Dr. Dorothy Patterson said “Whenever my husband tells me to do something, and even though I know it is wrong, I just have to do it, and he stands accountable before God.” (used by permission Christianity Today 1998)

Just what is it that they think they are going to do?  Justify their wrong instructions to their wife?  Explain all their wife’s faults?  Are they going to justify why they stayed home every Sunday morning while their wife got up and took the kids and went to church?

Why does he think he has to account for anybody?  He got into heaven by the grace of God, doesn’t he think his wife can, too?

Just how holy does a husband have to be before he is allowed to speak for his wife?  Paige Patterson holy? Or anybody’s husband holy?

Let’s see.  Husband stands before God. 

“God, please find favor with my wife of 45 years.  She taught Sunday school and led 10 kids to know you,” husband says.  “Uh, what did I do? Well uh, uh, um, you know, I was a deacon, and uh,um, uh went to meetings. But she – look at her, Lord – she led these kids to Christ!   Well, uh, um, uh, I didn’t actually lead anybody to you.  You know, but I was only married once, and I uh, uh, um, I served communion – and went to meetings.  But find favor with her, Lord.  She is just a woman, and, and, and – find favor with her, Lord.”

One reader made this facetious comment about which husband gets to stand and account for his wife. “They just get to count the years they were husbands of the wife,” said one reader yesterday, making fun of the absurdity of this whole concept. 

While the husband is busy accounting for his wife, who is going to account for him?

1 Timothy 2:5  “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Don’t they know that husbands can’t account to God for their wives?  To believe that way is blasphemy.

Reminds me of this famous quote in 1988 by Senator Bentsen to Senator Dan Quayle:   Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

So we women say, “Husband, I served Jesus Christ. I knew Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was a friend of mine. Husband, you are no Jesus Christ.”

“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. (Mark 12: 19-23 NIV)

“At the resurrection whose wife will she be” – which husband is going to stand up and be accountable for her? Good Question.  (Let’s ask former reader Daniel since he thinks he is going to stand up and account for his wife)

The first husband stands before God to account for her.

She was so pretty, a little flighty, not given to good sense.  In fact it was she who made me fall into the water.  You see, I told her I could step out of the boat and walk on water, and being a woman, she told me that I couldn’t.  I stepped out just to show her that I could.  She made me do it. I wouldn’t have done such a thing if she hadn’t told me I couldn’t.

The Second brother husband.

Well, you know I had to marry her because my fool brother went and got himself drowned because of her.  She couldn’t have any kids and she knew how much I wanted a boy to carry on our name.  She got real sassy and burned the biscuits, and I had to teach her a lesson or two.  Things were going along pretty good until I stepped out in front of that donkey I bought her to help her do her chores.

The Third brother husband.

I knew it wasn’t going to work almost as soon as I married her.  She and Josephine and Zaphora didn’t get along.  She never tried to fit in.  She was always causing some kind of ruckus in the household.  One day I came in and Josephine and Zaphora were chasing her out of the kitchen with a knife.  I came between them and the knife hit me instead of her.  Just one wrong move, and I got here first.

The fourth brother husband

The law said I had to do it, so I took her and Josephine in since neither of them had children.  Zaphora ran off with the butcher, so I didn’t have her to worry about.  But this wife!  She makes me pick up my own clothes, but I try to pacify her.  I give her a little spending money, not as much as I give Josephine, because I have a fondness for Josephine, and she is special to me.  Mr Nice Guy, that’s me.  In fact, I was being nice to her that day when she was walking because Josephine is pregnant and needed to ride.  I was trying to help her after she accidentally slipped and fell into the ditch, and grabbed onto me, but she pulled me down with her, and I hit my head on that rock.

The fifth one

The little witch!  Now they expected me to marry her.  Oh, she is still pretty.  But she has a mind of her own.  Won’t do a thing I tell her to do.  We already had seven children and I thought my wife could use a little help around the house, so, like the law said, I took her in.  I can’t help it if the wife and kids don’t like her.  She was in the shed for only a few days.  I was trying to teach her a lesson, but she was stubborn.  Just about tore the dang shed down and when I ran inside to get her, the roof fell in on my head.

The sixth one

Look, it came down to this.  I married her.  She wouldn’t do anything right.  Wanted me to do all the work.  Told me that I had to stay home at least two nights a week, or she would never get with child.  I couldn’t give up my friends.  But, boy that woman sure could cook.  Started making the best pies and fried eggs you ever ate. I had to set her straight every now and then, but making up was pure joy.  Date cakes and puddings and eggs like they were going out of style.  Guess I overdid it a little on the sweets, and here I am.

The seventh, and last, brother stands before God to account for his wife.

I can’t really tell you much about her.  We married one day and I left for Egypt the next.  You know, what with the other brothers and their untimely deaths, and all.  Last I heard she had taken up with some group that was following an itinerant preacher who was filling her head with some nonsense about her being equal.

Please return to this website Friday for a new post!

A Christmas card for all of you is posted on my website.

I can feel his pain because if Marriage Disappears, where does that leave all the young men who would be kings?

This is what Dr. Mohler says, responding to that article:

“Christians, of course, will have much to add to this picture. We know that marriage, though central to human society, was not given to humanity for purely sociological reasons. Marriage was given to mankind by our Creator, who gifted us with this covenantal institution for our health, our happiness, and for human flourishing. Beyond this, believers know that marriage is given to us for our holiness, as well.

Thus, for reasons that include all that we can learn from this report, and for many more that we know from the Scriptures and Christian wisdom, Christians know that the marginalization of marriage can only lead to unhappiness, unhealthiness, and the unraveling of human relationships.”

