Why do we need to get married?

Why do people make big deal about getting married?

Well I bet it is not just in Ethiopia, that right after you graduate, family, relatives, friends ask you 'when are you planning to wed.' They keep asking, till you send them the wedding invitation. My friend calls it the FAQ, the Frequently Asked Question. For some of us the FAQ is more frequent than others :) 

I was reading the Bible and I came across this chapter in 1 Cor 7, and it makes me wonder why Christians today make big deal of marriage while Paul puts it as an option. On 1 Cor 7:25 it says, 'Now regarding your question about the young women who are not yet married'... (are you reading this young women? Okay just making sure:) ...' it is best to remain as you are' and it goes on addressing men who are not married yet, 'if you do not have a wife do not seek to get married. But if you get married, it is not a sin. And if a young woman gets married, it is not a sin.' Hum.... I bet Christians today would rather say, 'if a young men/ women get married, it is a big blessing!' :) Seriously it got me thinking, why did Paul simplify marriage and say, ' oh sure ya, if  you get married it is okay, it is not a sin.?' 

Paul right away answers why he has this stand. 'However those who get married at this time will have troubles, and I am trying to spare you those problems.' v.26 This was written during the time believers were persecuted because of their faith, so getting married could add up to their troubles, as they also worry for their marriage partner.

Then the next verse starts with a word 'But..' Opposing word to the aforementioned verse!

'But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters; the time that remains is very short. So from now on those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.' V.30 Paul is saying this world will soon pass away, the time that remains is short, and the end of the world is near so it is better not to get married. My question is,  aren't we living in a time so much closer to the second coming of Jesus and to the end if the world? So I believe this teaching is as applicable to us as it is to the believers Paul wrote this message to first hand!

The church today, basically teaches on the importance of marriage, on how one could serve God better if in marriage, on how one is more blessed if married ... teachings of remaining single is out of option, and is considered as even not being blessed.

So unlike the church in our time, Paul considers remaining single as a better life style, and that is because; 'I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities (marriage is earthly responsibility!) and how to please his wife. His interests are divided(between serving God and fulfilling his responsibility in marriage). In the same way a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband. I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.' V.32-35  

Whether we are in relationship or not, the Bible tells us that 'It is important to ask ourselves, if getting married helps us serve the Lord best.' It is interesting; Paul is referring to marriage as a distraction from  serving the Lord! 

Paul then address the man who has a fiancé saying, ' if he has decided firmly not to marry and there is no urgency and he can control his passion, he does well not to marry.' V. 37 As Paul stressed on importance of remaining single, he puts a condition, 'if he can control his passion! What is the point for a person to remain single in order to serve God better, but fall in sin of fornication because he/ she cannot control his/ her passion? Paul also refers to this idea, on verse 8 ' So I say to those who aren't married and to widows it is better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.' On verse 38 it also says, 'So the person who marries his fiancé does well and the person who doesn't marry does even better.'

It is funny, I guess Paul knows, reading this we could say, 'oh it is just Paul's idea, God's will is for us to be married.' This is probably why he ends his thought saying, 'I am giving you council from God's spirit when I say this' v.40 :)

Don't get me wrong! Don't get Paul wrong! :) There are over 500 Old and New Testament references to the words 'marriage,'' married,' 'husband,' 'wife.' Marriage is designed and instituted by God; 

'The Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him, '...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and they will become one flesh." Gen. 2:18, 21-24

As much as marriage is designed by God, it is not the only option; remaining single is even a better option!!! 

10-7 years back

    I wrote these poems 10-7 years back , I have been having fun looking at old notebook lately!


  

Let your past determine you!

People say

   'Let not your past

   determine your future'

They say, 

   'Let go off the past

   Move on, keep on'

They say, 

   'Don't look back

   Leave it behind

   Let it not

   hold, entangle, imprison you'

Which past are they talking about?

For they don't know what happened

Surely it determine me 

    I am my past

    I am what happened

I say,

    Look back,

    Dig back,

    Let your past determine you.

I say,

    Dig further

    Not just to your hurt

    Not just to where you mess up

But,

    Dig decades further

    Dig centuries back

    Pass your past

    Dig 2000 years back

    Till you find the cross.

  

Where there is, 

    Healing before you even got hurt

    Forgiveness before you even mess up

    Redemption before you even got lost

    Love before you even experience hatred.

I say, 

   Look back

   Let your past determine you

   Dig back

   But dig further

   Dig deeper

   Till you find the cross

   Till you find Jesus!!

I, the branch

You, the vine

I remain in you 

remain in me oh Lord

for no branch will bear fruit

if not in the vine

neither can I

if not in You

Remain in me Lord

I in You

then I bear much fruit

for I am crucified, 

died and raised up with You

I no longer live but You in me

who loved and gave yourself for me

My Lord,

Apart from You

I am none,nobody

But with You in me

I am whole, complete

Can do all things

You have done

can do even more

But without thee my Lord

What is the breath in me?

