The CBE Scroll

Recently, I had the privilege of seeing in concert the Bethlehem Bible College Choir from Palestine. The 30-plus choir members are currently training for Christian ministry in their native land. About one-third of the members are women. They sing in Arabic in traditional Palestinian style; most of the songs are original and a few are adapted from Hebrew lyrics.

The choir director is a young Palestinian man I met in Philadelphia when he was still in seminary. Besides his work with the choir, he also teaches biblical studies at the college and runs a ministry of reconciliation with Palestinian and Israeli youths.

One of their goals in touring through the Midwestern and Northeastern U.S. is to remind the church in this country about the injustices perpetrated against Palestinian Christians. Often these are the unintended result of misinterpretations of Scripture that pit Israeli Christians (and their Western allies) against their brothers and sisters across the wall. Because of their nationality, just acquiring visas and getting through airport security was an immense challenge. But they were all smiles at the opportunity to tell their American audience of God’s encouraging work in building up the Palestinian church.

Regardless of our political views, let’s remember to pray for the physical safety, reconciliation, and spiritual growth of the Lord’s people in both Israel and Palestine.

I sat at dinner with a young missionary couple in downtown Taipei, in their 20’s, preparing to return back to the United States. They will take up a pastorate on the West Coast. I asked them about how they are going to work with a heirarchy in their denomination that does not really promote women in leadership. This couple, staunchly egalitarian, stated that they would “deal with that issue when it comes up.” The young wife is as smart, spiritual and contributory as she can be to the kingdom. This conversation bothered me for a long time afterward. To their retort back from my question about oppression of women in their denomination, my thought was “And the issue will surely come up.”

In that classic Bible passage on marriage (Eph. 5:21-33) so often used, or alluded to in the marriage ceremony, the narrative closes with the admonition, “this is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the Church are one.” (vs. 32 NLB) The mystery would appear to be, from the preceding verse, that two married people could somehow become one, in thought, purpose and action. Obviously it is a picture of the complete unity within the Godhead which translates into the unique relationship of Christ and the Church. Further, from what we read here, it is equally the ideal that God intends for marriage.

Is it conceivable that two, previously individual persons, especially as products of our pluralistic culture, should, or could, become essentially one? The injunction (vs. 31) suggests to me that neither of those persons is better equipped or more divinely entitled to lead the other, but each, as they acquiesce to the other, for the higher purpose of oneness can achieve that glorious ideal.

Having said that I now come back to the thought of mystery. The Bible definition of mystery suggests something that is veiled, hidden, secret or couched in parable. The theme of mystery occurs repeatedly throughout Scripture beginning in the book of Job (chap. 11 vs.7). Zophar asks Job, “Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything there is to know about the Almighty?” God is a revealer of mysteries for Daniel the prophet (Dan. 2:22). Jesus Himself is said to always speak in parables and thus fulfil OT prophecy as He, “explains the mysteries hidden since the creation of the world.” (Matt. 13:34,35, cross ref.to Psalm 78:2 NLB)

Is it just possible that one mystery hidden since creation is that God’s intention for married humanity is a oneness based on equality and mutuality, as opposed to hierarchy? In hierarchy the husband leads and the wife submissively follows, in respect to a supposed divine ordering or fulfillment of a God ordained role. The Living Bible, erroneously I believe, paraphrases it that a wife should simply, “… fit in with her husband’s plans.” (1 Peter 3:5 LB) By contrast, in a mutually submissive marriage, “each submits to the other out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph. 5:21 NLB) Both see the greater good of being united together in thought, purpose and action and strive for that ideal mutually. No one person has the final say by virtue of gender. Each considers the other as heirs together of the grace of Christ (1 Peter 3:7).

Brad Wilcox is at it again. Chrisitanity Today interviewed him regarding his new sociological study, “What’s Love Got to Do with It? Equality, Equity, Commitment, and Women’s Marital Quality.” First as Megan O’Rourke points out in her article on Salon “this study is based on surveys done between 1992 and 1994.” Of course he found that women who stay in “traditional” roles were happier, and that even egalitarian women were happier when their husbands brought home at 66% of the income. I do agree that women want emotional engagement from their husbands–of course we want them to want to be a part of our lives and interested in who we are and what we do. But I do not agree with it doesn’t matter how much housework he does as he is emotionally engaged. For me and a lot of my female friends these are two sides of the same coin. If he is emotionally engaged and paying attention to us, then he won’t mind helping when we ask, or even help without being asked.

Here is a gem of a statement regarding the egalitarian “sub-sample” he studied:

I reran all of my analyses with a sub-sample of women who had more egalitarian attitudes. Even for these women, they’re more likely to be happy when their husbands earn the lion’s share of income, when they share religious attendance with their husbands, when they share a strong, normative commitment to marriage with their husbands, and when they don’t work outside the home.

I think his sub-sample is very limited. Also according to him:

“But this study certainly does suggest that when it comes to different emphases in the family, the complementarian side seems to be, shall we say, more in touch with how the average American married couple experiences family life.”

My secular friends would roll over laughing at this. They all have egalitarian marriages or relationships, and look at the complementarian marriage as ancient and out of touch with today’s world.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he stuck with the complementarian group, but he doesn’t. He insists on taking his beliefs and trying to apply them across the board. As one of my favorite quotes says, “If you torture data sufficiently, it will say anything.” I think this applies to this study. I think his egalitarian and “American married couple” is a very limited, tightly controlled group used to back up his pet theories. Which is unfortunate because it makes me doubt if the other part of his study is skewed as well. I’m hoping that the part about couples who attend church regularly not divorcing as much as the general population (as opposed to Christians who attend church nominally) is true. But I can only hope because of the rest of the article.

I wonder if Christianity Today will allow the other side of this story to be told?

The Bible records that humans were made in God’s image and however we try to describe what that “looks” like, there can only be one image. God is not fragmented or divided into two “equal but different” parts. God is one God and we have been created to be like God. This surely is a clear statement which shows that all humans are intrinsically the same. There is no mention of a female image and a male image - a female sinfulness and male sinfulness or a female salvation and male salvation.

It seems then to be ludicrous to suggest that some human beings were not created in God’s image in quite the same way that others were made. Such a speculation makes way for all kinds of prejudice and discrimination which transgresses God’s second commandment which is to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. If we can see other human beings as made in God’s image in the same way that we are, then we can say as Adam did “here is someone just like me.” Maybe some of our discrimination comes because we “judge people after the flesh” instead of in the spirit. God looks on the heart of people which is surely a good practice for us as well.

Outward appearances can be deceptive and lead to all kinds of judgments and classifications of people. Maybe when we accept that we are all made in the image of God and in the same way, then we will begin to “see” that image in each other.