This is probably the most searched for item I have written that has appeared on the interwebs and it was lost for a while till I found a copy at archive.org. I'll reprint it here for your examination:
Teaching to Love
My wife and I were doing our nightly Bible study and Titus came up for us to examine. We read through the small letter penned by Paul the Apostle all at once but one part seemed to jump out at the both of us. Of course Titus is full of advice on how we should live Christian lives, to men, to women, to slaves, Bishops and Elders. The advice to women was especially startling.
Most husbands have blinders on and miss verses 3 and 4 and run right to verse 5. Consequently many wives scurry for the hills when Titus comes up. But take the time and re-read the entire command. Very interesting and for as many times as my wife and I read Titus over the years the words never really jumped out until a few days ago.
To explain further what we were discussing for the rest of the night here is an interesting statistic to ponder along with these passages:
We both were surprised at what verse 4 had to say. Doesn’t the world teach that “love” is something that we feel deep down and it is natural and automatic? Doesn’t the world make all matter of excuse for why we “fall into love” and why “love fails”? Songs are sung, poems written, and romance novels pervert the ultimate expression of love into farcical caricatures of bestial lust. Why do we even bother to act shocked when we read of the murder of infants and children by their mothers?
Representatives of this macabre group of women who kill their children include such monstrous women as Andrea Yates, Deanna Laney, Dena Schlosser, Susan Smith, Marie Noe, and others. Many of those women claimed some supernatural personality lead them to kill their own children in cold blood.
Of course there is a supernatural component, crimes against children of this grotesqueness have the fingerprints of the enemy all over them. But, is there also a missing supernatural component? Look at verse 4 again. Then they [older women] can train the younger women to love their husbands and children…. Is it possible that we do NOT know what love is naturally? Is it that feeling we so desire to call love is merely physical attraction or even lust?
Verse 4 tells us that, at least in this context, that women must be taught to love their husbands AND their children.
As a husband, I can certainly understand why a wife would need to “learn” to love a husband. But all kidding aside, it really goes against the grain of society that anyone needs to be taught to love, especially our own offspring. Look at the list of women above. Of course they are the worst of the worst. Did those women receive instruction from Godly women? If those women were in Godly congregations did the older women even know verse 4 exists and applies to them?
One quick edit to point out something that came up after this was first published. Notice who receives this command and who does not. Where are young women to get Godly instruction about love? Not from their parents or friends or the classroom. Young women are to get instruction in Godly love from Godly women who have raised their own families, who are sober minded, and who have the respect of the community.
We must all be on guard, the society in which we live does not belong to the Lord, it is under the control of the enemy. Everything is geared to our destruction, not just our eternal destruction but our physical lives, in this world. Even such concepts as love, even though the Bible rightly states that God is Love, are subject to the twisting and perversion by the enemy, and sadly, our own wicked desires.
Teaching to Love
My wife and I were doing our nightly Bible study and Titus came up for us to examine. We read through the small letter penned by Paul the Apostle all at once but one part seemed to jump out at the both of us. Of course Titus is full of advice on how we should live Christian lives, to men, to women, to slaves, Bishops and Elders. The advice to women was especially startling.
Most husbands have blinders on and miss verses 3 and 4 and run right to verse 5. Consequently many wives scurry for the hills when Titus comes up. But take the time and re-read the entire command. Very interesting and for as many times as my wife and I read Titus over the years the words never really jumped out until a few days ago.
To explain further what we were discussing for the rest of the night here is an interesting statistic to ponder along with these passages:
We both were surprised at what verse 4 had to say. Doesn’t the world teach that “love” is something that we feel deep down and it is natural and automatic? Doesn’t the world make all matter of excuse for why we “fall into love” and why “love fails”? Songs are sung, poems written, and romance novels pervert the ultimate expression of love into farcical caricatures of bestial lust. Why do we even bother to act shocked when we read of the murder of infants and children by their mothers?
Representatives of this macabre group of women who kill their children include such monstrous women as Andrea Yates, Deanna Laney, Dena Schlosser, Susan Smith, Marie Noe, and others. Many of those women claimed some supernatural personality lead them to kill their own children in cold blood.
Of course there is a supernatural component, crimes against children of this grotesqueness have the fingerprints of the enemy all over them. But, is there also a missing supernatural component? Look at verse 4 again. Then they [older women] can train the younger women to love their husbands and children…. Is it possible that we do NOT know what love is naturally? Is it that feeling we so desire to call love is merely physical attraction or even lust?
Verse 4 tells us that, at least in this context, that women must be taught to love their husbands AND their children.
As a husband, I can certainly understand why a wife would need to “learn” to love a husband. But all kidding aside, it really goes against the grain of society that anyone needs to be taught to love, especially our own offspring. Look at the list of women above. Of course they are the worst of the worst. Did those women receive instruction from Godly women? If those women were in Godly congregations did the older women even know verse 4 exists and applies to them?
One quick edit to point out something that came up after this was first published. Notice who receives this command and who does not. Where are young women to get Godly instruction about love? Not from their parents or friends or the classroom. Young women are to get instruction in Godly love from Godly women who have raised their own families, who are sober minded, and who have the respect of the community.
We must all be on guard, the society in which we live does not belong to the Lord, it is under the control of the enemy. Everything is geared to our destruction, not just our eternal destruction but our physical lives, in this world. Even such concepts as love, even though the Bible rightly states that God is Love, are subject to the twisting and perversion by the enemy, and sadly, our own wicked desires.
