Is Egalitarianism on a Slippery Slope?
I don’t know about you, but I have evangelical friends with all kinds of different views on gender. Come to think of it, I have evangelical friends with all kinds of different views on a whole host of topics: child baptism or believers baptism, just war or pacifism, Arminianism or Calvinism, and, yes, even egalitarianism or some form of gender hierarchism (often called, somewhat misleadingly, “complementarianism”). Since evangelicalism has no official magisterium, such diversity is [more]
I would suggest that most, if not all, women would have been the subject of ridicule in some form or other simply because of their gender. Sometimes it is felt even without words - the scorn, belittling behaviour and condescension. Then of course we know of the way many men talk of their mothers, wives, sisters and women in general when with their friends; berating women as being silly, emotional, talkative (fill in the dots).
BUT....what [more]
The blogosphere is buzzing with backlash about recent articles that are advocating for "young marriage." Apparently, the millennials (18-29 yr olds), my generation, have a low marriage rate at 21 percent in the U.S., compared to other generations during this age range.
I posed a question on my Facebook status to my unmarried or later-married friends:
Why are YOU delaying marriage? (Besides not knowing anyone you WANT to marry.) I chose to get married instead of waiting, [more]
This photo is of an apple.......no question about that. Now it's cut we can see inside but before then we had no idea what was inside. So it is with people.....we can assume things without knowing 'what's inside'. There's an old saying 'don't judge a book by its cover', and yet it happens all the time. We see someone and make assumptions. Hopefully it remains in our mind and we control ourselves from making statements [more]
Is Real Faith Getting Skewed Today
There are a number of ways that godly faith in the God who is GOD, the REAL Messiah and the ONLY HOLY Spirit can get skewed is when humans step in to contain and control. I believe that what I’m going to say needs to be said and spread. I’d like to see it defined concisely and plainly. But for now I’d like us to just define it well.
At this time in my church, I’m [more]
The new issue of Mutuality, themed “Rape and Sexual Violence,” is hot off the press. It includes the following piece by Christian blogger Luke Harms (lukelivingthetension.blogspot.com). Harms critiques what he sees as a culture of rape present in the church, which holds that women are responsible for the sexual violence committed against them. We invite you to join in this important conversation.
Recently, a fellow blogger wrote a great piece about the problems with modesty rules [more]
That same day two of them were walking to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem.
They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them, but they were not able to recognise who he was.
He asked "What's this you are discussing so intently as you walk along ?" They just stood there, long [more]
In Mark 14 and Matthew 26 we read of Jesus being anointed by a woman while visiting the home of a man called Simon the Leper. The story ends with Jesus' words, "Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her" (Matthew 26:13, TNIV).
We should take Jesus' comment seriously and thus look for ways to remember and honor this woman. [more]
Of all the literature produced by the early Syrian church, the most prized was composed by Ephrem the Syrian, often called “The Harp of the Holy Spirit”. One of his hymns memorialises the faith of the Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well and sent forth as a missionary (see John 4) O, to [...]
Easter brings to the egalitarian mind the fact that women were the first evangelists to proclaim the risen Lord. One of the gospel accounts attesting to this historical fact is Luke 24; verses 9-10 say, “…and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was [...]
Recently both egalitarians and complementarians have been having conversations centred around the ‘masculinity’ and/or the ‘femininity’ of God. Remarks by respected theologian John Piper and the movie “Courageous” have helped fuel both sides of the discussion. My purpose here is not to further comment on John Piper’s remarks (which I have read) or the movie [...]
While there is only one way to peace with God and eternal life, and that way is Jesus, there are many ways in which people come to be enlightened about God’s heart for his creation in mutuality. It would be a great encouragement to everyone to read how you first came to see the truth [...]
At our local church the pastor has been preaching his way thematically through the Gospel of Matthew and just recently touched on some verses that sparked an idea for a post. While he didn’t spend a lot of time on the Transfiguration, somehow, as he was speaking about this and directing our thoughts forward to [...]
When teaching a class on biblical texts about women, I once made the mistake of saying, “Culture is everything.” I found out several days later that some students–one in particular–took strong exception to my comment. The student thought I meant that culture is the most important factor in biblical interpretation. Thinking that I had said [...]
March is the time when America remembers the huge contribution of women over their long history. As past of the celebration, CBE is holding prayer walk on March 28th. They intend praying at ‘women’s shelters, churches, schools or other places within communities where women are being restored’ Also at places where ‘women are still denied [...]
