If I may humbly chime in here, LD, I think there is perhaps a little scriptural cherry picking going on here . . .
I think you certainly have the SPIRIT of God's heart here; but there are some events in the story of Rebecca that your conclusion doesn't fully address.
One is that Rebeccah was willing to go back USING THE TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED. And she also had AN APPROPRIATE PLACE to stay for SEVEN YEARS before she married the man God had meant to be her Adam. And, I think the story also states that she was given quite a lot of "incentive" (see jewels and gifts) to trust that she was being given to a man who could provide once she was there.
And what DO we do with the fact that Rebecca's "fiance" CHEERFULLY SLAVED for his nemesis for SEVEN YEARS to win his bride? (There's another whole subject for a post about that . . .!)
I chose this story to answer your concerns, because it gets to the heart of the difficulty for hopeful single Christian women to meet suitable, sold out Christian men who would otherwise probably make great future mates . . . but who live 200 to 2000 miles away!
If God had no problem with Isaac happily sending out his messengers to search for a bride, would He oppose Godly men men sending out "e-messages" for the same purpose? I have my doubts.
But I DO think He still expects a man of God to be clear about whether they even have a camel to send, and whether they have a safe and Biblically appropriate plan for when she "agrees to come".
Until then, there's the more affordable, practical approach called "Skype"?
Lovingly submitted ~
I think you certainly have the SPIRIT of God's heart here; but there are some events in the story of Rebecca that your conclusion doesn't fully address.
One is that Rebeccah was willing to go back USING THE TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED. And she also had AN APPROPRIATE PLACE to stay for SEVEN YEARS before she married the man God had meant to be her Adam. And, I think the story also states that she was given quite a lot of "incentive" (see jewels and gifts) to trust that she was being given to a man who could provide once she was there.
And what DO we do with the fact that Rebecca's "fiance" CHEERFULLY SLAVED for his nemesis for SEVEN YEARS to win his bride? (There's another whole subject for a post about that . . .!)
I chose this story to answer your concerns, because it gets to the heart of the difficulty for hopeful single Christian women to meet suitable, sold out Christian men who would otherwise probably make great future mates . . . but who live 200 to 2000 miles away!
If God had no problem with Isaac happily sending out his messengers to search for a bride, would He oppose Godly men men sending out "e-messages" for the same purpose? I have my doubts.
But I DO think He still expects a man of God to be clear about whether they even have a camel to send, and whether they have a safe and Biblically appropriate plan for when she "agrees to come".
Until then, there's the more affordable, practical approach called "Skype"?
Lovingly submitted ~
