----- Original Message -----
Sent: November 16, 2004 22:44
Subject: [TruthTalk] Gender
differences
From: "David Miller" <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Judy wrote:
Being 'easily offended" happens to both men and
women David and has nothing to do with feminized conversations
and
emasculated men. Do love and good manners have to be genderized?
From whence are the roots of such
a concept as this?
If you were a man, you might understand this better. To tell you
the truth, you are more a man than many men I have met, so this puts you at a
disadvantage in considering this question. In talking about this to you,
I feel kind of like someone making a point to an Olympic female weight lifter
that women tend to be physically weaker than men. If she is stronger
than most men, it might not make a whole lot of sense to her.
jt: This morning my car quit on the highway and so
did our cell phone; I sure wasn't making like an Olympic female weight lifter
out there. It was a long way back to the gas station so I prayed for a good
Samaritan and the Lord sent one - a Ditch Witch man with a working cell phone
who said he wouldn't like for his wife to be out there on the highway... it's
such a blessing when God provides.
Historically, our rules of manners have come from women. We
invariably turn to the female sex for sensitivity about politeness and
manners. Surely the phrase "Miss Manners" means a little more than "Mr.
Manners" to you.
jt: I look more to Jesus than to Miss Manners for
sensitivity and empathy. He is the one who raised the status of the women of
his generation by allowing Mary to sit at his feet and learn which was unheard
of in Judaism - since He is our example for life and godliness why would
gender be a big deal?
The problem is that when women determine the rules of etiquette in
dialogue, we get away from the kind of dialogue that the apostles often
engaged in and also taught their disciples to engage. The dialogue of men were
so heated, that Paul instructed Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:11-12 (11) Let the woman
learn in silence with all subjection. (12) But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
jt: I don't understand the above instruction in
the same way David. My understanding is that Timothy was pastoring in
Ephesus and they had a problem there with a type gnosticism where the women
would receive all the revelations and they would lead the men; this is also
why he makes the point about the woman being deceived and being saved through
childbirth.
Isaiah also uses gender to describe something not honoring to God. Isaiah
3:12 (12) As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over
them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way
of thy paths.
jt: Yes it sounds like chaos when children become
oppressors and I don't believe women are to rule either.
If apostles and prophets make gender differences, then so can we.
jt: I don't deny that men and women are different
David; my point is that love and good manners should be genderless, that is,
both men and women who are 'in Christ' should be walking in them.
What I see in our culture is that men have been pushed to the back to be
quiet. Most churches are filled with more women than men, and many
church youth groups have more women than men because men are not allowed to be
men. Men are constantly rebuked for exercising their masculine qualities of
vigor, integrity, courage, boldness, and ambition. Rather than directing
their natural gifts in profitable ways, men are generally taught that such
virtues are evil. If they stand up and rebuke evil, someone tells them
to be quiet and stop being rude. If a man uses logic to dispel a false
belief, he is told that he is losing many of his congregation (who happen to
be women and children). The mouths of men who speak as men, reproving,
rebuking, and exhorting, are constantly being stopped.
jt: This is interesting David. I've never ever seen
evil rebuked in Church circles and I've been in many of them. In fact most
evangelical Churches that I've been a part of only allow men in leadership and
the pastors have all been male. There are a lot of women in
congregations which is a shame but I always thought it was because the men
would not take their rightful place as spiritual leader in the
home.
This is a major reason that secularism has taken over the Judiciary and
our educational system. It is a reason that homosexual rights are
hijacking the institution of marriage. It is a reason that abortion has
become so prevalent. Men
need to be comfortable being men and they
need to stand up against the atrocities of our culture.
jt: Now how did we get from the Church to the
secular? I agree there is a problem but don't believe the women should
be blamed for that, especially not for the homosexual problem when the RCC
with their completely male hierarchy is so full of them. Why arn't men
comfortable being men? Could it be that their consciences are not clear
before the Lord?
Maybe Lance can help us out here with a book he may have read called
"Wild at Heart." I haven't had time to read it, but I have had many
bring up this book when I have taught on gender differences and the need for
men to be comfortable being masculine.
jt: "Wild at heart?" Sounds like whoever wrote
that needs to be born again and receive a new heart ...
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
----------
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6)
http://www.InnGlory.org
If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and
you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell
him to send an e-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and he
will be subscribed.
