About Jesus' Mother

Mike Winger Facebook post, 8/19/24

 Is it possible that many people think Mary had to stay a virgin because they, somewhere in the logic, feel that something is immoral about sex between a husband and wife?

I've heard it said that Joseph wouldn't defile the Ark of the Covenant (by which they mean Mary) through intercourse. Yet the idea that such an act is a defilement goes against Scripture which says "the marriage bed is undefiled." (Heb 13:4) 

And the idea that a husband and wife can vow chastity between themselves is far more problematic than many realize, violating Scripture and the nature of the marriage commitment. 

"The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband." 1 Cor 7:3

Read that passage in context and you'll see that Paul is saying "do not deprive one another" (1 Cor 7:5) in relation to sexual relations. Voluntary chastity is a single person's role and is inappropriate and unbiblical in marriage. 

Attempts to explain away the presence of Jesus' brothers and sisters in Scripture (spoken in the same context as his mother) or that Joseph NEVER was intimate with Mary instead of not being intimate with her "UNTIL" after Jesus' birth also fail.

"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus."

Matt 1:24-25

Everything I've said here has a response from those who believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary. You can go deep into the rabbit hole on this if you choose. But I've done it already and find those responses not only unconvincing but obvious attempts to subvert the meaning of Scripture to support a doctrine of man which has contributed to the idolization of Mary.

My Mind Was Changed Long Ago

Adapt Church to Culture?

Well, but mustn’t the churches adapt Christianity to suit the ideas of our time? No, they must not. Our ideas are killing us spiritually. When your child swallows poison, you don’t sit around thinking of ways to adapt his constitution to a poisonous diet. You give him an emetic.

Joy Davidman (aka Mrs. C.S. Lewis, cited by Megan Basham, Shepherds For Sale, pg.XI

Think About It!

About That Photo At the Top of this Blog

Over the past few months I’ve had several readers email me questioning about the photo at the top of my blog. It was taken by my wife on 6/28/09 at the Iowa Firefighter Memorial in Coralville, IA. The kilt I’m wearing in the photo is of Leith tartan--my wife’s “clan” (her great-grandparents came from the Orkney Islands) which I felt had great colors for the service--reds and blues! 

Every year, on the second Sunday in June, there is a memorial service held here for the entire state of Iowa. I was first asked to play for the ceremony in 2000, leading the color/honor guard up to the front to post the colors and then lead them back, and this became an anual event for me. In 2006 they asked me to play Amazing Grace, replacing the keyboard player for this part of the service. To retrieve the colors at the end I would again lead the guard up and back. It’s quite a long service honoring all firefighters who passed during the previous year. Those who served at least 10 years get their names on the one set of walls, while those who die in the line of duty have a special wall. 

In 2010 the Iowa Firefighters Association voted to award me the title of Honorary Firefighter— a really great honor! This was the year we had our first cancellation—about 20 minutes into the service severe storms arrived and, by checking weather, it was plain the storms would last for a very long time. But that’s when the IFA president came to me and said, “This isn’t how we wanted to do this” as he presented me with the trophy award—they had wanted to do it up front during the service! 

In 2014 a student piper friend from a town an hour west, and who is a firefighter in that town, asked if he could play with me, so he came over and we played Amazing Grace together—he didn’t know the other tunes I used. The next year he joined me again and knew the tunes.

In 2016 there was a new man in charge of the color/honor guard and we for the first time had a “long blue line” of the guard marching almost a block along the side of the memorial park. He had pipers he knew from two different towns (2hrs NE and 2 hrs SW) come to join me. I then became the pipe major for the whole group and play solo on Amazing Grace. This was when my wife also joined with her snare drum. Sometimes we’ve had about 15 pipers and 6-7 drummers and other times, as this year, we had five pipers (including me) and one drummer—Jill!

