The CBE Scroll

Comment by codepoke

May 7, 2006 @ 8:09 pm

Offenses must come, but woe into him through whom they come.

Comment by Light M.

May 8, 2006 @ 5:55 am

Many are turned away from the gospel because of unbiblical complementarian dogma. I recently read a book called “Wicca’s Charm,” which explores the reasons why so many women are turning to Wicca. One of the main reasons? You guessed it. The female subordinationist perspective of so many Christians.

Comment by Lori Buckle

May 8, 2006 @ 8:54 am

I used to know a woman who had a similar experience to Buck’s. As a child, she lived overseas with her missionary parents. The culture where they served was very patriarchal. For instance, this woman remembered that women had curfews, while the men could stay out as late as they wanted. She also remembered a time when her family had to stay in some sort of public accommodation. Evidently, the women and children were shoved into one room, while the men slept in another so they could have the freedom to do as they liked, i.e such as come and go freely in the evenings. This poor girl remembered her mother struggling to cope with her and her younger siblings, including a fussy baby, all by herself because her father slept in the room with the other men. Even when they had their own house, she said she remembered her father staying out late with the men of that culture while she and her mother and siblings had to stay home.

Now, I don’t want to judge this woman’s father. Maybe he did what he did because he sincerely thought he needed to follow the dictates of this culture to reach the people. The fact remains, though, that this young woman grew up having a very strained relationship with her father, because she felt that he didn’t value her or her sisters. She was only able to overcome these wounds by receiving counseling as an adult. I’m happy to say that she and her lovely Christian husband have now served as missionaries themseleves. However, it breaks my heart that she suffered so much, just like Pearl Buck, because of the terrible way that some cultures, and even some Christians, view women.

Comment by helene murray

June 22, 2006 @ 7:25 pm

Can anyone explain to me why Pearl S. Buck never referred to herself in the book she wrote about her Mother (The Exile)? She never even made note of her own birth. Thank you.

Comment by Charles Humphrey

October 1, 2006 @ 11:50 am

Keep in mind that for one to be in subjection to someone or something is not in and of itself an evil thing. We are all in subjection to God, and He carries out His rule and care in sundry ways by appointing rulers and authorities over His creation. We are all subjects. Children are subjected to their parents, employees to their employers, soldiers to their commanders and parishioners to their elders. The abuse of a particular authority or a culture’s use of authority does not corrupt and invalidate the institution as a whole. Just as many who are to be subject to authority often rebel against authority, this does not allow the authority to abandon their responsibility and care to their subjects. An adulteress wife does not establish a fact that all wives are unfaithful. Therefore an abusive husband does not establish a fact that husbands can not be authorities over their wives. Abuse is a sin and should be dealt with as such. Authority is granted as a grace and help, and we should be grateful.

The Titanic sunk during an age when men were seen to be authorities over their wives and children, and it is that very fact that lead those men to cry out and carry out “women and children first” when filling the lifeboats. The Word of God shows a shadow of the relationship between Christ and the Church in the institution of marriage. It is not an institution of equality, but an institution of grace and salvation for all of mankind. Pearl S. Buck may have chafed at her father’s authority, but her desire to be free from it did not grant her eternal freedom.