Bashing the Sacred Cow of Marriage...

If you ask most thinking people why the early church had segregated worship (men on one side, women on the other), most will tell you that it was because of the culture and/or because they wanted to stop people falling into the temptation of lust. James Jordan says that is bunk! The reason for segregation is eschatological reality not cultural relevance. He says:

(Hyperlinks and emphases are my insertions.)

The simple fact is that for 2000 years, the Holy Spirit moved the church to have men and women sitting separately during divine worship. This is because in heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage. There is neither male nor female, bond nor free, child nor parent. Hence, ascended worship, taking place seated in the heavenlies, involves an affirmation of God’s Family and a setting aside of the earthly family. As a matter of fact, if you want God to give you a healthy family, let Him take it apart and put it back together each week, for that is how God always glorifies and empowers His people (Hebrews 6:12-13, Genesis 2:23-24).

He goes on:

Jesus repeatedly said that the natural family could easily become an enemy of His New Family. He defined His Family not as Mary and his natural brothers, but as those who were in the covenant with Him...
...The early church, as New Family, was able to take in all kinds of broken people, unwed mothers, wayward sons and daughters, without fear...
...When we consider the vast number of broken people in America today, it becomes clear that to create a “church” made up of “healthy families” and not anyone else is very wrong. It is not at all what Jesus came to do. Families are one thing; the New Family of the Church is something else, something bigger, something more powerful.

...and eternal too.

Food for thought eh? Anyone want to try it? I sense an awkward and nauseated silence coming! :-)

Jordan talks also about the benefits of singing the Psalms amongst other things. You (and I) may not agree with everything he says or want time to think about it, but we would be foolish indeed to ignore him as an anachronistic crank.

Read the full article here.