Christian Feminism

Feminism has hurt women more than it has helped. It has demeaned female gifting and has informed the woman that, for her to have value, she must be able to compete with a man and have a career. Raising children has been relegated to an inferior position. Consequently, women are more depressed and dissatisfied that ever. (Please read this testimony by a woman writer raised by a feminist: )

However, I also think that we must try to understand Christian women who have revolted against their biblical role, even though their response – placing feminism and its modern interpretation of freedom above the Bible – may be troubling.

One Christian feminist responded to me that God had led her to a modern feministic way of interpreting the Bible, and that this had given her a sense of freedom:

I sometimes get messages from mostly young women asking about specific bible verses pertaining to women. Always, they explain how they are trying to follow and honor God and understand these verses as somehow demonstrating God's love for them. But over and over, they keep coming back to a question they can't shake: "why does God hate me?" Sometimes they specifically say, "I wish God hadn't made me a woman" because trying to follow what they had been taught God requires of women is killing their spirit. It breaks my heart because I used to feel exactly the same way.

But as I found the courage to embrace other ways of understanding these verses, I was granted an enormous peace - the sort of peace that only God can bring to us. I started understanding that the enormous pain I and other women feel under the teaching of the unique subordination of women didn't come from my rebellion. It is actually the rebellion of the Holy Spirit in me refusing to accept a teaching that I wasn't made for. Along with peace came freedom. The freedom that Jesus came to give us. Freedom to be the person God created me to be.

Here’s my response:

Thanks for your candid response. I am grieved that, for you, the Bible's hierarchical male/female, husband/wife role distinctions provoke the question, "why does God hate me."

I'm wondering whether we must all be head-honcho in order to think that God loves me. Would this also pertain to being a pastor or an elder? Must the church rid itself of all role distinctions so that everyone might be assured that "God loves me?"

Perhaps this is the way of the world? I worked for years as a probation officer and resented the fact that I was repeatedly passed over for supervisor. Finally, I got the position and for the next six years I was absolutely miserable.

I had erroneously equated social rank with my value as a person. I also equated my rank with the degree that God loved me. The lower the rank, the less I was in the eyes of God. How tragic we see things in such unbiblical ways!

Please understand that I too regard it as tragic when Christian women lament, "I wish God hadn't made me a woman," but I wonder whether this is because of the biblical role of the woman or because of the negative appraisal society has placed on this role.

In light of the fact that the feminists have undermined the female role and gifting, it is no surprise that many now lament the fact that God had made them a woman. Rather than feeding into this demeaning of women, I think that it is our role as Christians to honor the woman for who she is – the blessing that God made her to be. This should start with husbands:  

·        Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. (1 Peter 3:7)

God will tolerate no less than this!

Culture: Its Power and Persuasiveness

Culture is imperialistic. It determines our thinking, attitudes, and worldviews. If this is so, I think we need to be aware of its impact on our lives. After all, the unexamined life is an automated life, and an automated life is a robotic life.

Let me give you an example of the influence of culture, even on the church. Maintaining a good relationship with our adult children should be a high priority, but often, it has become our highest priority. One Christian talk show hosted a counselor – I’ll call her “Doris” - talking on this very subject. She suggested that parents ought to think of themselves as “coaches” rather than “teachers” or even “parents” regarding our adult live-at-home kids. Although she was ready to admit that today’s 23 year-olds were more like 17 year-olds in regards to emotional maturity, Doris insisted that they are still adults, and if we want to maintain a good relationship with them, we can’t talk down to them by telling them how they must live their lives.

Instead, it is preferable that we think of ourselves as life-coaches. We can present the options along with a cost/benefit analysis, but we need to refrain from telling them how they should live.

Admittedly, this strategy will make for a more harmonious relationship, and this is a high cultural priority. It has become the number 1 criterion to determine whether or not you are a good parent. If your adult child likes being around you, this means that you’re a successful parent.

Although this criterion is important, I wonder whether it leaves out the First Commandment (loving God) in favor of exclusive attention on the second – loving others. Doris didn’t even begin to consider whether or not her strategy honored God and His priorities. This consideration was entirely neglected. In fact, some cultural messages are so deeply imbedded within our thinking that we barely notice, let alone question them.

I too hadn’t noticed Doris’ omission of the First Commandment, until thinking about it later. Something seemed to be limiting about the life-coach model. Although it represents one very important tool or option in a carpenter’s tool-box, it shouldn’t be the only one. Instead, we are sometimes called upon to rebuke and correct:

·         All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Sometimes we need to rebuke and correct. The drug addict requires some tough-love –maybe even a family intervention. Perhaps, if we want to maintain a ripple-free relationship with our adult kid, we will refrain from rebuking.  However, being a coach in certain circumstances might merely serve to enable self-destructive behaviors. Used by itself, the coaching model tends to communicate an erroneous message – “Your life is entirely your own, and you bear no responsibility for others. You’re the captain of your own ship.” It is therefore ironic that our culture then laments the pervasive destruction of communal ties.

Why then do we unnecessarily narrow down our Scripturally-mandated responsibilities? Why are we now content to merely be a friend to our kids and not a parent? We allow cultural standards rather than Scriptural ones to set our priorities.

What type of protection do we have against imbibing the standards of the surrounding culture? We need to be able to see its pervasive influence from a stationary lookout – Scripture (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8; Romans 12:2; 2 Cor. 10:4-5). Only when we stand outside of our culture can we be in any position to critique it.