Category: Christian Liberty

Will I Have An Occasional Glass Of Wine?

DebbieLynne KespertLeave a comment

If you want a lively debate with other Christians, just mention alcohol! You’ll get impassioned responses from people on all sides of the issue, and you may even damage one or two of your friendships in the process (I say that mostly in jest).

Alcohol consumption among Christians has always required a careful reading of Scripture and an understanding of Christian liberty in the light of exhortations towards temperance. It’s a sensitive topic, requiring extensive study coupled with prayer for wisdom to apply God’s Word accurately and lovingly. Therefore, this small blog post can’t thoroughly examine the matter.

Truth be told, I really don’t want to blog about alcohol. But we can’t work through Titus 2:3-5 unless we deal with Paul’s command to older women women regarding this topic.

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You’re Convinced, But I’m Not

DebbieLynne KespertLeave a comment

Twitter just amplifies a sad reality: Christians love to argue with each other.

Sometimes we argue about issues that actually matter. For instance, a sister in Christ may be reading supposed Bible Study material by a known false teacher, and you’ll need to give her evidence that she’s being exposed to error. Similarly, a friend might be engaging in sexual immorality, angrily resisting your attempts to lovingly correct her. Someone online may insist that the Bible was written merely by men, and therefore shouldn’t be regarded as God’s Word. In such clear-cut situations, arguing on behalf of Scripture becomes a necessity. Never shy away from arguing against obvious sin.

Alas, too often we misinterpret matters of personal conviction as commands from God that all Christians must embrace. We have our proof texts from the Bible to use as clubs to beat dissidents into submission. We assure ourselves that Scripture supports our position. If they disagree, they demonstrate ignorance at best, and outright rebellion most of the time. We firmly believe that (whether knowingly or unknowingly) those who don’t share our convictions disobey God’s commands. Therefore we argue, working tirelessly to force their repentance.

Scripture will have none of that. I want to look at Romans 14 as one example of respecting the personal convictions of Christians who don’t share our convictions.

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Usurping A Husband’s Authority

DebbieLynne Kespert1 Comment

Let’s begin by affirming the Scriptural model that a wife must submit to her husband unless he demands that she disobey God’s Word.

22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. ~~Ephesians 5:22-24 (NASB95)

Paul leaves no wiggle room for any Christian wife to rebel against her husband, and I don’t want anyone to misconstrue this article as a subtle encouragement toward feminism. Indeed, I pray people will come away from this article with a deeper conviction of a husband’s authority over his wife as well as how sinful it is to interfere with his authority. I have discussed what I’m about to write with my husband, and we completely agree on the perspective I wish to present.

For almost a year, I’ve seen discussions on Twitter promoting an extreme version of patriarchy. Now, patriarchy in and of itself simply means male leadership in the home, the church and society. Society, however, no longer operates on Christian principles, so we really shouldn’t expect non-Christians to adhere to patriarchy. By and large, therefore, wisdom dictates that we limit our conversation to male leadership within Christian marriage and church structure.

Lately, advocates of extreme patriarchy have been tweeting their belief that, if women vote at all, we must vote exactly as our husbands vote. They reason that, because the man is the head of the household, the wife must follow his political convictions in order to preserve family unity. And I see some merit in their argument.

Yet I seriously question whether or not they take the command to submit beyond the boundaries of Scripture. Does the Bible prohibit wives from having convictions that differ from those of their husbands? More importantly, does Scripture allow strangers on social media to impose their views about a couple’s voting decisions on Christians at large?

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We Can Provoke In Wrong Ways, But Also In Right Ways

DebbieLynne KespertLeave a comment

25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well. 26 Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. ~~Galatians 5:25-26 (NASB)

We could blame social media for the increasing lack of civility in the past few years. Sadly, Christians have succumbed to the online savagely (myself included) far too often, dishonoring the Lord in our quest to win arguments. Of course, social media isn’t the true culprit here — we are! Social media just makes it easier to be nasty.

This weekend, I was in a Twitter conversation that very well could have turned ugly. By God’s grace, it didn’t. Neither of us minced words, but the Lord helped us find ways of respecting each other even as we passionately held firm to our respective positions. The Holy Spirit even helped me understand that the woman I debated was correct on an important point of her argument. My concession doesn’t mean I agree with her basic premise, mind you. But it does mean that I can treat her lovingly and with respect.

If we had allowed our conversation to degenerate into name calling and personal attacks, I don’t think I would have admitted any error on my part. I would have doubled down on efforts to vindicate myself and make her look foolish. Never mind that such efforts most likely would have only exposed an uncharitable attitude on my part. Twitter arguments usually thrive on incivility and caustic provocation.