Now, we all know that Dr. Mohler is the kephale of the male headship theology that he loves so much.  I believe he is truly worried about this.  He is probably worried about all men who hope to become king of their homes someday.

I’m not sure what Dr. Mohler means by “marriage is given to us for our holiness,” but on the surface , it sounds like it is something that men need in order to be holy before God – by having a wife who submits to him.  Sounds a little Mormon to me.  I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way and I hope someone explains what he did mean by that.

He says that the marginalization of marriage will lead to unhappiness, unhealthiness, and the unraveling of human relationships. My rebuttal to that is that some marriages are already the epitome of unhappiness, unhealthiness and have unraveled relationships. 

For the record, I am for marriage.  My husband Don and I have been married for 49 years, and we as a couple have been in existence almost as long as Dr. Mohler has. (he was born in 1959). 

I recommend marriage, but I do not recommend the kind of marriage Dr. Mohler has in mind.  I recommend a marriage of equality.  He recommends a marriage of submission. 

When Marriage Disappears, maybe what will come in its place is a greater emphasis on equality, commitment, and love for each other.

We have gained access by faith into Jesus’ grace.

Grace can be defined in many ways.  One conservative pastor, David Reagan, says that it is God’s sufficiency or God’s fullness in the life of the believer.  He likes to describe it as “God’s enoughness.”  (   http://www.learnthebible.org/taxonomy/term/1422 

Now, I liked that description.  Generally we hear Grace defined as God’s unmerited favor. David Reagan defined God’s enoughness as God being enough for us no matter what situation we face. (http://www.learnthebible.org/what-is-grace.html)

What I don’t like is the rest of what David Reagan says.

I just read a little bit of his blog, enough to find out who he is. He doesn’t like women!  Oh, I’m sure he loves women – for their purpose and role. But you can see what he thinks about women with the Question and Answer page.  http://www.learnthebible.org/taxonomy/term/1422 

• Can women be authors of books that men might read?
• Can women wear pants
• Can women vote
• Can women say Amen in church

God’s enoughness!  God’s enoughness for who?  Do men and women require a different kind of God’s enoughness? Is it for women?  If that is the case, there is a lot to be desired. 

Apparently God’s sufficiency or God’s fullness in the life of the believer doesn’t have to be very much for women, judged by Pastor Reagan. 

Let’s reread Romans 5:1 his way:  “Therefore, since we men have been justified through faith, we men have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we men have gained access by faith into this grace in which we men now stand.”

I read that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood didn’t like some new Bible that is coming out because it was not gender specific enough. Good gracious!  What we find is that the whole Bible is gender specific for men, according to men like David Reagan.

Can you imagine a man ever having a Question and Answer page with questions like those above?  How insulting!  We are not some alien creature.  We gave birth to you!

If you are tired of men like this pastor calling the shots, then join me as we redefine Grace so pastors like this one will know what Grace is.

I was reading the site today and wondering about the Equal, but… slogan.

Is a lay member equal to the pastor of a church?  If so, why aren’t all members given the microphone?  Equal, …but it’s their job?  Equal, …but it’s their calling?  Equal, but…

What about a lay person and a deacon?  Are they equal?  Why aren’t all  members deacons?  Equal, …but the church voted for them.  Equal, …but “not qualified” to be a deacon.  How is that equality? Everyone is created equally in the image of God.  Everyone should be a deacon!

I thought equal means equal!

My reply to Mr. Geek for Greek:

Geek for Greek sounds really intellectual, and I would have expected a more intellectual conversation regarding equality from you.

You facetiously determine “Everyone should be a deacon!” because I have rejected your qualifications of a deacon, and a pastor, and because the church voted for males (using your qualifications, I might add).

Go back to 1 Timothy 3 and read the qualifications for a deacon.  Read all of them.  Not just “the husband of one wife” which you know actually translates “one woman man, and is not about the gender but about multiple wives).  Study the ones about behavior.These are the two qualifications to look for in choosing a deacon:

1. The person chosen should have Christian faith and have excellent morals

2. When choosing a person, you should have compassion and not choose a man who has multiple wives and a house full of kids

Gender has absolutely nothing to do with the requirements of being a deacon.

Answer these questions:

1.  Why would gender have anything to do with it?  What do the deacons in your church do in regards to carrying out ministry, that a woman can’t do?

2.  Jesus never used gender as a requirement, so why would Paul, and why should you?

3.  Why is it so precious to you to be able to tell women that they can never be a deacon?

 What do you think is the message of the Bible?  Is it about salvation and grace, and the love of Christ, or is it about male superiority?

Remember, the farthest thing from Saul’s mind as he walked down the Damascus Road was that he might be wrong.

I say that the wife might not stop the affair because she might have been afraid of the possibility of it exploding and bringing down their financial empire.  We don’t know what it will do to Daystar long term.

I expect that his followers will forgive and continue to give.

How many times do you forgive?  Did Jesus mean 70 x 70 times, or 70 x 70 pastors?

Let’s see.

• The Baptist pastor in Waco who murdered his wife
• Randy Robertson who made the news in a strip club in Oklahoma
• Ted Haggart, head of the Evangelist group, had a homosexual affair and is now back preaching.
• Jimmy Swaggart is still preaching
• Jim Bakker is still preaching
• My former pastor is still in prison for molesting his grandchildren
• A male youth pastor was treated for pornography
• A male Hispanic pastor committed adultery
• A pastor had to leave town after he said he was falsely charged with touching two young girls at Astroworld Theme Park,.
• The priest in December 4, 2010 Houston Chronicle who exposed himself to an undercover officer while in an adult book store.
• The multiples of priests who are homosexual
• The multiples of priests who have impregnated women
• The multiples of priests who have abused children

Is it easier to forgive a wayward pastor than it is to hire a woman pastor?