What are the emotions I felt?

What knowledge is there within me?

neither can I do anything

or can be any

if not for you

For the branch without the vine

Is nothing but dry shattered

thrown to fire.

I hold on to You my Lord

surround me with you love

Keep me close to You

Never let me go

I hold You to your words

For You are faithful 

But, me who is still in flesh...

Never leave me my Lord

nor forsake me

Help me my Lord

for I am nothing & nobody

without thee my Lord.

 April 12, 08

My heavy heart...

My heart is heavy within me;

Walking by the water

filled by the light of heaven

In His presence;

His touch in the blowing wind

His sound in the dancing waters

His love in the air

A smiling moon over the sky

Love burning in my heart

It's smoke ascending to heaven.

But still my heart is heavy within me;

Dropped like a rain

I see tears of my redeemer.

Loud like the lighting

I heard sobbing of the almighty.

Over lost souls,

Alive but dead

Seeing but blind

Walking in darkness

Bind by the evil of the world

Seeking, searching,longing,

For what they not know

But for the message of love

For the gospel!

Blessed are the feet of those...

Blessed are they...

Usame  Señor!

(I found this in a piece of paper, I remember I wrote it in hawassa some years back)

'If you only act once...'

I am in the air!
I am like the wind that blows over the earth. I blow the things of the land with me. If you are light like a leave, I blow you away so easily. If you are hard like a rock, I blow hard to move you. I never give up!

Though I am like a wind, I also differ from it in many ways; for I am purposed, aimed and focused. My targets are humans. I haunt them to select my devoted disciples. I priory set criteria to make my work easy; for some are more prone to be my disciples than others. Why would I bother with the hard rocks that have no room for me? My criteria to select my few ranges from people with self-pity, insecurity, depression, anger to pride. I hover over the land of humans to sort people with certain issues. Then I blow over these selected few the breath of temptations. I whistle the sound of, ‘do it!’ ‘It is just one time!’ ‘Have fun!’ People already have issues; all they need is to hear my prompting voice. I whisper into their ears, through their friends and in their dreams. The hardest part of being me is to get them, ACT ONCE! If they only act once; then I only need to keep whispering into their ears, I only need to pock them. Soon after, they are mine, only mine!

I be their everything,

their love & their hate;

their adoration & their disgust;

their security & their insecurity;

their family & enemy;

I be their everything! I be their god;

I AM ADDICTION!

Better idols

I am from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, traditionally known as a Christian nation. Though I don’t believe in religion, I can be called a protestant, a Christian religion that comprises 20% minority of the whole population. The majority of Ethiopians are Orthodox Christians. There has always been tension among this religions based on minor doctrine details. I believe not so many people know that the doctrinal difference between these 2 religions is only 15%. After all that is the problem with religion, it exaggerates minor doctrinal details, laws, rituals, customs and takes the whole focus from what is supposed to be the center of religion, God.

Well, there are things that annoy me about the followers of both these religions. I want to focus on only one today. Most Protestants often blame the Orthodox Christians for bowing to images and statues of Mary, mother of Jesus, angels and saints. The exaggerated term used by Protestants for this act is ‘worshipping idols,’ and their defense is the angel’s response to John when he bowed for him, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” Revelation 22:9 and the second commandment, you shall not make an idol for you and worship them. But I don’t think Orthodox followers who know the right teachings of Orthodox Church bow down in worship but just pay respect to Mother of Jesus, Mary, and angels. I believe one of the things the Orthodox Church is better than the Protestants are in giving respect to Mary, which most of us, Protestants don’t.  A friend once said to me, we respect our pastors, our fellow brothers and sisters and how some of us disrespectfully speak of the mother of our Lord is really insane.

On this post I would like to share the incident that makes me say, ‘if (emphasis on if here) the Orthodox and Catholic Christians really worship ‘idols’ in the image of Mary, the angels and saints; at least those are  better idols. In my travel to Thailand I saw various idols and thought, ‘well what is the big deal if these people make an idol of Mary, the angels and saints, as long as they know God, as long as they know Jesus who was  incarnated and born from the blessed woman who is highly favored by God, as long as they know Jesus died on the cross for the sin of all human beings, and most of all they  believe in the Bible, that clearly states the way to salvation.

The White Temple

Well, the incident was, a couple of months back I went to visit a very famous temple in Thailand, called the White Temple. I am sorry to radically shift from talking about Christianity to Buddhism; after all I am on the same general idea, religion. The architecture of the temple was magnificent, well thought off, beautiful and creepy at the same time.

The White Temple: Photo by Genaye Eshetu

Walking into the compound of the temple there are head sculptures hanging in trees including recognizable characters such as Predator, from the movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Crossing over a bridge of purgatory there are countless sculpted hands reaching towards you, these hands seem to be of thirsty souls from hell begging for water, since there are  bowls in some of the hands.

