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Shepherd Like a Girl
Does your nativity set have any female shepherds? Mine doesn’t. And it’s amazing how much I have picked up unconsciously from art…. I didn’t realize that—without anything being said outright—I had internalized the idea that “shepherd” was a “guy” job. So, if I saw a Christmas pageant with girls dressed in bathrobes holding crooks, I told myself the real nativity story lacked girl roles so the directors were taking creative license. But now I know those girls in bathrobes more closely represented reality than did my misinformed imaginations. My understanding about shepherds shifted radically when I traveled with my husband and daughter to Kenya’s Rift Valley. My husband is a…
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The Other “F” Word
While posing for a photo with some female friends at a recent professional event, a colleague announced how well-endowed we are. After my jaw dropped, one of his cronies scuttled over to assure us his friend didn’t mean anything bad by the comment—that he meant it as a compliment. Well, 1962 called. They want their ideology back. Because reducing a colleague down to body parts is the opposite of a compliment. Furthermore, a thought ought to remain inside the confines of one’s head, or else it ceases being a thought. The next morning after a meeting, Mr. Pervy Mc Perv came up behind me, put his arm around my shoulder,…
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Staying Home with Kids vs. Second Income
Not long ago, the Desiring God site ran an article titled, “Does My Family Need a Second Income?” The article began like this: “‘Will you stay home?’ This is the question I ask when I meet a postpartum mom wearing her weeks-old baby in a Moby Wrap or Ergobaby carrier. Whether the answer is yes or no, I’m glad for every opportunity to talk with new moms about what it will cost them to return to the workplace.” The article went on to talk about why women should stay at home with their kids. Some of the author’s arguments are worth exploring, because Christian parents have this in common: we want the best for…
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A Mother’s Greatest Calling
Today I'm happy to welcome guest blogger, Seana Scott. She's a seminary student, a mom of three, wife to Jason, and blogger at seanascott.org. I sat on the edge of my bed and wept. My first-born son, now two months old, lay in the other room sleeping. “God, I’m tired of feeling so sad.” “To obey is better than sacrifice” popped into my mind. I Googled the passage on my smartphone, grabbed the leather-bound Bible off the nightstand and read 1 Samuel 15:22–23. It said, “…To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and…
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Manhood vs Grandma?
In the thirty-three years since I said “I do,” I’ve heard many messages and read lots of books on marriage. And if I’ve heard and read one thing about the job of the husband, it’s that “provider” is one of his key roles. The proof-text for this has been, without exception, 1 Timothy 5:8—“If a man does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith, and he is worse than an infidel.” Five male pronouns make it clear: providing is his job. I’ve even heard some say that a wife whose income exceeds that of her husband’s threatens his sense of manhood. (Such fragile…
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What’s a Man-Card Got to Do with It?
Recently when I spoke with a group about biblical teaching on marriage, one of the people in attendance told of a young Christian husband who refused to do a simple household task his wife asked him to do. His defense: Doing so would require him to give up his “man-card.” Such a view, which stems from a wrong view of “headship” in marriage, is showing up with increasing frequency at Christian seminars and on blogs, veiled as a biblical view of masculinity. Women are instructed to “respond” positively to such demonstrations of “initiative.” Yet nowhere in the Bible do we find teaching that anywhere resembles this sort of behavior. Let’s…
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Comple-galitarian?
“Though women are free to use all of their giftedness in teaching and leading in the church, the role of elder seems biblically to be relegated to men.” This statement is the conclusion of a Dallas-area church that has long had a reputation for holding fast to the Word. It also represents what many other Bible-teaching churches have decided. And I think it’s worth discussing here not because of the conclusion they reached, but because of what it has revealed (again) about the dynamic of discussions within the church. We use the most astonishing rhetoric when we disagree! Look at the statement again. Interpretation: a woman may stand behind the…