We don’t know what women pastors will do, but I can guarantee that the bar has been lowered so much by male pastors, that a woman pastor can’t do any worse.

..

Matthew Hagee, son of John Hagee, said that “husbands are the savior, sanctifier, and satisfier for their wives.”

That is just plain stupid.  When I told my husband what he said, he couldn’t quit laughing.  Well, I can’t either, but I am going to make a serious charge to all Pastors. 

My charge to Baptist pastors and other Christian pastors is this passage from Genesis 4:9:

 “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”   

As Cain learned, he had no excuse.  He knew where his brother was.  Just as these pastors know what their brothers are saying. 

They aid and abet this heresy against women when they do not speak out.

 What will they say when God asks them: “Where is your brother Abel?” 

“Oh, he is out preaching that husbands are the savior, the sanctifier, and the satisfier of their wives.” 

God! Have mercy.

Can you imagine what would happen if 4,000 churches in Baptist General Convention of Texas told women that from now on, women will be treated as God intended, as equals.  It would change Mainstream Theology and it would squeeze the Hagees and others like them out of mainstream theology.  Right now, they are Mainstream Theology.

Will you speak out for equality even though those around you don’t have the courage to do so?



Most Baptists do not light Advent candles, but they do spend the month of December with Cantatas, children’s Christmas plays, and so forth.

“A Baby Changes Everything” was popular last year and Don and I heard it sung at two different churches.

The countdown begins for the birth of Jesus who will save us. 

But do women really need Jesus?

Listen to what Daniel commented on my blog a few weeks ago: “The man answers to God for the actions of his wife and children.”

Whoa! Did you catch that? How can a man answer to God for the actions of his wife and children?  For that to happen we must find these scriptures in the Bible:

• That a husband is divine as he stands as a mediator between his wife and kids and God. The husband would have to be divine because it is a divine Jesus who stands as the mediator for the husband. (Job 9:32) Surely women wouldn’t need a human standing before God for her, would she? (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
• That the wife cannot speak for herself because she is an incomplete human being, incapable of coming before God for herself, and has no hope outside her husband. (Romans 3:22)
• That the children are not complete human beings capable of having a relationship with God. (Acts 2:17) 

The scriptures given say completely the opposite of what the commenter Daniel said. Oh, but he is just one person.  Nobody really believes like that, do they?

Yes, they do. Dr. Dorothy Patterson, the wife of the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, does.  She said “When my husband tells me to do something, and even if I know that he is wrong, then I just have to do it, and he stands accountable before God.”  (Christianity Today 1998) (See my speech on www.freecwc.com).

Cindy Kunsman can tell you that Baptist seminarians believe it.  At a conference in 2008 at a Southern Baptist Seminary, Cindy says “Several young men asked how it was that I believed that they would not stand before God…to give an account and to intercede for their wives….These (young men) were  Baptist Seminary Students.” (ethicsdaily.com April 2008).

Advent – should women be looking for the Christ child, or for a husband?

Did you hear the one about the former Catholic nun in Georgia who is pushing the Catholic church to allow women to be deacons?

Did you hear the one about the Georgia Baptist Convention ousting another church that has a woman as a pastor?

Well, if you haven’t heard about these stories that are Rockin’ Georgia, let me be the one to tell you.

This is the story of Diane Dougherty as reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on November 14, 2010.  You can read the whole story at http://www.ajc.com/news/newnan-woman-challenges-catholic-741285.html?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4ce1389477f201ff,0

Diane Dougherty pushes to allow women to be deacons

“She hardly looks like someone flouting centuries of tradition, challenging the Roman Catholic Church.

Dougherty, 65, wants to be a deacon. But in the Catholic Church, the position of deacon — like that of priest and bishop — is held by men only.

The Newnan resident is in the forefront of a movement that seeks to change all that. In ordination ceremonies in the United States and across the world, nearly 200 Catholic women have declared themselves deacons, priests and bishops. A male priest whose support of ordaining women drew a rebuke from the Vatican calls the issue “unstoppable.”

The Vatican remains opposed to the ordination of women, calling it a “grave crime.” Church officials say women are highly valued and stress female equality in all areas of life. The example the church follows, officials say, was set by Jesus.

If she declares herself a deacon, Dougherty is nearly guaranteed to be excommunicated — removed from the faith she’s embraced since childhood.

Excommunication is not too high a price to pay, Dougherty said. She thinks the Catholic Church is behind the times.

“I want to give the next generation a vision” of the roles women could have in the church, Dougherty said. “Forbidding [positions of authority to women] is sexism, and sexism is evil.”

The Archdiocese of Atlanta, overseeing nearly 1 million Catholics, doesn’t agree.”

There is more, so read the whole story from the link above.

The second story Rockin’ Georgia is that the hallowed institution, Georgia Baptist Convention, has disfellowshipped yet another church because they have a woman co-pastor.  You remember they disfellowshipped First Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia, last year because they had a woman pastor.

You can read this on the Associated Baptist Press website at http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/5876/53/

Diane Dougherty says that people tell her, ‘Why don’t you leave?” and she says, ‘I’m not leaving.’”

Yes!  You and me, Diane, we’re not leaving!  We are going to stand up and look them in the face and tell them that we are women and created to serve God just as they are!

I refer you back to my post Create in me a new song – Part 7 where I said “change for Catholics will happen, with their blessing or without it.  Women will be ordained as priests.  What they will be called as they come out of the Catholic church is yet to be decided

Won’t you join all of us women who have had enough and who are claiming our equality?

My regular visitors will not find much new, but it is pretty, and I would like for you to look at it.  I mailed a black and white copy to a select group of Baptist women this past week.

