Sehlat wrote a fascinating and informative post recently talking about women’s rights. I found it thought provoking and wanted to process a few of the ideas here in my blog, in the spirit of inter-blog conversation:
What about the church? We’re not even completely free there. Even though Jesus Christ elevated women in a culture which held women down, and even though Paul valued and encouraged his female co-workers, too much of the church has forgotten the message of freedom in Christ and unity of all believers, and has embraced in its place the results of the Fall.
- If a man is told not to exercise his spiritual gifts, he is to obey God rather than humans, even those in authority… but a woman is told she must obey her husband rather than God, or is even told that she really does not have her spiritual gift. When does a man ever have the right to trump God?
- Pornography is the secret sin of the church. As many as half of the men at some Promise Keepers rallies have confessed to using pornography. As a result, many Christian women are secretly suffering the shame of knowing their husbands are “turning to other women” for sexual fulfillment and making them perform degrading or painful sexual acts for their husband’s enjoyment. Worse, it’s all demanded in the name of “wifely submission”. Doesn’t Peter say something about God not hearing the prayers of men who mistreat their wives?
- Domestic abuse remains a problem, again under the name of “submission”. Pastors often side with abusive husbands against the wives, and they send abused women home into more abuse. Some pastors have even said that wives who die from abuse will die for God’s glory. How sick! Jesus Christ already died for the abuser’s sin. An abused woman’s blood can do nothing when Christ’s blood has been rejected.
Sehlat asked, “When does a man ever have the right to trump God?” And my answer would be a heartfult “never” with the qualification of asking, are we really sure we’re trumping God?
How we distinguish between the voice of God and the voice of our own desires, or even the voice of the enemy’s temptation, is a critical issue of the Christian life! We are told to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21), to be completely humble and gentle, to be be patient, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2). Too many leaders take these verses out of context, forgetting that they should be in submission themselves - accountable to other leaders outside of their own circles of influence (hence why denominational structures are a good thing) and to other men and women in the community of faith. Leaders should model the Christian life for those they are leading, and if an appropriate example is set, others will be more likely to follow their lead. If a leader is in submission, and accountable to someone else then I have a place to go to where decisions can be verified. The extra sets of eyes scrutenizing the issue will help to discern the difference of who’s voice is being heard. We need to operate with a policy of walking in the light - open, transparent and accountable relationships of mututal submission - at all times (1 John 1:5-10).
Obviously I am thinking in a fairly optimistic and fair-weather manner here. People’s ego always manages to muddy the waters!