Fem Speak

Women and Power

Having grown up under the thumb of male pre-eminence and dominance I never truly understood the power of women. Both men and women gravitate to certain culturally oriented powers in order to function in ways that will enable them some control in their daily lives. Both are able to be destructive as well as constructive.

It took most of my life so far for God to pull me up from the sticky mire of female subjugation. In the mire of gender, racial and social subjugation the subjugated rarely recognizes or can relate to personal power. It’s all about getting up from under, gaining what is restricted and proving you are deserving of equal opportunities. It’s a different worldview.

Now that I have been on the more level ground of Biblical equality for a while, I’ve been seeing a different view of women. What strikes me is the amazing power that some women have become skilled in. In the past I viewed men as the primary power holders, mainly positional, both good and bad. But even in the midst of less than equal relationships many women have discovered how to effectively control others, even those in positions considered of superior power. Thus these women can gain what they wish without having to acknowledge any responsibility.

On the plus side is that women really have always been capable of being positive influencers even those culturally subjugated. Women are far more powerful human beings than many people realize. What I find sad is that when a woman reaches out to do great things, there is applause, but no or little help. Most women have to climb the mountains on their own ingenuity, while men get a brotherhood of assistance.

Teri King

Hebrews 13

Chapter 13 is an interesting chapter. It reminds the reader to look, observe, remember, and apply good proper behavior to ones life. Verses 7-9 and 17-18 are the tied together perhaps book-ending what is in-between, somewhat defining how we approach and apply what we are observing and remembering.

Verse 7 tells us to remember those who lead us in teaching the Scriptures. Remembering has already been admonished in verse 3 as part of letting brotherly love continue, which is closed with verse 5’s admonition to let our conduct by without covetousness. So, remembering has already been tied with observing so as to adjust our own behavior towards godliness.

OK, so the implications are that we are to remember and observe our leaders, but we are not to following their teachings (further defined in verse 9) until we consider the outcome of their conduct. In other words we must observe how they live out their teachings, consider its ramifications before wholeheartedly taking it into our own behavior. This carefulness in following what our leaders teach is emphasized by mentioning that Christ (who is Truth embodied) is the same and does not change, AND that we must not be carried away by strange teachings. Our hearts must be established on grace, we must eat the spiritual foods that profit our soul. One way to see that is by observing how teachings (and we must agree that the body of Christ has many diverse teachings) flesh out in the lives of those who teach and believe them.

Then in verse 17 we have an interesting word that had it been translated better (difficult word though) I believe it would read: “be willing to be persuaded by your leaders and be submissive …..”. The Greek word for “obey” (upakouo) is not there. Instead we have peithomai or a derivative.

The Greek word (3982) "peitho" means:

1) persuade
a) to persuade, that is, to induce one by words to believe
b) to make friends of, to win one's favor, to gain one's good will, or to seek to win one, to strive to please one
c) to tranquilize
d) to persuade unto, that is, to move or induce one to persuasion to do something
2) be persuaded
a) to be persuaded, to suffer oneself to be persuaded; to be induced to believe: to have faith (in a thing)
1) to believe
2) to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person
b) to listen to, to obey, to yield to, to comply with
3) to trust, to have confidence, to be confident

In Classical Greek students were taught that the fundamental meaning of the word pietho was to persuade (in the active voice), or be persuaded (in the passive, or middle voice).This is not claiming that this verb can never be translated obey, but is saying that even in those cases, the word likely has overtones of doing such and such BECAUSE one is persuaded. In the New Testament the idea of persuasion and related ideas are frequently present when the verb is used, as in the very next verse, Hebrews 13:18, with the idea of confidence (because one is persuaded).

Thus, we have this whole section closing with the idea of being willing, allowing for the possibility of, being persuaded of what is being taught by our leaders. And how do we allow them to persuade us, by observing and remembering how they live out their beliefs. This is further drummed in by verse 18 which says that we are to pray for the author(s) of the epistle (implying leaders and teachers perhaps) because they are living honorably in a good conscience.

It is unfortunate that many have helicoptered verse 7 and 17 out of the context of this chapter and used it to demand that the laity give somewhat blind obedience to their clergy rather than properly separating honor and respect from blind obedience. We are to honor and respect those who have dedicated their lives to serve the body of Christ but we are to follow what proves to be truth, both by searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:10-12) and by observing how they live what they teach.