This is my fifth newsletter.  The others were previously on my website, but I removed them this summer when I redesigned my website.  But they are good, and I thought you might like to read them. 

Open Letter to Baptists

The Next Step

Baptist Women of the Veil

Jackboots of the Southern Baptist Convention

Baptist Woman

The message of equality for women is so important that I use many different means of getting the message out.  I encourage you to do so, too.

“Find us a man who can write books for women.”

This is what the fictional character Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables was told by a publishing house in 1916 when she went to work there.

It was four years before women would be allowed to vote.

I wonder how many thousands of women and girls have read those Anne of Green Gables books and saw the movie and heard the words about women, and never related it to their lives of today.

Women couldn’t publish books under their own names nor a multitude of other things that women can do today.  We shrug, and think “well, that was the way it was back then.  But it is not that way today.”

It is that way today, of course, only they don’t put the two together.

It is the attitude against women that was prevalent up until 1964 and is still prevalent in our churches today.  Of course we don’t openly tell women that. 

We covertly tell them that.

Remember the pastor who I wrote about yesterday?  The Father’s Day message where he told the men that husbands must allow their wives to submit, because “the women had to submit in order to honor God.”

Same attitude.  We put up with it in our churches, because they always put God into the sentences. 

Whenever  a preacher tells a woman that to honor God, she has to submit, she ought to run to her Bible and find out why Peter or the Apostle Paul would say such a thing. The fact is that the intent of the scripture is always misquoted.

1 Peter 3 is the passage that the pastor quoted in the sermon.  The pastor said that fewer marriages would break up if the wife would submit to her husband.  That passage is not about saving marriages. 

This is what the passage is about.

It starts in 1 Peter Chapter 2 with Peter telling them that now that they are Christians, they should act in this way toward others:

• Keep your behavior excellent among Gentiles
• Submit yourselves to human institutions – kings or those in authority
• Act as free men and do not use your freedom for evil
• Servants are to treat their masters with respect
• Wives are to respect their husbands
• Husbands are to respect their wives.

It ends with Chapter 3 and Verse 8-9 “To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another as brothers, and be kind and humble with one another. Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you.” (Good News Bible)

They stole Peter’s words about living together in harmony, and made it an eternal marriage manual in which the wife submits.

The passage actually says “Wives, now that you are Christians, this is what you should do.  Continue on in your marriage the way you always have.  Maybe your good character and demeanor will win your husband over to the Lord.” 

Remember wifely submission was a fact of life for those women.  (See first sentence of this blog). Peter wasn’t telling them to submit.  They were already submitting, like they had done every day of their life. 

Peter is telling them the same thing that Jesus told them: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  (Matthew 7:12 NIV)

“I’ve never seen how people who read the Bible so much, know so little about it” (Don Taylor, husband of Shirley Taylor)

My intent was to herald that something was coming.  What I knew and what they didn’t know, was that I would be presenting a Demand for An Apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood at a convention in Florida.

This week I revisited some of those churches websites. 

I found one pastor’s sermon on their website.  It was a Father’s Day sermon, June 20.  My letter to this pastor was dated June 7.

1 Peter 3 was the passage for his Father’s Day sermon. 

He said “I love that 1 Peter passage.”  Now why do you think he loves this passage?    Why would a pastor love a submission passage?

Out of his 30 minute message on Father’s Day, he spent the first 16 minutes telling wives how wonderful they are and that a marriage is a partnership, but that she was created by God for her role, and that she must willingly submit to her husband.  Not because the husband demands it, but because God demands it.  He then read from Ephesians that husbands are to love their wives. The last 14 minutes was reinforcing the first 16.

These are direct quotes from his sermon:

• In order for them to honor God, they have to submit  (he was telling husbands this about their wife’s role)
• The ground at the cross is level (how can it be level if the wife has to submit)
• He knows a guy that gives his wife a list of things to do and when he gets home, he checks the list
• God made men to be rough and tough and He made woman to be nurturing
• Women want their men to be men
• His pastor gave him this advice when he got married “make her queen of your house, and she will break her neck to make you King.
• Who’s going to wear the pants in your family?
• The feminists want to wear the pants
• When families follow these scriptures they are less likely to get divorced

Interspersed throughout all these sentences, he was sugar-coating the submission thing.  Women are not to submit because they have to, he said, but because as a loving wife who is doing God’s will, she will want to.  She is not to be a door mat.  In fact, he brought in an actual doormat to show how dirty and trampled a door mat is. 

When your pastor tells you that “In order for you to honor God, you have to submit to your husband,” all the sugar in the world can’t cover up an ugly concept that has been fostered on women.  The scriptures do not tell us that. 1 Peter 3 certainly does not tell us that. Read it for yourself. See if you can find what he said in those scriptures.  We’ve written on this many times and will again.

This pastor demonstrated his fear of the dreaded “feminists” after he got my letter on the week before Father’s Day, and he had to get his church under control, so they would not be influenced by the heretical teaching of female equality.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that he preached this sermon on Father’s Day after he got my letter. 

My son laughed at me when I told him this story, and said that the women in that church would not thank me.  That I caused their pastor to hammer home wife’s submission. 

Yes, but my experience is that women do not like to hear these kinds of sermons, and while he thinks he corralled them again, there are some who will slip from that corral to freedom.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: 

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

I am preparing a new Newsletter to send to those churches.  Another arrow to shoot into the air.

We are working hard for women’s equality in our churches and we invite you to join us.  

