A Short Speech, Given On Easter Sunday

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“The Bible says:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
   But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

I have said I love you, and I do. But love is actions as well as words and feelings. So I now say I will love you, with God’s help, as Christ loved the church, all the days we have together on this earth.

Ruth Miriam Rotter – will you marry me?”

38 thoughts on “A Short Speech, Given On Easter Sunday”

  12. Congratulations and all the best for your marriage! May God bless you both.

  15. Gerv, congratulations from myself as well! I checked out the Times announcement and was once again reminded why I love British place names: Cumbria, Bromley, and so on :-)

  17. How exciting, Gerv! Ruth is a very lucky women to have a husband that so passionately loves the Lord. I wish you both the best God has to offer.

  18. WOW! Congratulations, I hope everything works out incredibly well. (And if you have a spare moment, I would love to hear the story behind this amazing announcement!)

  21. Do you think I’d be posting this here if she did?

    What was the point of posting if you already known the answer? Ostentation? Exhibition? Or another opportunity for religious propaganda?

    @Todd
    “Ruth is a very lucky women to have a husband that so passionately loves the Lord.”

    Yes. Delusion is a good start to any endeavor.

  24. I should know better by now, I’ve been on the internet long enough. Still, I can’t help being disappointed that some people are so small-minded about disagreeing with Gerv’s religious beliefs that they can’t even bring themselves to congratulate him on his engagement. Are you really so insecure that you can’t cope with the concept of someone with different opinions ever having any joy in life?

  25. @individ-ewe-al: I’m happy for Gerv, and I’d be even happier if he hadn’t referenced a bible quote that commanded the subjugation of women.

  28. Tack: Ephesians 5 does not command the subjugation of women. The Bible teaches that men and women are totally equal in status and worth, but different in role. The reason you and other people have difficulty understanding that distinction is that modern society measures people’s worth by their role. Hence the modern pursuit and idolatry of financial and employment success, and the opening question in many conversations: “So, what do you do?”

    Ruth and I are both totally signed up to interacting in our marriage in God’s way. She will not be “subjugated” because if I have to love her as Christ loves the church, that clearly means having her best interests at heart. The mutuality of this asymmetrical relationship is what prevents it degenerating into domination by one partner or the other.

  30. @Gerv-

    Thank you for your boldness to not only share Christ to the web, but your personal life, too. Despite the persecution you’ve experienced in these comments, I hope you continue to be encouraged to hold forth truth to make God known to those around me (which I’m sure is the case).

    @Jack / @Tack-

    Gerv is living out the truth of the Gospel, which is love- love for humanity, love for God, and now, love for Ruth. I pray love would rule in your lives rather than hate. Simply finding someone to love or be loved by is something amazing and worthy of celebration, regardless of background/culture/religion, but even more exciting for their mutual respect and caring for each other.

  32. I seem to have stumbled unexpectedly across a conversation about myself on the internet (a new experience). For the record, I am delighted that Gerv and I are getting married. Todd is right, I am a very lucky woman to be marrying him, or rather, I have a very generous God!

    Ruth

  33. @Gerv: I’m glad, especially for the sake of your wife-to-be, that you have found a way to reconcile the contradiction in a healthy way. However “the husband is the head of the wife” and “wives must submit to their husbands in everything” is very clear instruction. The fact that you are able to quote-mine other areas of scripture that allow you to overlook such an unambiguous instruction is just a further example that one can make the bible say anything about anything.

    @Todd: Opposition of religion (at least the kind I engage in) is not hatred. Indeed, if you want stunning examples of hatred, look no further than the bible. I recognize that it is far easier for you to dismiss me by characterizing me as a hateful person. I have a happy life and have very valuable friendships and relationships with others, and I try to be a positive influence in their lives.

    I realize this is a happy time for Gerv and he was excited and wanted to share his joy with the world. And I’d have been delighted for him just to learn he was engaged. But quoting a reference to scripture that includes text like “wives must submit to their husbands in everything” is extremely troublesome to me, and it’s the propagation of dangerous ideas like this that sets back the vital progression of equal rights for women that has been hard won over the past several decades.

  34. Tack: it’s not a case of “reconciling the contradiction”; there is no conradiction. I agree those instructions are clear, and we have no intention of “overlooking” it; I just don’t think they command the subjugation of women, as I think you understand that word. I am not “quote-mining other areas of Scripture”, I am developing a whole-Bible understanding of the issue.

    If you are of the view that the only correct view of the relationship of men and women is that “women should be able to do anything that men can do, and not letting them do so is oppression” then of course you won’t agree with the Bible’s teaching. It’s pretty counter-cultural (or, at least, counter-21st-century-Western-cultural).

    Gerv

  36. Congratulations! A bigot marrying another bigot, begetting many more bigots I am sure. Well done.

  37. Well, I am really happy for both of you. Having read through all the comments, I think that the post about the ‘subjugation of women’ in (Christian) marriage, being a negative thing & ‘dangerous’, by those outside the Christian family,(I’m presuming?) is I wonder, a lack of understanding, concerning the model of Christ to His church (I think Gerv mentioned)? That is after all the relationship we use for Christian marriage & if you don’t understand that relationship, then words like ‘dangerous’ and stuff would be about right! but the exiting bit, is, that Jesus Christ hung on a cross and died for the sake of His ‘bride’ – the Church! so she might be spotless on the day HE RETURNS… NOW THAT’s what I call LOVE! if even a miniscule amount of HIS scarifice and love on the cross is mirrored in Gerv’s relationship with Ruth, in their marriage, well, it’ll be breathtaking!

  38. Posting to this thread rather late, as I’ve only just stumbled across it.

    Congratulations!!

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