When Christians provoke each other to anger, we demonstrate our unwillingness to follow the Spirit. Let’s look at the verses leading up to Galatians 5:25-26:

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A Song To Make Us Think

DebbieLynne Kespert1 Comment

As a teenager, I liked the music of B.J. Thomas — especially “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.” So I praised the Lord when, somewhere around 1979, he made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I bought both of his Christian albums and wore out my cassette player by playing them.

Monday John put “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” on YouTube in honor of the weather. I then asked him to search for Thomas’ Christian songs (he had no idea that B.J. Thomas had recorded Christian songs), and we were pleasantly surprised that YouTube had quite a number of them.

Of course they were simplistic and a tad smaltzy. Most popular Christian music during that time period was. But John and I listened to several songs, hoping B.J. Thomas had a genuine conversion.

One song captured my attention.

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Did The Proverbs 31 Woman Violate Titus 2?

DebbieLynne Kespert2 Comments

Bible believing Christians should all agree that a wife’s first and overriding responsibility must be to her home and family. Paul’s words to Titus make this point abundantly clear.

 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. ~~Titus 2:3-5 (NASB)

A Christian wife and mother must subject her personal desires and aspirations to the needs of her husband and children. And yes, ladies, that self-sacrifice includes homeschooling children. At least during child-rearing years (and when circumstances allow), a mother should set her career aside in favor of her children.

As we look at the business ventures of the Proverbs 31 woman, therefore, let’s keep in mind that neither I nor the writer of that section of Proverbs would advocate for a woman to seek a career at the expense of her family.

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Preliminary Thoughts On Patriarchy

DebbieLynne Kespert2 Comments
Our 10th annivesery, August 24, 2012

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I’m absolutely not a feminist. I reject egalitarian marriage as well as egalitarian church leadership. The Lord gave men positions of authority in family and church. No Christian should argue against that fact.

That said, I’ve recently begun reading about the Patriarchy Movement, and so far I don’t like what I see.

From what I understand, patriarchy stems from the conviction that feminism has hurt our culture. To a large extent, I would agree with that premise. It would be better if mothers stayed at home and homeschooled their children while their husbands worked outside the home.

But patriarchy doesn’t seem to allow for any variation to that model. Drawing from Titus 2:5, they insist that women not work outside the home. Some I’ve read have gone so far as to teach that girls should not go to college, but should instead concentrate on learning domestic arts in preparation for marriage.

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Why I Cover My Head For Church And Why I Don’t Believe All Women Should Cover Their Heads

DebbieLynne Kespert7 Comments
Photo of me wearing a purple hat

I’m known at my church for my collection of hats. One lady in her 80s looks forward to seeing how I match my hat to my outfit each Sunday. My signature look of wearing hats shifts the attention from my disability, giving me the identity as “the Hat Lady.”

Only a few friends know that I wear hats out of a personal conviction derived from 1 Corinthians 11:

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Offend People With Clear Scriptural Principles, Not With Peripheral Issues

DebbieLynne Kespert3 Comments
Bandwagon covered with multiple American flags -- tinted turquoise

Many evangelicals, even within the Reformed camp, have been influenced by worldly ideas and philosophies lately. That’s not good. At the very least, the causes they embrace distract them from the Gospel. And such distraction severely weakens their effectiveness for their kingdom.

The apostle Paul spoke to this point in his first epistle to the Corinthians:

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. ~~1 Corinthians 2:3 (NASB)

Generally, these evangelicals espouse liberal ideologies: feminism, social justice, environmentalism and so forth. We do well to admonish these people (some of whom really do know Christ) that their causes usually contradict the clear teachings of Scripture. Lovingly, we should restore their focus to the Gospel, and to a proper handling of God’s Word.

In correcting liberal ideologies of other evangelicals, however, perhaps those of us with more conservative leanings should evaluate whether or not we also let our causes distract us. I know I’ve sometimes struggled with the temptation to let discernment ministry take my attention away from proclaiming the Gospel.

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I’m Not Fond Of Seasonal Blog Posts

DebbieLynne Kespert3 Comments

Thanksgiving is Thursday, and Advent is quickly following. As a Christian blogger, I feel a certain pressure (a gentle pressure, but a pressure nonetheless) to write about these celebrations. Yesterday, Thanksgiving came in handy, I’ll admit.  I didn’t have to spend hours Saturday afternoon scouring through YouTube for a hymn that interested me. A seasonal hymn really bailed me out!

But for the most part, I don’t get terribly excited about either reading or writing Thanksgiving and Advent articles. That’s particularly strange to me because I love the doctrine of the Incarnation.

People have given up trying to figure me out.

Seriously, I think there are two reasons this year that I feel a heightened aversion to Thanksgiving and Christmas articles. The first is Read More »