• “Does God REALLY Prefer Men?” written by Leslie and Gary Johnson, will soon be available free on my website www.bwebaptist.com       
• Videos and video clips of the Seneca Falls 2 Christian Women’s Rights Convention are available on the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition site www.FreeCWC.com
• Read our Demand for An Apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood (CBMW) at www.FreeCWC.com and www.bwebaptist.com
• Read the October 11, 2010 post about the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition by Bob Allen of Associated Baptist Press News at   http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/5768/53/                     

Check back Wednesday, October 20, 2010, for my new series “Create in me a New Song.” 

The blog below was written by my husband, Don Taylor, and I am glad to present this to you.  As regular readers know, Don is my greatest supporter for equality for Christian women. Wednesday my new series starts.

( By Don Taylor, guest columnist)

My wife told me about a blog that was virulently against women having an influence in the church.  Supposedly its purpose was to protect women by keeping them in their place. They didn’t think that place was behind the pulpit in our churches.

These bloggers argued that women were keeping the men from going to church. Someone even wrote that a woman nagging her husband about going to church kept him from going.

A typical man did not like to see a woman in any kind of religious authority. Also they did not like the claim that women were more spiritual than men. This was just not so; these mostly men would write.

I have attended churches that had women pastors. They were as good as the male preachers, I thought. And the women to men ratio was about the same as in churches were women are prohibited from preaching; about 60% women and 40% men. So, I don’t think that is the reason.

Go to any fair sized mainstream Christian church and just look at the choir. I have counted male and female noses and it comes out to about 75% women to 25% men.

I have come to my own personal conclusion. Men on the whole, are not as spiritual as women. They don’t have the same urge to worship as women do. The old saying is that men don’t want to stop and ask directions. I think they just don’t like to ask God for directions. It’s the old “I don’t need any help, I can do it on my own” mentality.

This is my answer to the feminization of the church. Men, get up on Sunday morning and admit to yourselves that you don’t have all of the answers….and go to church.

Ok – I just liked that title – may as well have some fun.  I talked about this lady in my speech at the Seneca Falls 2 Christian Women’s Rights Convention which you can see and hear on my website www.bwebaptist.com (we are all over youtube, Tangle, and vimeo now).

She is the one who said I am loved, I am honored, I am respected!  You can see her exact words titled Her retort at the end of my letter to her.  She claimed I didn’t use any scripture to back up what I said.   And she also told me that if Jesus had wanted women as deacons and pastors he would have chosen some women as disciples instead of 12 men. And she said that if Paul said “I” he meant God was speaking.

This is my letter to her:

Thank you for your reply.  I did not back up every letter or thought with scripture because I am talking to Baptist pastors and secretaries and staff who know those scriptures by heart. I am sure you do, too.  However, they are all backed up on my website.  Look under Links and see the reference material written by Southern Baptist pastors, and Teachers of the Scripture. (I have since changed my website, but continue to use the explanation of Scripture by Dr Todd Still and Dr. James Dennison)

Why did Jesus chose only men to be his apostles?  Why did he chose 12? There seems to be some significance in the fact that the there were 12 tribes of Judah, and 12 apostles, and certainly these tribes were not named after women.  It is commonly thought that Judas was the treasurer of the monies collected.  If we stick to a strict interpretation of the 12 men apostles, then we would not allow women to be the treasurers or financial secretaries in our churches.

Jesus chose those men, but look at what privileges he gave the women.  The first evangelist was a woman.  John 4:1-42 tells the story of a Samaritan woman .28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. ould this be the Christ?”.. 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”  In Luke 9:51-56 we find that the messengers who sent ahead went into a Samaritan village were not well received and they then wanted to call down fire and destroy the people.  The woman was a better witness than the men Jesus sent. If there is any doubt, then we have to look no further than Matthew 28:10 “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  This scripture tells the women to
go tell the men where they can find Jesus.  Doesn’t that sum up the gospel?

Any time a woman sings a gospel song before a congregation, she is preaching the gospel, did you know that?  If the songs lyrics are gospel, then the pulpit has been compromised by her presence.

Paul said “I” do not permit a woman to speak.  When we hold the scriptures to a literal interpretation of when it says “men,” then we must hold it to a literal interpretation when it says “I.” 

 As for the “but“, it is there.  After they said women are equal, they explain how her husband is her leader. Women are equal-but.  Do you know that whenever your church puts the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 on its website or a link to it, that it is a slap in the face to every woman?   They are putting the BF&M 2000 right up front to show they believe 2 things; women can’t be pastors, and the Family Section that makes equality “subordinate” in actuality.

Her retort:
One last reply and I do not care to hear from you again.  I am a woman—a very equal woman within my church and my home.  My husband is the head of my home and I have no trouble submitting to his authority “as he submits to Christ.” I also have no trouble submitting to the authority of the pastor/elders of this church “as they submit to Christ.” 

I am loved! I am honored! I am respected! My gender makes me no less a person, follower, or servant of Christ. I am so sorry that you feel inferior to those in authority over you. 

Honey, as long as you stay in your pen, you will be respected.  Get out, and the dogs start barking.

I had hopes that he would hear our plea.  But he fell into the old mantra of roles and from this I know that only a Damascus Road experience will be able to penetrate this darkness.

“But there are specific roles that God has ordained for men alone – the positions of pastors and elders/overseers (1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-7). It’s not a matter of male domination but simply God’s plan for leadership in the church. Though this teaching may be countercultural in today’s society, we will be the most effective in fulfilling Christ’s mission for the church when we adhere to His design for our lives and our churches.”

This is an educated man.  He is a pastor, a preacher, he has a doctorate. 

How is it that I know that 1Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus is about this:

• Sets forth a standard of morality and responsibility for the person chosen to be an elder or deacon
• Sets a standard for compassion by not allowing them to call men who had 3 or 4 wives and a houseful of kids to take care of

Do they really think that these scriptures are all about being male?  Their birth as a male is not something they can control – but the way they handle their lives and their obedience to scripture is something they can control and this is what those scriptures are all about.

