Living, Learning & Always Writing
When I was doing my Exploring a Woman’s Freedom in Christ series, I did one post entitled The Complementarian Argument from Historical Precedence. In that post I listed a long series of quotes from the span of history. Each quote gave an historical perspective on the views of important men on women. It is an eye opening list, to say the least. To argue the complementarian position from...
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Long time readers will already know that I’m pretty conservative in my theology and traditional when it comes to my worship style preference. We attend a church with a pipe organ and a fairly formal (but not rigid) service. I love hymns and expository preaching. But I have to say that I found something this week that surprised even this raised-Baptist-ended-up-in-the-CRC-for-now gal. Rachel...
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Last autumn I was in the midst of a series entitled Exploring a Woman’s Freedom in Christ when the holidays hit. I pretty much dropped the series at that point mostly because of time issues. Between the holidays, selling a house, finding a house, and moving… I wasn’t doing much studying! I’m going to pick up this series again from a bit of a different angle. I’m...
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One thing that has puzzled me over the past few years as I’ve wrestled with the topic of complementarianism versus egalitarianism is why people are so adamantly opposed to egalitarianism that they won’t even study it carefully and make an informed decision. (And by studying it I mean reading something more than Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.) The truth sets us free and...
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One argument made by complementarians is that their interpretation is the most accurate because it is the “plain meaning of the text”. I will confess that at one time this argument did intimidate me. But it doesn’t any longer. Why? Because the same people who will pull this argument out as a trump card don’t live by the plain meaning of the text in many parts of Scripture....
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Imagine you have been reading a blog written by a particular woman for a number of years. You’ve found her to be wise in what she shares about faith, marriage and parenting. She writes in a way that moves you toward Christ. You have been inspired and challenged in your walk with Christ and have been able to apply to your home life a number of biblical insight she has offered. One day while...
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If you haven’t had the opportunity to read Under the Influence, you really should add it to your must read list. I think we heard about it from David’s mom when she heard about it on Dr. Dobson a number of years back. It is a fascinating look at how Christianity has transformed civilization. Related to this series on women is Chapter 4 – Women Receive Freedom and Dignity. One...
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As I mentioned in my previous post about reading the Bible through a complementarian filter, I do believe this practice can have dangerous theological implications. Deborah is the perfect example of this. Because the teaching of 1 Timothy 2 (I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man) is arguably one of the centerpieces of the complementarian doctrine, any Scripture that...
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Pretend that you are a brand new Christian. You know very little about the Bible, but you are eager to learn more. Pretend you have never read 1 Timothy 2 or Ephesians 5 and you have never heard complementarian teachings on Genesis 3. In other words, try to read the Bible without reading it through the complementarian filter. Now read these passages of Scripture and imagine how you as a new...
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One of the most common reasons given for the correctness of the complementarian doctrine is that it is the view supported by Church history. The argument goes that the egalitarian perspective has only come about in the last few decades because of the radical feminist agenda in the culture which has infiltrated the church. The complementarian view is clearly the biblical view if one considers it...
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It is easy for us to stay comfortable in our own beliefs and convictions on secondary matters of the faith. The certainty of our denomination’s doctrines brings us a measure of ease and security. We can put those parts of our faith on automatic pilot and not be bothered to think about them again. Knowing we have an airtight belief about every issue can lend itself to feeling certain and strong...
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One of the things I’ve never been able to reconcile in my mind about the complementarian position is how frequently one thing is preached or taught and another is lived out. I honestly don’t think most complementarians mean to be inconsistent. I think it comes from trying to make it all work in the church, the culture and the home when in reality it really doesn’t work all...
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