In 2020 the service was cancelled because of the COVID scare. In 2023 I was asked to play a memorial tune for the candlelight service the night prior to the memorial service so I’m doing that solo from now on (they’ve had that service almost from the beginning but didn’t think about asking me until last year!)

So that’s the story behind the cover photo.  The photo associated with this post was taken by local media on 6/13/21 as I’m leading the color/honor guard to our starting point.

Examining a Gothard Book, Part 7

This post is part five of examining Chapter 3: To Inspire Mighty Men! of Bill Gothard’s book, 7 Basic Needs of a Wife. 

With the last post I ended with number 16 of Gothard’s 21 “secrets for successful child rearing.”

Seventeenth secret: Passion for Discipleship. (pg.36): The passion of a mighty man of valor must be to win people to Christ and to train them in the forty-nine commands of Christ. “He that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30), …

Does Gothard ever use a passage in context? He couldn’t use this if it wasn’t in KJV. Let’s look at the FULL verse in a modern translation.

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.” (NIV)

The point is saving lives, which “souls” in the KJV means. It has nothing to do with winning people to Christ. I’m afraid to ask what his 49 commands are and how twists Scripture to find them.

…and “they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

In actuality this passage is discussing Israel’s pending destruction. It could be used as an analogy, though.

If a son or daughter is not actively reaching out to people and making disciples, he or she will see no reason to be different from the world.

Not everyone has the gift or the ability to “actively” make disciples on a continuing basis. MOST people try making disciples while in the workplace or out in the world, not on a full-time basis.

In order to find potential disciples, we must find ways to meet them. One excellent way is to bring the poor into your house for a special meal to honor them.

So only the poor are worth inviting into your home for a special meal? Is it really safe nowadays, especially, to be inviting strangers into your house? Just think about it.

Eighteenth secret: Personal Vows (pg.36). Just one important note: Vows must bd carefully made and must be based on Scripture. A vow is affirming a command of Scripture before our human intellect has an opportunity to rationalize it away. Examples would be a vow not to drink liquor or not to be intimate before marriage.

Nineteenth secret: “Passage” to Adulthood (pg.36). Adulthood begins for a boy after his twelfth year and for a girl other twelfth birthday. A special celebration should be conducted to honor this special time. Thereafter, a son or a daughter must be respected and treated like a young adult. 

Here Gothard is taking a page from the Jews: bat/bar mitzvah by 13 for boys and 12 for girls. Christians don’t have such rules. In reality, it’s best to say 15-16 would be called young adults but for most cities/states under 16 is consider juvenile while 16 and up can be tried as adults.

Twentieth secret: Biblical Belief System (pg.37). Here is where Gothard mentions bat/bar mitzvah as when the young people memorize the first five books of Moses. Then he says, As believers we have been give a new law system consisting of Christ’s forty-nine commands. We must not only learn these by heart and live them out, but we must teach them to others. These commands must be the belief system of our heart.

Now, I’m sure he probably lists the so-called 49 commands of Christ but I haven’t come across it and I’d really like to know where he gets them!!!

Twenty-first secret: Courtship Commitment (pg.37). The problem with so-called courtship, and we tried it, is that no two families seem to have the same idea. Some, like Gothard, can be very legalistic and start as young as 15 years old.  Gothard says a young man is prepared for marriage before letting the girl know of his intentions. I have to disagree. I’ll use myself as an example. I began dating my wife while I was still in the Army (I was 22 and she 18) and after I became a civilian six months later I let her know of my intent to marry her—we weren’t officially engaged for another 10 months. However, After getting out of the Army I had to find work and a place to live and have some money saved up. According to Gothard I should have waited until essentially our engagement before letting her know of my intentions!  My son and his wife began courting with intent to marriage while he was apprenticing in a trade and was living at home! So he wasn’t prepared yet they were engaged during this time; they didn’t marry until he had a job and an apartment. Gothard demanding his methods is nonsensical.

And thus ends Chapter 3 of this book.