Jack came back


In a previous installment I told of the woes of Jack Clark, a mentee of mine who had come to the end of things with his erstwhile girlfriend, Anna.* He had thoughts toward marriage and children, and she had wanted nothing of that.

I suggested to him that he look into the apostle Paul's teaching about the church as the bride of Christ, and the reflection we see of that in the secular matter of women, men and marriage. I thought that would gain him a wider perspective in which to evaluate his own woes. I hinted that there was more besides in the rest of scripture, that shows us the true nature and high significance of being created male and female; Paul is not speaking in a vacuum.

I was fortunate to come across a brilliant short talk by N.T. Wright which ties up a good deal of the biblical imagery and thought in an overview. Of course I thought Jack had to see it, and we watched it together when he visited me again. I thought I would post it here too.

Jack's feelings by the time of his second visit had mainly turned into angry ones, which is healthy, and yet it was not exactly, or altogether, anger at Anna, and that is godly of him. He is angry that things went wrong. After being jilted he wept, prayed and fasted. (He admitted that fasting was easy because he was off his feed anyway.) Things got no better despite his prayers--in the sense that the situation remained as it was before he prayed. Slowly, though, his thoughts changed. He is angry at a world so distorted by sin and lust and vanity and confusion that disappointing romances happen.

Damned right, Jack. You're on the right track with that.








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*Of course names have been changed, though not altogether to protect the innocent.

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