to this, please email me at the address given on mine and Frieda's profile.
Thanks! And be encouraged! The battle is already won -- we just need everyone else to be aware of that fact!
However -- I find myself hesitating.
We do need to change tactics. I am coming to the conclusion that the blogosphere is fruitless. Too much rubbish being posted here, there and everywhere (well, I like to think not here exactly ;)), and it just sucks up vast resources of time and energy.
But is the time right for direct action or not?
My feeling at the moment is that this is very much a spiritual battle. I firmly believe God has revealed to me that we need to remove the scales from people's eyes (and I even heard "something like scales" falling to the ground en masse at the same time as I received this revelation!).
So to me, trying to persuade church leaders and others with words, is not going to help. (And personal experience seems to bear witness to this.)
The battle is in the spiritual realm and it's there where we need to focus our energies now, in my opinion.
My proposal would be to aim for 24-hour continual prayer about this issue (including in it that God will remove the scales from people's eyes and liberally using the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word!). Several of us live in different time zones, which will help. :) And even if we are unable to make it 24 hours exactly, drenching this issue in prayer is going to have an effect for certain.
It will also help wherever possible for people to gather in twos and threes and pray together weekly.
My concern is that if we weigh in with protests locally or whatever, without this prayer offensive, we are just going to get tired, disillusioned and demotivated, because no amount of reasoned argument can remove the spiritual blindness -- only Scripturally-seasoned prayer (and maybe fasting if anyone is so inclined).
Thoughts anyone? Anyone willing to commit to this, please email me at the address given on mine and Frieda's profile.
Thanks! And be encouraged! The battle is already won -- we just need everyone else to be aware of that fact!
posted by Captain Sensible at 1:14 PM
8 Comments:
i know that as a recent christian i have not devoted myself enough to praying about things that i am hopeful for, because i see many otherwise non-spiritual or non-religious people getting granted things that i could pray all my might for.
i am starting with one prayer per day on something that i would like to achieve (getting a job is what i am praying for right now). i tell myself it doesn't have to be anything formal but a part of me feels like the prayer has more power if i make my prayer longer. i know, that sounds strange. but what isn't strange anymore.
i hope i haven't contributed to any nonsensical rubbish here and i am sorry if i did, but even if the blogosphere doesn't feel like it is for you anymore, i can't help but echo the statements you are making, exactly, as i do debbie maken's. i hope you keep the blog up though, because i really feel the need to look at your postings lately, because they are exactly how i am feeling. i don't even find anything i disagree with yet.
that's all for now.
Btw, I am not exactly disagreeing with Sarah's comment, and an abridged version of Debbie's book that we can hand out to people is a great idea!
Maybe -- to borrow a phrase from Carolyn McCulley (bet you didn't think that would ever happen!) -- maybe it's a "both/and"?
Although I personally do think organised, regular, committed prayer, is an essential first step...
Oh my goodness, I would NEVER disagree with prayer!
In fact, I think it's a very wise, absolutely essential beginning.
I do think that more organization is necessary, even for prayer -- a togetherness wherein we KNOW that we are not alone (of course we're never alone, but God left us here as His corporate body; He didn't whisk us into heaven the moment we came to know Him, so we still have work to do as His corporeal representatives, and a body has to be unified collectively to do something as simple as walking), but working together in spirit.
So when are you staging this twenty-four hours of prayer? Can you start it for this Sunday? Wherever we live on the planet, Sunday at midnight is when this vigil begins? Something along those lines? And then maybe set aside one specific day a week to pray, and/or fast when we do?
Perhaps one of the focuses of the prayer vigil could be, alongside praying for the scales to fall from people's eyes, and for a reinstitution of marriage in the worldwide church, that God would also show us a way to revolt wisely and well.
Because it's an idea that's been weighing on me for some time -- quite some time -- and I'm not sure what the first steps are. Organization isn't always my strongest suit, but I know this can't be done haphazardly by one or two people, and it can't be done haphazardly by thousands of people. It has to be done by unified people.
And you're absolutely right: That has to begin in prayer.
What do you say to kicking off a prayer vigil, Captain? Can we call this some kind of center of operation? This IS the most widely visited place I've found so far...