Just as Jesus was all about the decisions and choices people make, Paul and Titus were, too. Jesus never recognized qualifications by birth as far I know.

Equal means Equal

I don’t mean the women, I mean the men.

Women can play house all day long, and name the husband, and the kids and set the stage for all kinds of scenarios.  At least that is what I did when I was a kid and played with dolls in my make-believe world.

At the True Woman Conference, the little will woman stand up and decry feminism and blame every sin she can think of on it, even though she is feminine as all women are.

The men will count the money that will be made by the books sold, the DVDs, and all the paraphernalia associated with it.

So, when are the men going to get tired of playing house?  After all, this is a game women play.  And usually no men are allowed. 

I guess money makes the difference here as it does everywhere.  They will stay in this game a little longer because someone with LEADERSHIP skills has to handle the money because the little woman can’t.

She wants me to stop promoting women’s equality.

This is her email to me.

I’m sorry if this email is about to sound rude but don’t you think it is more important that God is glorified through the church rather than women’s rights??  The Lord said a prayer right before He left this earth and it was that our church should be unified.  You are bringing much dissension to the church.  Don’t you think if God really wanted you on a platform He could place you there like He did Beth Moore and Darlene Zchech? Why do you have to start a revolt?  This is just more thing Satan is using to tear the church apart.  Just leave it alone…if the Lord really wants you on a platform He’ll make a way but I assure you, pride comes before the fall and I don’t see any humility on your part.

If you really believe that the scripture is God-breathed and inspired it says that women should not have authority over men (I Timothy 2:12)  It says that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (I Corinthians 11:3)  Do you believe that? 

Why are you doing this?  It’s just causing division.

OK. Here goes:

She says: More important that God is glorified through the church rather than women’s rights  

My response is that women’s rights in the church will glorify God more than He is now glorified by the present teaching which is:

1. that He created one perfect human being and gave that human god-like divinity; and then
2. created a sub-human woman who would provide one-half of her DNA to their children;
3. the sub-human woman would bear and teach the children about God;
4. the sub-human woman would give of her time, her tithe, her energy and abilities to carry on the work of the church, but could never lead the church, and could never have full fellowship with God.

She said: The Lord said a prayer right before He left this earth and it was that our church should be unified

My response:  the church has never been unified in all of its teachings, we have always had Christians against Christians,  Baptists against Baptists

 Is the unification she wants:

• That we continue in slavery and holding other humans in bondage;
• That we never progress beyond the first century in our understanding of what Jesus was really saying;
• That we cease learning;
• That we stop holding people accountable for their false teaching.

She says: Placed on a platform like Beth Moore and Darlene Zschech (whoever that is).

My response:  I met Beth Moore when she first started in her ministry and spent a weekend with her.  She was not on a platform then, because our little church only had 3 women and the other church only had 15 women when she spent the weekend with this little insignificant group.

My question to her is:  Why would I want to be on a platform under a ‘male covering’ such as Beth believes she is.

She says: pride comes before the fall and I don’t see any humility on your part

My response:  Do you know how many times I have been told that I am not humble by those people who are seeking to destroy me?  Do you know how many times I have been told that I am a nothing, that I am to be in submission to my husband, that Men are called by God to preach, be a deacon, whatever and that I can never be?  Do you know how many times I have been told to go to another church, or to just leave, to get out the way? 

Humility means “a modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance.”   Those who tell me I have no humility are those who seek to heap importance on the male gender.  Humility, don’t make me laugh.

And then of course the tried and true scriptures – translated myopically (lacking tolerance or understanding).

She says:  1 Timothy 2:12

My response: This verse is sandwiched in between telling me what clothes to wear and that I can be saved by having a baby and being good.  Not really a good example of God’s role for me.

This one tells it all:  1 Corinthians 11:3 tells me that Christ is the head of my husband, but is not the head of me, because my husband is.  Now, do you really believe this woman believes that?  It is contrary to all the scriptures we learn, contrary to all the songs we sing, contrary to all the sermons we hear, contrary to what we teach our children, contrary to all the prayers we pray, and contrary to all we know about God and His love.

I wish I had told her all that.  But it all didn’t come to mind late at night. 

Will you help me build a platform so all Christian women can climb aboard and proclaim God’s words to all who will listen?

Dr. Mohler knows that these same men write letters to women who are seeking equality, using the most hateful, unloving, lying characterizations of women that can come out of a Christian’s mouth. 

If men like Dr. Mohler don’t have the guts to stand up and tell these men who verbally abuse Christian women to cut it out, then what makes him think that these men will honor women and put women and children in the lifeboat first?  He is living in make-believe land.

It’s not that we can’t take it.  We’ve heard worse. It harms the gospel of Christ when these Christian men rant and rave in this most ungodly manner toward women.  They don’t talk to men like this.  Suppose a man wrote a letter speaking up for women’s equality. Suppose he gets a letter from a man hating women’s equality. The hater would attack the women the first man was speaking up for, and would not attack the man who was speaking up for women.

Following are two letters I received last Wednesday, July 14.  The first is in response to this series.  The second letter is the first of a series of comments you can read at the end of Recipe for Danvers Stew.  Their letters are in bold. 

1. But Mohler isn’t doing that here. And Scripture is clear that while there is an established authoritative structure for the home, husbands are to submit to their wives as Christ loved his church and gave (submitted himself completely and sacrificially) himself up for her. This is biblical picture is very different than your portrayal of what Mohler actually teaches and believes.

If Dr. Al Mohler believes that husbands are to “submit to their wives as Christ loved his church”, he has kept it a secret.

