“This means that reformers should expect resistance and conflict. A reformer does not walk onto the stage to polite applause . . . When you are attacked by the powers that be, this is not a sign that something has gone dangerously wrong. There is no distinction to be made between working for reformation and picking a fight” (Rules for Reformers, p. 9).
Have 'Em Delivered
Write to the Editor
Even though, in context, this verse seems to be directed at uppity women, how do we square the above with verses like “If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God,” (1 Corinthians 11:16) and others (like the one directed at elders in 1 Timothy 3, “not quarrelsome”)? Recently, I’ve been pondering the question “Can a man affirm and teach the whole counsel of God on headship and submission in marriage without being labeled a misogynist in the church?” I’ve been picking this fight and been told not to use freighted… Read more »
Along the same lines, a quote from Nathaniel Ward that’s stuck in my head since I read it: “There is no divine Truth, but hath much Celestial fire in it from the Spirit of Truth: nor no irreligious untruth, without its proportion of Antifire from the Spirit of Error to contradict it: the zeal of the one, the virulency of the other, must necessarily kindle Combustions.” Blake, I think the answer is that you’ve got to love your neighbor with whom you’re picking the fight. So be patient. Be kind. Don’t be arrogant or irritable. Don’t insist on your own… Read more »