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Having a Wise Heart
I live in an educated society. In the Bible Studies I’ve led, nearly every woman has completed high school. More than half of them have a college degree. Maybe 10% have more than 1 degree including a masters and PhD. Yet this society in which I live is filled with educated people who continue to make stupid choices that cause all kinds of heartaches. Why is that? As a student, I was an academic achiever. I had lots of head knowledge from books, but my mom said to me in high school that I just didn’t have any common sense. She added that I would let my emotions rule my…
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“Biblical Womanhood”: What is a Woman?
What a woman is. She is an image-bearer. It was the first day of a class I was teaching on the role of women in the home, church, and society. Driving in to the seminary where I teach, I thought through the material I planned to cover, and honestly I feared that some of what I’d prepared to say was too elementary for graduate-level students. Many of them were raised in church and have heard messages all their lives. Did they really need to hear again that Genesis 1:26–27 teaches that both male and female were made in the image of God? Nevertheless, I determined I’d better make sure. So I…
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The Real Proverbs 31 Woman
Today I'm happy to introduce guest blogger Katherine Alumbaugh, my former intern, who holds a ThM degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. Let’s start at the beginning of Proverbs 31. Here are verses 1 and 2: “The words of King Lemuel, an oracle that his mother taught him. O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows.” Who is speaking and who is being addressed? This is the advice of a Queen Mother to her son, the King. Originally, these are words of advice from a woman to a man. Just to be completely clear, the original audience of Proverbs 31 was a man, not a woman or women in general. Nowhere in the…
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The Most-Hated Woman in the Bible
I have a hunch that the most-hated woman in the Bible is not bad-girl Jezebel. It’s the "woman of noble character" in Proverbs 31. One friend whined to me, "I can’t stand that Proverbs 31 lady. I feel tired just thinking about her."