In Conclusion: the implication of verses 7-9 and 17-19 are to test what is being said against real life (the real life of the leaders living out their beliefs) , in order to not be led about by strange doctrines. Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell what our leaders really mean until we see how they apply it in their lives. This of course does not mean we ONLY follow our leaders, and do not read Scripture and through prayer and research figure things out for ourselves. We must keep our hearing tuned like donkeys ears swivel to grab the sound, so that we eagerly take in what is being said by our leaders respecting their sincere devotion to God and Scripture. Observing, how they live out their beliefs is another way to fine tune what they believe. But, it is imperative that we only trust Scripture as the final authority and like the Bereans search the Scriptures to see if what is being said is really in Scripture and as described by our leaders.

Teri King

Prejudice Is An Insidious Evil.

If a person has no desire to play the trumpet, then a restriction that persons of his/her kind are forbidden from playing the trumpet would have no effect upon them. Nevertheless, such a prejudicial favoritistic ruling is still oppressive to persons of his/her kind. Maybe several of their “kind” might not care about trumpet playing. But someone is bound to adore trumpets and for that person, to be restricted because of inherent design is the height of cruelty.

Yet people with a bias will say, “ well most [fill-in-the-blank] people don’t want to play trumpets, so that just proves that playing the trumpet goes against the natural make up of [fill-in-the-blank] people. Prejudicial thinking wants to paint groups of people in specific colors and set the parameters of their lives.

Even a positive bias is harmful. By thinking that all [fill-in-the-blank] people should be gifted in trumpet playing, those who do not have nor want those skills are criticized for not doing what all [fill-in-the-blank] people should be doing. 

No matter how you look at it, prejudicial thinking seeks to control people's lives and will give special favors to a select few and harm those who don’t fit their little square coffins.

T King

Eternal Subordination

I’ve been contemplating on the concept of eternal subordination. The hierarchalists claim that a hierarchy has always existed in the Godhead leaving Christ eternally subordinate to the Father. They don’t mention the Holy Spirit, but a hierarchy would imply that the Holy Spirit would then be eternally subordinate to the Son.

The hierarchalists use this concept to then say that the first female human, who was formed second, while the male human was formed first, sets up a similar hierarchy as the Godhead so that women are to be eternally subordinate to men.

This implies that the concept of the Godhead was founded on an order of God the Father being first, not on birth, but on primacy. God the Father is more what? Is God the Father more important than God the Son or God the Holy Spirit? I cannot figure that one although I’ve read much of the claims.

However, while the claim is that there is an eternal hierarchy in the Godhead, Christ clearly corrected the Sadduces when they tried to figure out which husband a wife would be subordinated to in heaven.

Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.

So if there is no eternal subordination of wives/women in heaven, why is there a need to claim that there is eternal subordination of the Son in order to claim earthly subordination of wives? And if the reasoning is that God the Father is more important in some way than the Son, then the implication by comparison is that a husband is more important in some ways than a wife--which appears to cancel out the “equal but different” mantra.

hmmm?

TL

About Fem Speaker Teri King

My life is and has been the balancing of opposites.  I suppose that would make me well rounded.

On one side I'm very physical and analytical. As a licensed professional Massage Therapist I use both sides of my brain at once analyzing, balancing, fixing, soothing body and mind.  Early in my life I was a show dancer and taught dancing.
 
But in college my major was psychology. As a long time (36 yrs) devoted Christian, God has remolded me into an instructor of Scripture intent on assisting people to do inductive analytical study with contextual, historical, and grammatical accountability, which I've done for many years.  Also founded two Christian community newspapers, and a Christian Rehab house.

These days I am tinkering with writing.  One never knows where that could lead.  :)

Are Males Natural Leaders

There are those in Christendom who would have us believe that leadership is a gender trait specifically tied to masculinity.  While they may grant that women may show a lesser type of leadership that is sufficient for women and children, they hold strongly that only males have an inborn ability to lead the world or large groups of people. 

In reality not all men want to be leaders or take the lead in every situation. And not all women want to have a ceiling placed on their arena of life. They are not happy or secure trusting masculinity as "lordly". Human beings are diverse. Some are visionaries, and dream of philosophical revelations, whether male or female. Some are content being the supporters of others keeping life afloat, whether male or female.

Even in the animal kingdom and the insect, fowl, and fish kingdoms, sexuality is not limited to certain traits, with the sole exception of procreation. In other creatures according to what they are (dogs, cats, elephants, bees, whales, pelicans, etc.) males tend to this and females to that. But there is nothing universally claimed as only male territory and other things universally claimed as only female territory.