About the next letter.   I wonder if Dr. Al Mohler would think this man would say “Women and Children first” and put them in the lifeboats and give his own life for them.  This is an example of male headship letters that women get by men who are angry that we are standing up to them.

2. I just wonder how many of you women are divorced and lonely because you can’t stand not wearing the pants in the family, or wondering why there shouldn’t be women pastors (always have to have the lead role). You just can’t wait for men to post on here so you can blast them and have 20 other divorced, lonely women sitting here having an all night man bashing party. And you call that loving? You’re no different from the rest of the women in the world. Women like you think your the godliest thing to grace this earth apart from Jesus, yet can’t comprehend that this is the way God made things to be. Who says we have to understand every excruciating detail?   

Where did this man come up with these ideas?  He has no idea of what kind of woman I am.  Actually, my husband and I have been married 49 years, and where he gets the idea that I think that I am the godliest thing to grace this earth apart from Jesus, is downright insulting.  Who taught him to call a woman a ‘thing.’    Do you see any grace and love toward another human being in this letter?

We (men) can’t have babies but you don’t see us going around demanding equality and that God discriminates against men because we can’t have the same role as women.

You sit here and stereotype every male unless they are sheepish and agree with you on every point. The only thing the man stated out of place was “Someone has to serve (Mk. 10:45). That was stupid and I apologize for men on behalf of him, but by the same token, he was very much right about a lot of things we have to accept. I just think you can’t stand your husbands wearing the pants in the family and it eats you up.

That’s what God meant by the woman’s desire is for the man, but he shall rule over her. The only other place this “desire” concept is mentioned in Gen. 4:7 where sin’s desire is to master us, but we must master it. In the same way, women (such as egalitarians) desire to master their husbands, but we are to make sure that that doesn’t happen. Do you want to see what happens to someone who gives women the rule? Take a look at 1 Kings 11 and see the end of Solomon’s life, and why he would even go to the extreme of sacrificing his offspring to Molech? Because he gave in to his wives and didn’t have a backbone to stand for the Lord.

Power, authority, lovers of themselves (as Paul would say).

Are Dr. Al Mohler, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood, the Southern Baptist Convention, non-denominationals, evangelicals, proud of their influence and of the male headship men who send letters like these to Christian women? 

If they are not proud of these kinds of letters, let them stand up and say so.  Let them show some true Male Headship.

If you are tired of being pushed out of the lifeboat, please join us at Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Christian Women’s Right Convention in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010.

Do I believe that all who hold to this theology believe this?

No.  I don’t believe they really think this.   They don’t really believe that men are becoming little gods and they fully believe that the blood of Christ redeemed women just as much as it redeemed men. They don’t really believe that men have suddenly become divine.  But to be divine is the only way men can have headship over women.  They prefer to have blind eyes, which keeps them from carefully examining their beliefs.

What does this mean?

It means that their teaching is contrary to their beliefs.  Somehow or the other they have justified their teaching. They see no conflict with the full redemptive blood of Jesus for both men and women – and still keeping women as followers to their leader husbands.  They cannot see women as complete spiritual beings.

Why do they do it?

That is more complicated. 

• Some have a heartfelt belief that God made women for certain roles.
• A literal translation of the Bible, ignoring background knowledge, cultural history
• It is the way it has always been done – only men can be deacons and pastors
• Respected Seminaries and their professors
• Respected pastors
• Parents who believe in the literal translation that “the head of the wife is the man.”
• Money, books, dvds, conferences
• Some want to believe that there is a perfect world with men in charge

It wasn’t always this way

The words male headship, male covering, male leadership, and the teaching that husbands would stand before God and account for their wives is a new teaching – a false teaching.

They are false prophets, leading people astray. No matter how heartfelt their beliefs are. They are wrong.  The Bible does not bear out their theology.  This is a new theology brought about because they were afraid women seeking equality would destroy the church.

This scripture describes these 21^st century false prophets:  “They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires. Such women are forever following new teachings, but they never understand the truth. And these teachers fight the truth just as Jannes and Jambres (magicians) fought against Moses. Their minds are depraved, and their faith is counterfeit. But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as happened with Jannes and Jambres.  2 Timothy 3:6-9 (NLT)

And

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who brought them.” 2 Peter 2:1 (NLT)

It is false teaching that Jesus submits to God, that husbands stand accountable for their wives, and that husbands are to have authority over their submissive wives. Men who teach this laugh when they are teaching it, and they make fun of women to show that women are forced to submit. 

The correct teaching is that Jesus is God, and knew from the beginning that his purpose was to come to earth and give his life for the redemption of men and women, that husbands and wives are individuals and as such, are accountable for themselves as Jesus constantly showed that people had choices to make, and husbands cannot have authority over their wives as that would make a woman a lesser person and make the husband god-like.

Join us at the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Christian Women’s Rights Convention in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010.

But these are the words that Baptists and Non-denominational, and other Evangelical denominations have chosen to use to prove that men have dominance over women. 

Oh, they don’t say these words.  You won’t hear them used in a sermon.  They say “leadership” because even they know that male covering and male headship have a sexual connotation. 

So what difference does it make if that is what they believe but do not preach in a sermon? 

Let me count the ways: 

1. It determines how they will preach because they will get their message across in some form.
2. It determines how the youth leader teaches the young men and young women.
3. It determines the literature they will use in teaching.
4. It determines how they will set up their church structure – who will be the deacons or the leaders
5. It affects how they will do marital counseling which is officially encouraged by the  State of Texas.
6. It determines how they will counsel a woman who is having marital troubles.
7. It determines how they will counsel a young girl who is considering the ministry.  

Ok, I can live with that, you might say.  Many do and never question it. 

But

Whenever one person has headship or covering over another, it means that they see themselves as having saving power over the other, and they are to be held accountable before God for their wives and daughters. 

