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| Are men and women interchangeable? |
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Is modern American culture propagating the idea that men and women are completely interchangeable? We put women on the front lines of the battlefield, saying they can pull their weight just like any man can. We say let the man stay home and raise junior, he can be Mr. Mom while his wife goes out and earns the family income. For the most part it seems prime time TV depicts aggressive, intelligent women and passive, lame brained men. Traditional roles of men and women seem passé. I was thinking about the roles of men and women this morning. It seemed funny to me that people assign the concept of rank to roles. What makes some roles more desirable than others? When roles are laid out in the Bible, isn’t it typically done according to the natural abilities bestowed by our Creator? Men and women were not created identically, we are not carbon copies of one another. Men and women have different strengths/weaknesses. It seems to me that if we were to empty ourselves of all our cultural preconceptions and our desire to assert ourselves, and just take God at his Word, men and women would likely be very comfortable in the roles he has given us. The headship of husbands is a good example of a natural role that is twisted by modern culture. Many women hate the idea that Biblically the husband is assigned this role and they chafe at the thought of their husband "ruling" over them. This is because they've assigned rank to the role of headship according to their own ideas of what headship should look like. Those that feel this way have a skewed view of the Biblical role of headship. The Bible does not say husbands outrank wives! In fact, if we are to understand headship as Christ fulfilled the role, we see the male serving his wife in humility, not lording over her. Final thoughts. The Bible is very clear that men are not superior to women. Anyone who makes a woman feel like a second class citizen is harboring sinful attitudes, and should be lovingly called on it. In fact, men who say that they are superior to women either have a distorted view of Scripture or intentionally twist God’s Word for the purpose of selfishly exploiting women. But on the other hand, women who say that they are superior to men openly rebel against God’s Word. The middle ground? Biblical roles faithfully executed! Grace. ~mike |
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| To add a comment to "Are men and women interchangeable?" |
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| March 21, 2007 |
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Another thought... Christ is our King (Lord). He rules and reigns, but we follow Him because of the sacrifice He gave. He gave up His reputation and His sin-free life for us...His bride. Submission, biblical roles, and order to family life are not bad things or superiority of men over women...it's order...and without it, it's chaos and confusion - neither of which are from God. Thanks Mike |
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| March 22, 2007 |
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| Wow, what you wrote in the first sentence, I honestly never thought of it that way. That's good, Angie! And yes, our God is definitely a God of order, NOT of confusion (or chaos). |
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| March 22, 2007 |
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| Mike, Should we take a vote on MyChurch, I'm certain your view of gender roles would dominate, and perhaps I would be the one dissenting vote. I can't understand, if a couple is living their lives for God, why it should be a problem to the rest of us what their roles are with earning income or raising children or maintaining the home. I agree with you that men and women are not equal, but I would add to that that all men are not equal and that all women are not equal. We all have diverse talents and gifts. Paul's writings, we forget, were done almost 2000 years ago in a part of the world that even today treats women more like property than partners. He, like every writer, wrote within and to the society he knew. Our society is quite different. Can a woman not be educated, and career-oreinted, and still be totally sold out to God and His work? And is a man "passive" and "lame-brained" if he is gifted with his children and with home-related tasks? (Are women, then "passive" and "lame-brained" if they accept their "proper" role?!) I respect you, Mike, and know you are a man of God, and your opinion is in good company within Christendom, but, knowing that I am inviting being stoned here, I challenge you to go deeper with this issue. Did you know that the majority of American adults now are not even married? And yes, many of us are soldiers of Christ, willing to be on His front line when He asks us to be there, and answering only to Him! As a single Christian, by choice, I have no problem with Christians who choose to live within traditional gender roles. Do we, who choose to serve God outside those roles, not in turn deserve the same respect from our Christian brothers and sisters? We get it from God. Grace and Peace to you, Mike. |
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| March 22, 2007 |
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Thanks for your comment Kathy! If you will allow a clarification, the line about "passive" and "lame-brained" men referred to caricatures of men in prime time TV, not the honest portrayal of men filling non-traditional roles. You also asked, "Can a woman not be educated, and career-oriented, and still be totally sold out to God and His work?" With you I say yes, by all means!! Assuming such a woman is in a surrendered state to God's will and following His leading for her life, not merely pursuing her own selfish will. This of course applies to men as well. You challenged me to go deeper with this issue. To be honest, I believed that I was (and still do). In my opinion the easy blog to write would be the feel good story of how far women have advanced in our culture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing those advances. Biblically, women are the equal of men in God's sight and should be in the eyes of all mankind as well. But in the process of empowering women, our culture seems to have obscured many of the specific traits and gifts God built into the female gender. Remember, the secular culture does not buy into the concept of God fashioning a people for Himself and structuring them into families. For our culture it is purely a biological/sociological thing. Women are encouraged to fulfill their potential, to attain any height they set their sights upon. I even heard the term "subordinate role" applied recently to a role traditionally occupied by women. Why do we consider it to be subordinate?? That to me is the deeper question!! I certainly hope no one casts any stones at you, I may actually be the one to get pelted! Your sharing is appreciated. No disrespect was intended toward anyone with this post. I simply had a thought which appeared to go against the grain, and thought I would share and see what kind of reaction it got. ~Lord bless, mike |
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| March 22, 2007 |
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| Thanks, Mike, for your thoughtful response. Blessings to you! |
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| May 06, 2008 |
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| Looks like ya'll covered just about everything here! Good job guys! (and gals) |
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| May 06, 2008 |
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Mike, I would love to be married to a Proverbs 31 woman who can earn big bucks with her enterprising spirit, and I could be free to not worry about money. I do not see the gender roles as so rigid biblically. However, I DO see what you call rank. Even if the woman is the bread winner, there cannot be a two headed monster to household decision-making. Somebody has to submit to the other for the sake of peace. However, even there, I see equal submission, just in different areas. The wife submits to her husband's needs, but a loving husband will also submit himself to hers as well. It is necessarily a mutual giving and taking.
That having been said, I do see many problems with the co-equal situations of today. A cop once confided to me that because of the male-female cop on the beat in the patrol car 50 hours a week situation, there is an incredible amount of adultery in the police force. There is something to be said for keeping men and women separate in certain situations. After all, we are a very adulterous and high divorce rate society today, because we have rejected the wisdom of our grandparents. |
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| May 06, 2008 |
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| Can any one say a can of worms? Well, let me start by saying this: American Men have been demasculinized. A liberal forward thinking person would say, "Women are just catching up to the boy's club." And without our women, our society would be in a mess. However, I think that there has been a conscience effort to bring the ideology of Feminism into our thinking. Women have made great strides in America and are seen as equals by in large. I am not advocating going back to the cave man days and dragging your woman around by her hair. But I do want to go back to the Garden of Eden. A Woman was made to be a help-meet to man, to be a companion, but when she gave into the temptation of the Devil part of the curse was that "her longing shall be to her husband, and he shall rule over you." Ever since then men and women have been locked in an epic struggle for control. The Bible says, "I do not permit a woman to have authorty over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve And Adam was not the one deceived it was the woman who was decieved." I Tim 2:12-13 and honestly I am not sure all of what Paul is saying in this passage, but he definitely is spelling out the order of things. Now whether the cultural roles that have passed down to us is proper or not I am not sure all of that is Scriptural, but I do know that God has made men to lead and to protect. God has made the woman to help and be an intimate friend. We definitely are to honor and respect each other. It is not about domination, rather it is about submitting one to another. |
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