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The Fallacy of the Firstborn Right of Leadership

There is a long time popular fallacy and misinterpretation of Scripture that declares only males can be public leaders because the male was created first in the record of Genesis.

Recently, one of our Bible Study groups had the privilege of reading through the book of Genesis.  One of several things that stood out was that God never choose the first born to be leaders.  God always choose the one whose heart and intent was righteous.  Put these very clear facts of history together with the other glaring omission of God ever stating that the first born had leadership rights, and we see that this concept is man made and inserted into the interpretation of what is said in Genesis.  It is also inserted into the interpretation of what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2. 

What God did say in Genesis is that it was not good for the human to be alone.  This had nothing to do with authority or leadership, but aloneness. AFTER the man discovered what God already knew, that there was no one LIKE him (not different than), God proceeded to take of the man’s own essence and reform and refine it into the only one who was like the human enough to allay his aloneness — another human, but female. All of this had nothing whatsoever to do with the females fitness for leadership because God gave humanity, not male humans, the responsibility of leadership over the creation. The ability to compassionately lead, guide, protect and direct to promote life is part of the image of God that all humans share. Some are more gifted than others. But it is not imparted by being born first. It was imparted to all humans by the supernatural hand of our Creator. 

 

 

SUPERNATURAL FAITH



Supernatural faith is when we are in the flow of God’s heart and our heart.  We are in the moment of realness, real life and pure truth. It is not about doing something.  It is about being in truth what God is drawing up in our soul and heart. We don’t have to try or strain, we need only respond to what the Holy Spirit is releasing within us.  It is not a skill or a character trait, yet we can learn to do it. First we must know God’s voice and the urging of the Holy Spirit. Then we must learn to trust God. And then we must learn to yield to God’s urgings.

Knowing God’s voice will come naturally as we spend quality time in conversation with the Lord. I say conversation because it involves listening as well as sharing our hearts in honesty. Honesty is key.  Sometimes we will struggle with being honest because we don’t know our own heart. As we struggle to release our own hearts to God in truth, the Holy Spirit will help us.  Step by step we will learn to hear and recognize God’s impressions and directions in our lives.  It is a process that takes time just like an athlete get’s stronger with practice and a painter gets more precise with practice.

Trusting God is learned by obedience to His directions.  It also involves knowing God’s voice and knowing God’s inspired words in Scripture. Jesus is the Word and the Word is God. This is why Isaiah 55 says that the Word that goes forth from God’s ‘mouth’ will not return void but it will accomplish that which He purposed and it will prosper in the thing it was sent for.  This is tricky because most believers do not know God’s written word well at all.  As we learn God’s written Word and His living words on our soul, we will slowly mature in trust because our heart will learn that ultimately God’s loves us more and better than any living soul is capable.  Whatever the Lord says and directs is for the purpose of lifting our hearts with good news, with binding the inner wounds of our soul, to release those bound in sin and darkness so that they may experience the light and life of God’s goodness.  While it is true that sometimes healing is painful and being released from our addictions is frightening, the end result is holy freedom and living life such as we’ve never lived it before.

YIELDING TO GOD’S URGINGS involves both hearing and trusting God.  We cannot yield to what we cannot hear and our own conscience will not allow us to yield to what we do not trust.  But when we trust God’s ultimate goodness then we can learn to put aside fears of what if’s, insecurities, and a lack of trust in ourselves.  It isn’t about us.  What God wants to live through us is His Love for us individually, for all people, and for His people, the Body of Christ. We are to be His hands, His arms, His eyes, and His mouthpiece.  So, yielding to and obeying the Lord allows us to experience more of Him in special and particular ways.

 

Thus, as we like godly sheep recognize the Good Shepherd’s voice and respond to it with trust that the Lord does not deceive us (if we ask for an egg He does not give us a stone), then we will be living in moments of supernatural faith.  

 

Kevin Giles review of a recent Equal and Complementary seminar

The following link is to a google article by well known scholar Kevin Giles who calls himself a non-hierarchical complementarian (I consider myself the same).  In this article Giles is critiquing the teachings of some hierarchical complementarians who claim an interpretation of Scripture that is gender biased toward male dominance in church and home.  I find Giles review of their seminar very informative.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B58yzgL3ovUUZmFiNTMyMjktOTg2MS00YWRlLTljOTktYjE4YjgxM2M5YTFm&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

I will be interested in any questions and comments regarding what Giles has to say on this.