The White Temple Photo by Genaye Eshetu

The temple is somehow designed to show the battle between good and evil. I don’t actually understand what was presented to be good, except images of people flying in the clouds. The drawings on the wall inside the temple seem to show that evil comes from Hollywood movies and modernization. There are drawings of Michel Jackson, Kung Fu Panda, Neo from the Matrix, Superman and many more characters you can recognize from Hollywood movies. There are many more images you can recognize if you pay a closer look, such as small portraits of Bin Laden, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. There are also creepy drawings representing the devil.  For an Ethiopian, who has visited many traditional churches throughout Ethiopia, these drawings are very strange to be found in a temple. I bet they are strange for most other visitors as well.

The most striking was for me to see colored mural of the Buddha. It is the first thing one would see getting inside the temple. In front of the mural there are 2 statues of Buddha, followed by a smaller statue of a monk. The monk looks so real, at first I thought it is really a monk sitting there.

After walking around the temple, and seeing the various drawings on the wall, I stand for a couple of minutes looking at the mural of Buddha and people coming to say prayers. People of different ages come, kneel before the mural praying. No offense to any Buddhist reading this, but as a Christian those are just idols for me, a great sculptural art of Buddha, a person who at one time lived a good life and passed away like any of us. Don’t get me wrong, I have read the origin and basics of Buddhism and teaching of Buddha, which are really interesting.

Anyways as I was looking at the people, a woman came with her son, who could be 3 years old. She kneeled down and showed him how to kneel, she showed him the mural of Buddha and she started praying. The son imitates everything his mom does. And besides them was a man with a child a little older than the other one. He also looks at his dad and imitates everything.

Looking at these people, I got overwhelmed with the thought that these people have never heard of Jesus. Since childhood all they saw was the image of Buddha. These people never heard of the God, who is above all gods. The God, who loved them so much that He sent his only begotten Son to die on a cross for their sins. Jesus, who knew them personally before the creation of the world and loved them whoever they are and what ever they do,. Jesus, who was willing to die for them to pay for any wrong thing they do, for any pain they would feel. He overcame death and was resurrected on the third day.

This is not just history that happened 2000 years back, and all we have now is a book of rules (Bible) to follow. The Bible is the book of the greatest love story ever told. And Jesus is as real as he was 2000 years back, when he was human who walked in this world teaching, healing and delivering people.  He still listens to and answers prayers. He didn’t only teach about love but he himself is love. He didn’t only teach about peace but He still can overflow one’s soul with peace that passes understanding. Personally Jesus’ love has been so tangible and real in my life, that I even feel him so close often with his arms over my shoulders.

My New Japanese Friend

The above is one of the most emotionally overwhelming experiences I had outside my world of ‘Christianity.’ But one more experience adds up to this. A day before my visit to the White Temple, I met a Japanese guy. He was a guest of mom Sherry and Pastor Chuck (the directors of the school I went to in Thailand www.medialightasia.com). During that day we were doing a baptism of one of the students. Throughout the day I noticed he did, everything we did. When we sing and clap, he claps; when we raise our hands, he raises his hands, when we lay hand on each other and pray, he prays. So I thought, this guy could be a Christian and if not he had some idea of Christianity. Later I started to converse with him. To my surprise, I learnt that he on the other hand does his prayers to his grand mother and his ancestors. He actually only prays if he is nervous or is in a difficult situation. He told me that he is a god to himself. He has Thai and Hindu scripts tattooed on his hands and neck. According to him, the scripts protect Him. He lives for today, when he dies, he believes that he will be incarnated as a man or mosquito based on his deeds in this life. Eternity is on earth for him, an ongoing process of incarnation.

I wished to ask him if he was happy with his life; then I remembered I knew what real joy is after I found Jesus. How can one know how being wet feels like without ever getting into water? How could one know if s/he is happy unless they get into water of life, Jesus?

After these experiences, I felt sorry for my Christian nation, for myself and religious friends who waste their life arguing over doctrinal details within Christian religions, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. I thought of the hours we spent arguing over Mary, angels and saints statue and whether Mary and angels can plead to God on behalf of us. All our religious arguments over how to act, how to talk, what to speak, what to wear and what to eat came to my mind. We don’t often realize in the time we spend arguing over such matters over 166 people die in Ethiopia and about 3000 die in the world every hour without ever hearing the gospel.

Writing down this sentence make me think how I spend my every days….humm

The 10/40 Window

I first heard of the “10/40 Window”from the webpage/ www.medialightasia.com. It is a term used to refer to the rectangular area of the world from 10 degrees to 40 degrees latitude. This rectangle stretches from Southeast Asia, across the Middle East, over to West Africa. The 10/40 Window is home to approximately 97% of the 2.5 billion unreached people in the world today. There are over 10,000 people groups in this window; 6,000 of those have never had access to the gospel.

Remember every day, more than 70,000 people die in this world without having ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Rom 10:14