And what is truly unique about humans is that we can be anything. We can be crafty like foxes, have a memory like an elephant, be monogamous in heart like a whale, etc. The only truly "free" and uniquely adaptable creatures are humans.

This leaves me to classify those humans who wish to claim a limitation of abilities on gender (other than propagation) to be foolishly lacking in the understanding of the gift of being human. In their fear of diversity they unknowingly seek to recreate the human as a new sort of breed of creature instead of seeking to understand God's real gift to the human in being created in the image of God.

TL

Real Life God’s Way

Life, real living is more than a nice home, lots of toys, a good income, a few kids and money for vacations.  God created everyone uniquely different in looks, personality, characteristics. To be appreciated and loved for your uniquenesses is how life is supposed to be lived in community. Each giving to and receiving from each other.  It is part of the creative community of being human.

God, in wanting to guarantee this community of mutual admiration gives His children gifts to bless one another with. It really works.  It’s a great system.  But we have to receive from God and be willing to be the vessel for those gifts in order for them to turn into real life and the joys of  Godly living.

When we are doing because we are gifted by God we will be doing because we trust God and want to obey God and do God’s will, not because we should to be good Christians.  Indeed there are things we should do to be a good Christian: holy living, close relationship with the Lord, loving our brethren and neighbors, acts of mercy, helping the helpless, etc.  However, in the area of giftings, it’s not about looking good, it’s about being who God really called us to be.  We cannot experience the joys that go along with the gifts if we are pretending for appearance sake or ritually doing duty works.

Until we find, discover, realize our true gifts it is true that we do need to experiment.  Just keep in mind that you are experimenting and don’t fall into the trap of doing things because you think others expect it of you.  Use all opportunities to serve God through serving others, not by expectation or reward but by free will offering and yielding to God’s nudges.

Part of the preparation of receptivity is to be holy as Christ is holy.  The world longs for people about whom they can make an assumption of purity, integrity and honor of character.  We live and work in a world turned topsy turvy built upon an assumption of self interest.  This forces us to become wise in living in self defense never making an assumption of another’s purity, integrity, honor of character even though we wish we could.

Those who live and promote purity, integrity and honor of character loving with Godly unconditional love easily become the heroes of our world.  Heroes come in all sizes from rescuers of those in danger to those who know when to listen and when to advise and when to warn.  Those are the people who the Holy Spirit is drawn to use as vessels for the spiritual giftings (charisma) of the Holy Spirit.  And that leads to real life as God would have us live it.

Rick Warren's Home Groups

Rick Warren has written a best selling book encouraging people to draw near God. This has been sorely needed and long over due in Christendom. His ingenious abilities to organize and socialize people into community is a powerful tool for evangelism. Christianity needs to utilize these tools for that purpose.

As great as these tools are they are not an all in one system for all ministries in the church. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Warren is now promoting, skillfully organizing an entire church structure around his five fold groupings of worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, ministry. Home groups led by lay people without giftings for leadership or teaching are under the umbrella of discipleship with the doctrinal teachings done by Saddleback videos. And this is a problem. Videos, no matter how informative cannot take the place of gifted called leaders and teachers.

This is likely making Mr. Warren a multimillionaire as well as SaddleBack. What it is not doing is building up the church in learning how to study Scripture. Spoon fed mini portions of prepared breakfast cereal does not teach one how to cook for themselves. It leaves them dependent upon the feeder and the product.

This is a grave problem. Some churches and skilled individuals need to step up to the plate and call the church at large back to diligent Berean Bible Study. Home groups are good but when it is being said that they can be led by anyone, then the true leaders and teachers are left with no one to lead and teach. These home groups take up precious time that could be used sending people to real Bible Studies where they would learn proper methods of researching and studying the Scriptures.

What do you think?

I see the validity and necessity of social functions peppered with small doses of Bible Truths which are very effective in drawing in new converts and young Christians to the fellowship of the body of Christ.    They get people talking who normally might not.  They get people who rarely pick up a Bible outside of church (and often not even there) to read some Scripture.

The problem is that by the church immersing herself in these programs and keeping all Home Groups the same, functioning the same, reading the same material it doesn't fully encourage the gifts and ministries that Scripture says the Holy Spirit desires. And by plunking every available body into only the teachings of Rick Warren, all we get are Rick Warren clones, mixed in with a lot of bored more mature Christians hungering for some meat.

Is there an answer to utilize Rick Warren's worthy organizational structure without being swallowed up by it?

