Know Your Bible
July 1999
Exception Or The Rule?
During my wife's recent surgery, I was impressed with the fact that I had not seen a male nurse the entire four days while she was in the hospital. This made me to reflect on the fact that, by and large, women make the better nurse when it comes to care and compassion of the sick. This is not to say that men do not care nor have compassion on the sick but, in this area, men are the exception while women are the rule.
In the past three decades of this country, the focus of attention has been placed on the exceptions to things rather than the rule about things. When it comes to the roles of men and women, all the attention has been on the reversal of their roles rather than the rule which God has decreed. God stated that the man was to provide for the family by the "sweat of his face" (Genesis 3:17-19; 1 Timothy 5:8). The woman is to be a "keeper at home" (Titus 2:4,5). The focus today is on the "career woman" and the "house-husband"; the exception rather than the rule. We now have a generation that has looks upon the exception as being the rule.
In recent years, much publicity has been given to the homosexual and how their "alternate lifestyle" should be accepted as "normal". Yet, God created male and female (Genesis 1:27) and that the woman's "desire shall be to thy husband and HE shall rule over thee" (Genesis 3:16). "The wife hath not power of HER own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of HIS own body, but the wife." (1 Corinthians 7:4). God's word never refers to a wife as a HE or to a husband as a HER! Yet, the homosexuals want recognition in their relationships and "marriages" as acceptable exceptions to the norm and, if not, they are quick to brand others as intolerant and bigots. Can we not see that we are just a short time away from having a generation that will consider it a rule to accept homosexual lifestyles and those who will oppose such to be the exception?
Due to constant exposure, we are a society that accepts indecent and irreverent behavior as the rule. Clothing, or the lack of it, by men and women is no doubt becoming more like the fig leaves that Adam and Eve sowed together. The only difference is that today people think that they are clothed when Adam and Eve still realized they were naked. (Genesis 3:7-10). Talk is full of four letter words and suggestive, to say the least, but we are told these are the 90's and it is normal for people to talk that way. It is all a part of our "societal evolution". Look at the parade of "guests" which marches across the TV talk shows that began years ago with Phil Donohue and now up to the present. Notice how the gross, the vile, the perverted, and the filth are held up to admiration while anyone who would object is ridiculed and scorned. We are making fun of the rule of honor and decency and being entertained by the vulgar. We are presently seeing a generation that considers the vulgar as the rule and the descent as the exception and their behavior is the proof.
We have a generation of children who have been entertained by blood, gore, violence, and action till they think that such things as the law of gravity are exceptions if they should decide to jump off a cliff. They believe in actions without consequences. The rule is: "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap" (Galatians 6:7). The rest of the verse says, "Be not deceived: God is not mocked:"
God's rules may be made fun of (and they are) but we are fooling no one but ourselves when we begin to focus, as the world has, on the exceptions rather than looking into God's word and finding out what the rules are.
---E.R. Hall, Jr.
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How To Bring Down A Son
1. Let him have plenty of spending money.
2. Permit him to choose his own companions without restraint or direction.
3. Give him a latch key and allow him to return home late at night.
4. Make no inquiry as to where and with whom he spends his leisure moments.
5. Give him to understand that manners make a good substitute for morals.
6. Teach him to expect pay for every act of helpfulness to others.
7. Let him spend Sunday hours, between services, on the streets.
8. Be careful never to let him hear your voice in prayer for his salvation and spiritual growth.
Gospel Advocate, 1926
I make two other suggestions. 1. Let him have his own car as soon as he turns 16 and let him go when, where, and how he pleases. 2. Be afraid to exercise discipline over him for fear he won't love you.
---Carrol R. Sutton
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