They have headship over their sons until the sons grow up and leave home.  The wives never get to grow up and leave home.  The daughters will be handed over to some other male headship or male covering guy who will “lead” her.

Male headship and male covering creates among men and women a division, an acknowledgement that males are superior to females.  It leads to abuse in the home and in the spiritual life. 

Can you live with that?

If you can’t live with that, join us at Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Christian Women’s Rights Convention in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010.  www.senecafalls2.com

Paul teaches here that although a woman precipitated the Fall and women bear that responsibility, yet they may be preserved from that stigma through childbearing. The rescue, the delivery, the freeing of women from that stigma of having led the race into sin happens when they bring up righteous children. Women are far from being second class citizens because they have the primary responsibility for rearing godly children.

Mothers spend far more time with their children than do their fathers, and thus have the greater influence. Paul’s point here is that while a woman may have led the race into sin, women have the privilege of leading that race out of sin into godliness.

That does not mean God wants all women to bear children; some He doesn’t even want married (1st Cor. 7:25-40). Paul speaks in general terms. The pain associated with childbirth was the punishment for the woman’s sin, but the joy and privilege of child rearing delivers women from the stigma of that sin. 

In this passage we can see how God has perfectly balanced the roles of the sexes. Men are to be the leaders in the church and the family. Women are kept from any accusation of inferiority through the godly influence they have in the lives of their children. For the church to depart from this divine order is to perpetuate the disaster of the Fall.

My response:

Ah, Pastor, untwist yourself.  You have played Twister with those scriptures.

What about the blood of Jesus delivering us from all sin, even the stigma of the Fall.  You are telling me that Jesus  does not have the power of Himself to free me, a woman, from that.  How on earth could having a baby free us?  Pastor, that doesn’t make one bit of sense.  It gives men far more power than God or Paul ever intended. 

 Because you see, that makes our whole salvation dependent upon an earthly male to make us whole.  And it also depends upon our ability to raise righteous children.  My salvation cannot be based upon whether or not my children are Christians, just as their salvation is not based upon whether or not this poor mother was a Christian.

Do you know how you sound with that “joy and privilege of childrearing delivers women from the stigma of that sin?  Southern Baptists have not erased that stigma from me and I have given birth to two sons.  Once I have a child, then from your reasoning, I should be free of the stigma.  Does the fact that I had pain killers during childbirth change that?  Do I get a certificate from the SBC saying that I am now “preserved” from that stigma?

Pastor, one day you will realize just how ridiculous your explanation is.

At church last Sunday, I noticed that there were nine women and three men in the choir. That is consistent with choirs of many churches I have attended the last few years. To me it looks like the choirs are made up of at least 60 percent women. 

Looking around in the pews I can see that there are more women than men  attending the services. Women alone or with other women or a woman attending with a married couple. The 60-40 ratio is pretty consistent. Seldom is there a man by himself. 

Will it be this way in heaven?

Women are less likely to commit violent crimes. There are fewer women in prison. The Texas prison system holds 143,000 men to just 12,000 women.

Can you conclude that men are more likely to do evil than women? Yet, men do almost all of the preaching in the churches.

I am acquainted with many Godly men who do great works for the Lord. But, at the same time I also know many Godly women who do great works for the Lord.

When we all get to heaven; will that heavenly chorus sound heavily soprano?

Did you know the very first appearance of exegesis that attempted to relegate 1 Tim 2 to cultural situation and allowing for women pastors wasn’t until 1969?   You think that 1,936 years of church history was wrong?

His argument was that for over 1900 years Christians had believed that women should be second-class and here I was trying to say they didn’t know what they were talking about.

This is my reply to his flawed reasoning.

 The Pharisees certainly had longevity of the law on their side.  But Jesus told them that they had made the law so cumbersome that even they could not follow it.  In Matthew 23 he lays out the case against the Pharisees.  Their interpretation of the law had become more important to them than the people.  They sought to kill Jesus because they were afraid of what he was teaching and what it would do to their established beliefs about God. Today the Jews still hold to their Law and we are in danger of doing the very same thing. 

For over 1100 years, the Roman Catholics were the church.  Martin Luther became so convinced that salvation did not come by indulgences but only by faith in Christ alone, that he was willing to go against over a thousand years of religious knowledge and belief. Today almost half of all Christians on earth are non-Catholics. 

You say that the modern thought about women came about in 1969.  Maybe it did.  It was in 1964 that women finally had Civil Rights in the United States.  

You can’t turn back that clock.  We will not put on burkas and quit driving our cars.  But you can go forward. You can allow women the full freedom to answer the call of God in her life.  You can allow her to serve a cup of juice and a piece of bread.  

I am not claiming to be Jesus or Martin Luther.  I am a woman.  A woman made just as surely as you were made, in the image of God.  Just as the Pharisees had corrupted the Law, we Christians have picked out passages of Scriptures aimed solely at keeping women in a submissive role, both at home and in church. 

Let’s go back to the old days.  Let’s go all the way back to Christ.  Let’s treat women the way Christ did.

I handed my brochure to an older man in a group of family members and he looked at it and threw it down.  Then he told me that I had the Spirit of Jezebel and wanted to be in control.

I burst out with “You tell me I want to be in control!  If you don’t want me to be in control, then that means that you want to be the one that is in control.”

Why isn’t it a sin for men to want to be in control?

It appears that only women can have the Spirit of Jezebel.

In theory men can have it, too, but they mention witchcraft along with this spirit, and we know that only women are witches.

What evil is being perpetuated on women in our churches!  This man is a Christian and goes to his church every Sunday.

Google the Spirit of Jezebel if you want to get sick to your stomach.