T. King

Surveys - How Accurate Are They - How Conclusive

Surveys - How Accurate Are They - How Conclusive

There are so many things that can go wrong or right with surveys.  And so many ways that surveys can be used beyond their scope.

1.  how many people are questioned - from how many countries
2.  what age range, gender, social standing in society are included
3.  what locale are they from
4.  what are the parameters of the questions, are they very general or very precise

All of those issues and more determine how the study can be used. These parameters determine what kind of conclusions are reasonable to draw from the questionnaires.  What might be a correct analysis for one gender, one age group, in one social level, in one city might not reflect accurately the other gender, or other age ranges, in other social standings, in other cities.

If that isn’t enough to question how people use surveys, the questions themselves are of great importance.  For instance, when spouses are asked if they have ever hit their partner, are they also asked when it is in self defense, when it is in playfulness and not harmful, or when it is not instigated by their spouse and out of anger, and when it results in harm (serious or mild)?  Most of the time, no,  these clarifying questions are not asked.  Which to the wise, enormously limits the conclusions.

Here is a survey of Boston youth from a particular area. 1000 youth were questioned.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/12/27/majority_of_boston_public_school_students_witnessed_violence/

What use is it?  Well, it does inform that violence is on the rise in that area.

Here:
http://www.sheridanhill.com/batteredmen.html

A writer claims that because of a study done by Strauss and Gelles, in which the parameters of the Survey were NOT spelled out, The National Family Violent Council concludes that "The fact that women had higher mean and median rates for severe violence suggests that female aggression is not merely a response to male aggression.”

But how do we know that if we do not know the nature of the questions?

Furthermore, where were the people from that filled out the survey?  What genders, what social standing?  And how do we know that they were answered truthfully?  It does not surprise me at all that men are in a clamor to have women viewed as equally abusive as they are in order to diminish the importance of men’s violence that has been going on for eons.

How does one validate a claim that women supposedly are equally as violent as men when we see the abuse that we see men promoting world wide.  Balance American men’s claims that women are just as violent with the situation of women in Africa, India, and Moslem countries, for instance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/international/africa/30africa.html?th&emc=th

“Women's rights legislation has also been enacted. Swaziland's new constitution, adopted this year, makes women the legal equals of men, able to own property, sign contracts and obtain loans without the sponsorship of a man. Zimbabwe this year allowed women to inherit property from their husbands and fathers. Liberia passed a stiff statute against rape, and president-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman in modern Africa to be elected a head of state, pledged to enforce it.”

Does that sound like women are as equally violent as men in Africa?  And when you think about it, American women were going through this same fight only upwards of 200-150 years ago.

So, I ask again, just how accurate are all these surveys?  And even if they are accurate for one area, one city, one state, what makes anyone think they are accurate for all of womankind?

TL

SHOULD A PERSON FIGHT FOR HER LIFE?

A friend brought up an interesting question about what women feel about the Christian “women question”. She was wondering whether or not its a justice issue or just a contentious issue between Christians.

My first thought is part of it is that women are human too.  We also have one and only one life to live just like the men. 

Why is it that men think they can make us subjugate our whole lives to them. Why should women have to really give up on their lives so that men can live theirs the way they want.

In the patriarchal mindset men get to have dreams AND pursue them. Men get to discuss, plan and make decisions about everything that affects their lives both globally and in a daily setting. Men can be and do anything they have the gumption to work hard or little for.

Why should women have anything less in their life choices.

My second thought is about the idea of contentiousness. In the patriarchal mindset men ARE the church. They run it, they define it, they organize it, they interpret it, and they preach and teach in it. I’ve even heard one of their key men say that women should be silent observers in all church meetings.

But the gathering of the church is a major part of the life of the church. It’s where we demonstrate that we are a body where all the members are to work together as ONE. But the patriarchal mindset divides the church into the men who are the active part of the body and the silent observers and silent laborers. Reminds me of the deaf and dumb mutes who live out of expressive eyes and body gestures. They live with us but theirs is a different world.

If I WERE deaf and mute, I’d fight for the best I could get out of life. I wouldn’t want anyone deciding my life for me or subjugating me to be a dishwasher because THEY thought that is all I could do.

So why should it be considered contentiousness to want to strive for the quality of my life. It is after all the only life I have.

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Lord of glory, with partiality…..   James 2:1

Another interpretation…..

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man, and there should also come in a woman, 3 and you pay attention to the man and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the woman, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?