Church Sermon: God's Role in Marriage - Genesis 2:18-24

Brother Geok Seng gave a sermon about marriage for today's church sermon. It was about how man and woman are created by God for each another and how a husband and wife should treat each other. Just yesterday, there was a marriage by a church member. I did not attend the wedding because I wanted to devote time to study, but today's church sermon is an apt message for them.

One interesting feature that Brother Geok Seng pointed out in the passage is that when God wanted to make a suitable helper for Adam, he assigned Adam to the task of naming the animals because through this task, Adam would have noticed the gendered pairs of the animals and wondered to himself about where the female pair to himself was

I am puzzled though when Brother Geok Seng said that good gifts come from God when we are in a deep sleep when he referred to the part where God placed Adam in a deep sleep before he created Eve. Brother Geok Seng elaborated on this point by saying that when we are in a deep sleep, we are not resisting against God and thereby able to receive his gift better. Perhaps there might be theological significance to why Adam was placed in a deep sleep before God created Eve, but it seems to me that Brother Geok Seng's extrapolation of the principle that good gifts come when we are in deep sleep is rather constraint and narrow in application. There are many other accounts of characters in the bible receiving gifts from God when they were not asleep. I don't think that there is any particular significance in being asleep in order to receive good gifts from God.

I cringed somewhat with nervousness when Brother Geok Seng said that because man was made from dirt, whilst woman was made from man's rib, it implied that a man could be treated roughly while a woman was made to be given tender loving care. There was laughter from the congregation when Brother Geok Seng said this, and I am not sure whether it was nervous laughter. Brother Geok Seng pointed out that woman is the weaker sex based on the 1 Peter 3:7, but he qualified that weaker does not mean inferior and used the analogy of how silver is weaker than iron but more valuable. I suppose there is a social expectation of guys to bear up to abrasive treatment in society, and I suppose I would like to take pride in myself as a guy in being able to be resilient to harsher treatment and expectation in society. However, I am not sure how far I can actually conform to such social expectations because of my having Asperger's Syndrome. I am rather mild in temperament and not fond of roughhousing or being rough-housed in return. Of my demeanor, I am of a docile nature. It seems the Confucian man of ideal, the gentleman, has been displaced in Singapore society and a certain rugged characteristic is expected of the male gender. I would prefer the idea of a civil society where people treat one another with a certain gentility, whether the person be male or female.

I did like the diagram which Brother Geok Seng presented about the nature of the relationship between husband and wife, and that with God. Brother Geok Seng said that when man and woman becomes closer to God in a Christian relationship, the nature of their relationship also becomes closer. I have reproduced the pyramid image below.

I like the idea that all that one needs to do in life for things in life to be well is to be close to God and to be upright and righteous before him. It does give me a sense of comfort and peace to think that life can be as simple as such. I would like to do well in life, whether it be in my studies, future career, or in many other areas of life, but I would like them to come easily without me having to be overly-vexed with the attainment of these things. I just wish that things would be as simple as me placing my trust in God and being right in my relationship with him, and that I would not have to strife or be vexed in order to attain success in life. I wish that everything would just come naturally and that I would not have to worry about a thing. But it seems like I have so much strife in the way I have to go about completing my law assignments. Law school work don't just complete by themselves, and I have to put in the effort and mental energy to get them completed. It is a process unnatural to me. I wish that everything in life would be as natural as how I wake up every morning, put on my shoes, get breakfast, and go to school.

About marriage, I think I would like to get married someday to a kind and caring Christian girl whom I love very much and who loves me very much as well . I am physically disposed to being attracted to girls, but it's hard for me to build a relationship, much less a friendship with a girl because I don't interact with girls well as I am quite aloof in nature. I do wish I could live a normal life without Asperger's Syndrome sometimes and be just like any other person who have friends, and a companion of the opposite sex to love and be loved by.