I think this blog is doing a very important job, namely, helping to open our eyes to the real situation. Everything you wrote here, I have felt, but I hadn't succeeded in putting it all together, or in vocalizing it, before. Now I have a blog I can direct other people to, other singles who are tired of being single and tired of their churches doing nothing.
I agree that prayer for this issue is desperately needed. I've personally been praying for a spouse for 10 years. You've opened my eyes to the fact that I need to be praying for this as a global issue, and not just for me.
At the very least, even if you don't continue this blog, please, please, please don't erase it. (At the most, if you're fed up, you could have someone else continue it.)
God bless, I'm praying for you and for our common burden,
Jennifer
I've thought about this a while back and since it's come up I'll offer my suggestion. A strike. I've never really been a fan of union tactics, but I understand why they do it.
Here's what I'm thinking we continue attending our respective churches, sitting in the pews and doing nothing else. We give no money and offer no volunteer service until the biblical understanding/teaching of marriage/singleness is taught properly in our respective church. It also helps if the ministers understand why we would do this. Don't just not show up to chior practice and wait for the phone calls asking why.
I also want to point out that this cannot turn into a, "We demand a spouse now!" thing. For one that
is not the point and two there are people out there who are starting to think that we are a bunch of complaining spoiled brats who aren't getting what we want, when we want it. Again this all has to do with removing false teaching of marriage/singleness from the churches.
Thoughts?
Hi bballfan6 - Well, I don't know about this! What does everyone else think?
Personally, I would be against such a strike, at least not initially. Possibly as a very last resort!
However, here's a thought: I appreciate that the wrong teaching on singleness, and the lack of men in church, are two different issues. But they are not exactly unrelated! I would be in favour of saying to a church leader that the issue of men's outreach is now so serious, that the person is unwilling to carry on with "business as usual" until this problem is addressed. For that reason, the only ministry that they are willing to play a part in at the present time is men's ministry related. And women will just need to help facilitate that too, in whatever way they can.
With regard to tithes, it may be difficult to put the condition on that it is only to be used for men's outreach purposes, so I would suggest saying that you are in future going to be using that sum to support an organisation that is dedicated to men's outreach. However you would be willing to donate money to the church's men's outreach causes and would then be happy to write a cheque to support that.
With regard to your point about being perceived as demanding a spouse, I really wouldn't worry too much about that! It's a very convenient, low brain cell count way of trying to undermine us and avoid the real issue, and may have its roots in genuine stupidity, spiritual blindness or deliberate deceitfulness.
Of course we will be misunderstood and have nonsense directed at us. It's going to come with the territory and, quite frankly, the Bible is full of such examples of the righteous being misunderstood and/or persecuted. Jesus faced it, and so will we.
It would be helpful for as many married men and women to get behind us as possible, and of course it helps that Debbie Maken is married!
But we have to do the best we can with the army God has given us, and pray that He will "add to (our) numbers daily".
Or would it be a mistake to bring men's outreach into this?
It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation.
The right teaching on singleness/marriage will highlight the need for more men.
But then bringing more men into the church might just help the wrong teaching pretty much die a natural death anyway.
The men that are in the church will suddenly have a lot of competition for the women, and I don't think the "contented bachelors" or rather, self-appointed eunuchs, will be quite so "content" when they see all the Christian women suddenly become unavailable to them, even as "friends"!
Again, thoughts?
Apologies for all these postings!
I just thought that is something else the women can do, in addition to any appeals to church leaders.
They can, and must, stop encouraging men in their commitment phobia by ceasing to be such good "friends" with them.
When the eunuchs realise they are devoid of meaningful female company, they might just acknowledge the wisdom of God when He said that it is good to get married!
It doesn't need to be done in an unkind way. Just that the women concerned wants to get married and she feels that she wants to concentrate her time and energy on men that are marriage-minded now, rather than those that are "just friends".
The more women that are unafraid to say to men that they want to get married, the better, in my opinion.
If some guys are freaked out by that, well, good! The woman hasn't wasted too much of her valuable time on a man that chooses to be disobedient to the Biblical mandate to be fruitful and multiply! (And the realisation of what they have lost, just might propel them into thinking of her as a potential wife, as opposed to just another female friend that they can string along for a while until the perfect woman shows up...!)
;)
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