Stop treating them with contempt:
Even when one can’t help being around contemptuous people, one creates different kinds of distance. The henpecked husband, for example, increasingly retreats into work and hobbies to minimize dealings with his wife. It would be silly to think the same kind of dynamic wouldn’t happen in our congregations...
The first step is to recognize and repent of our fear. Like most Americans, American Christians are absolutely terrified of being labeled misogynist...
Alas for them: popular culture judges anything contrary to feminism as misogynistic, and the Bible is by no means a feminist book.
So Christians “defend” the Bible by placarding a few passages that sound maybe-sort-of feminist (e.g. “Deborah!” “In Christ there is no male and female!”), while ignoring and even obfuscating all the passages that cannot possibly be reconciled with feminist philosophy (“Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man”).
If we try to overcompensate in this fashion even on Scripture, how much more do we do so regarding the men in our midst?
As an agnostic, the churches don't offer much to me. I always found it interesting that some women by their 40s attend church but did not when younger in most cases. I myself don't get that much out of a church service though I can appreciate the community aspect if it exist.
ReplyDeleteThe churches created their own problems here. I don't cheer their demise but can't see myself putting any effort into one of these organizations.
The fact is that even the alleged Christian marriages have a high failure rate.
Our churches have huge problems, but so does our society. These two are connected somehow. Sometimes I think we need a new Church...
ReplyDelete