Tag Archives: Feminism

Debating Feminism Well

I don’t know what caused it, but lately there has been an explosion of blog posts about feminism and gender roles. It’s gotta be something in the water. Or maybe, just maybe, the Holy Spirit is pressing His Church to work out a Biblical understanding of spiritual authority and the roles of men and women in the Church. There are typically three views on this: Complementarianism, Egalitarianism, and Non-Committal. Complementarianism holds that men and women were created with, and still have, equal dignity, value, and worth, but that God ordered creation and the Church in such a way that men are the leadership and women support the men in their role of following God’s leadership. This does not mean that their role isn’t vital, only that it’s different. Egalitarianism holds that men and women not only have equal dignity, value, and worth, but can also fulfill the same roles of leading, whether that be in the corporate world, the home, or the Church. And the Non-Committal either don’t care or don’t know enough to know where they believe Scripture lands. But there’s a problem with all of this.
Continue reading

Beauty, Gender Roles, and Freedom

So, I have this friend who has recently lost a lot of weight. When I commented on how good she looks now, she said she didn’t see it. Being the loving, encouraging friend that I am, I told her to go look in the mirror. Then she said that her whole life her mom told her that “there’s always something to make better.” Now, I don’t think that her mom was being cruel or malicious in any way. I think that, as a cosmetologist, she just had a hard time leaving work at work. She gets paid to help people look their best, and it’s hard to shut that off when you go home. I mean, it’s hard for all of us to leave work at work. I spent most of my life doing technical support where I pointed out problems and offered solutions. That’s great at work, but sometimes it can be very annoying around my friends and family. However, I think this illustrates a concept that has been so driven into our culture that we barely even notice what it does to us anymore.

Continue reading