Quote:
Originally Posted by Mary Etheldreda
Indeed, Sister. Why, I still recall the look one of my youngsters gave me when we first read the story of Jephthah’s Daughter. Oh the look of sheer terror and incredulity on his innocent, trusting little face! To imagine the father would actually honor his vow made in haste and desperation and sacrifice his beloved child after a victory that could have easily have been attributed to greater skill rather than petition to the LORD to spare his innocent daughter! The buggy eyes filled rapidly with tears, and he quickly bolted away and ran to a dark corner where he cried and cried! That, dear Snake Eye, was an example of being shocked! No, you cannot shock us. True Christians™ are curators of the Truth™ and connoisseurs of God's Word. You'll have to do much more to shock us.
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Sister Mary, there is no more shining example of someone so devoted to the study of His Word than a True Christian Lady® like yourself who is willing to memorize the name "Jephthah".
I tend to use the example of Lot when attempting to communicate the real cost of uncompromising love and obedience towards the Lord. But that is only because my weak nature makes it easier for me to remember Lot's name over Jephthah's.
It really is the province of our learned pastors to decide if burning one daughter is a sign of greater devotion that tossing out two of them to a ravenous gathering to be raped possibly a hundred times or more. Perhaps we will have to wait until we enter into our heavenly refuge to learn which offer was more pleasing in God's Holy Eyes.
The one thing that we do know from an examination of the text is that God did not offer any condemnation of ether man, which tends to be the reaction of foolish, immoral unbelievers. Not only is there not a word to be found anywhere in the entire Bible that suggests that the Lord disapproved of the actions of either father, the fact is that both men were richly blessed by Him.
Not only did neither fellow allow a maudlin attachment to his female offspring to stand between himself and doing right in the Lord's Eyes, but all three of the young ladies were noted to be virgins according to the narrative. Of course, Lot's daughters certainly would not have remained so if he had not been prevented from carrying out his intentions by circumstances. And those of us who have bothered to read the Bible know that their virginity was lost under other circumstances. But Jephthah's daughter died "intact" as it were.
Either way, both men are to be commended for keeping a close eye on their respective daughters' virtue. They, too, are a shining example of devotion to God and a comforting reminder of good old fashioned morals and decency. It's really sad how far the world has turned away from such values. . . But it's not shocking.
Because we have been forewarned about the increase of evil during the end times. Any truly discerning person can see how far we have come from a time when a godly man knew not to let anything come between him and his allegiance to The One True God.
Nowadays, most people don't even have the commitment to
read all of God's Word, much less obey it. But we here at Landover Baptist know the consequences for those who refuse to read it all and obey it all. That is why our lives have been so much changed and why we devote so much of our time to sharing that Truth™ with a world that is largely illiterate of scripture.
Literately Yours,
Handmaiden