LIVING TEMPLES OF THE LIVING GOD

WE ARE A SPIRITUAL PEOPLE

We are spiritual people.  We need to participate in spiritual things in order to be happy in life and fulfilled in our souls.  Nothing in the world can take the place of God, who is Spirit, functioning in our lives.  God means for us to be the people that the world turns to for help when their hearts and souls are in pain. And there is much pain in life because of sin.  This is why we are born of water and of the Spirit. We are of the earth and we are also of the Spirit.  These two aspects need to be balanced.

 Because the Spirit of a Holy God dwells within believers we have access to understanding and wisdom that the world doesn’t have.  And because the Holy Spirit of God does dwell within us our liveliness depends upon us worshiping God from our hearts and minds in sincerity and truthfulness.

 John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

 

Because of this we must pray for one another, and intercede for one another that God’s Will is done in all our lives.  The miracle of Christ is that He is both human and divine in a perfect balance.  Jesus contained His power in order to walk and fellowship among us as human. We need to expand our spirituality in order to walk like Jesus among fellow humans.  Our belief will prove itself by our fruit.   Do your contributions to other’s lives produce good fruit in their lives. And what does that good fruit look life. This is important because we are to be known by our fruit. (Matt. 7:17-20/ Luke 6:43-45)

 Does your love of God produce the fruit of godly love in others?  Does it bring them to repentance or draw them closer to God in awe of God or do they run to God because of the pain you deposit in their lives.

While it is true that often we don’t know, because our contributions are in the form of seeds that will mature later.  Sometimes we do know and it is good to take stock of our effect upon others.  There are times we find ourselves caught in a cycle of bringing each other pain.  It’s important that we discontinue those cycles and share the blame.  Look at them as opportunities for God to mature, heal and bless.  (Gal. 5:22-26)

 As spiritual people we thrive when we are doing spiritual works of any sort.  Being spiritually minded is our source of liveliness and the peace that goes beyond our intellect. This is something we do best together by supporting one another and keeping an eye out for the best interest of others.  (Phil. 2:1-4, Eph. 5:17-21)

We all discover at some point that in order to actually live as spiritual people we need help.  For this reason before Jesus ascended into heaven he breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. (John 20:22)  And in that special time of their first gathering together on the day of Pentecost, God released the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in their lives enabling them to praise and worship God together and admonish one another toward holiness in other languages. (Acts 2:1-18) Because of what Peter spoke it is likely that some were prophesying as well.  In effect because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within all true believers, all believers are able to be moved by God in spiritual manifestations that God uses to help us live as spiritual people. WE HELP ONE ANOTHER. We are an interdependent body.  We are meant to allow God to use these gifts to help each other and also to minister to the world of unbelievers. God does the work of saving unbelievers. Our job is to allow Him to work through us. In fact we would do well to do more that allow God to use us.  We would do well if we strongly beseeched and implored God to use us in whatever God is busy with whereever we are. (Lk 11:9-13)

 

Luke 11:“11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

 

 

 

 

Who Are We To Be. That Is The Question!

IMO one of the biggest evils that "Christiandumb" produces in fellow Christians is a falseness of persona that happens when we box groups of people into categories. God loves and delights in each individual human that has ever lived and ever will live.  In the womb God weaves a personality that is wonderful and awesome.  In Christ, it should be our desire to release each person to be themselves as God created them to be and to encourage them to seek and operate in the gifts that God wants them to minister to the world in.

To sway a person from being who God wants them to be can only be wicked; it cannot be good.  Yet, the church in general throughout history has mirrored itself with the world in wanting to segregate and divide the people of God in ways contrary to God’s desire.  Christ said that we should be One, united together serving His Love to each other and the world.  Yet, in many churches today we still want to control who does what, when and where to the degree that is so often not all that enjoyable in attending the required Sunday services, sitting through the controlled same type of services all year long, with the same people doing the talking…. And so on.

 From my observations, many are tired of the divisions.  What people want is to be surprised and blest by the uniquenesses and creativity of Christ in others.  Why do you suppose?  Perhaps, it encourages them to learn to be the pure good personality that Christ created them to be and whom the Holy Spirit wants to use to serve God's Love to others with.