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CAN MEN AND WOMEN BE FRIENDS?
Last week I spent some time on a Christian college campus where I was invited to talk about men and women in ministry partnership. The young adults wanted to know, “Can men and women be friends—without being weird?” Of course we can! In fact, we must. We are called to act like siblings. Jesus told his listeners, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). We’re family. The apostle Paul told the Ephesian Christians, “You are . . . members of his household” (Eph. 2:19). All who believe in Christ are described as members of the family of God, made part of the Father’s household…
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La La Land Now Streaming: How do we decide between his dreams vs her dreams vs steadfast love?
If you only watch the first half of La La Land (just released on DVD), you’ll find yourself swept into the blue-sky, sunshine, and citrus colors of Hollywood dreams. The opening big production number on the jammed LA freeway introduces us to Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), off to a prickly start but eventually falling in love and cheering each other on. He wants to revive the lost art of pure jazz in his own club; she wants to become a famous Hollywood actress. Part one concludes with Seb and Mia’s Boy-Gets-Girl kiss in an iris fade so typical of bygone Hollywood Happy Endings. But, as in…
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Five Ways to Kill Your Women’s Ministry
1. Engage in gender stereotyping. Teach women that they are emotional and men are unemotional. Never mind that the ideal man wept (John 11:35, Luke 19:41) and cried loudly with tears (Heb. 5:7); that Paul warned the Ephesian elders night and day with tears (Acts 20:31); that the same elders wept loudly when Paul said goodbye (20:37); and that Paul remembered Timothy’s tears (2 Tim 1:4). Crying is for females. Also teach your women that God wired them only to receive love, not respect. That way those who fall outside this “norm” will know there is something wrong with them.And while you’re at it, segregate by age. Younger women…
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Was the woman at the well a “bad girl?”
For four decades I've believed, and even taught, that the Samaritan woman in John 4 was an immoral degenerate woman. Why? Because Jesus reveals her history with men in John 4:18. She has had five husbands and she is not married to the man she is with now. In our day, women with that kind of past would certainly be considered morally loose, until Jesus cleanses them. But as women scholars discover more about the social norms of first century marriage, I wonder if we have judged her prematurely? I used to teach that she drew water alone from the well at noon because she was a social outcast.…
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Rest: Sochi and the Cadillac Lie
Have you seen this ad that Cadillac has been running during the Sochi Olympics? Don't believe the lie. Here is a summary of a biblical view of rest: A few more stats…. Men who take annual vacations decrease their rates of heart attack by 30%, but for women the rate of decrease is more significant at 50%. Most bodies need seven or eight hours of sleep. (Americans average less than six.) Stuff will never satisfy. It's not just "the world" that feeds the lie. Many churches foster a culture that says, “Busyness is next to godliness,” but God designed us to need rest. Ruth Haley Barton rightly observes, “There…
