On Trying to Explain a Living Thing

I can tell that, to some people, I’m terribly offensive now. I didn’t used to be that way (at least I don’t think). I was in the same trenches they were in. We were on the same side. When my paradigm came crashing in, I suppose it’s fair to say that [...]

Why I (Speaking in Servant-Love) Believe Men Should Not be Church Leaders

10. A man’s place is in the army.
9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.
8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do [...]

Root Issues: Authority Structures We Like Best (Fluid vs. Heirarchal, etc) and Their Influence in the Way We Interpret Scripture (Gender Issues, Church Government, Relationships…)

Resonate writer, Len Hjalmarson, recently mused on a topic of interest to me.  His post, Evolution of Heirarchy, discusses how factors like access to technology and information are forcing us to change the way we think of authority structures. No longer do we live in a world where only “the leader” knows what to do—-now [...]

Formula Over Relationship: RED FLAG #1

After the “unsafeness” of the whacko church of my young-adult-met-Jesus days (that is, my Bible College, where I learned so much and yet also learned that the leader was getting cozy with some of the female staff, but with a doctrine of authority similar to the Shepherding Movement’s, we were taught it was more important to the Lord that we not [...]

Easter Sunday: Shoot, Even the BAD Christians Go to Church!

I guess that means we’re worse than bad?  But it was still really nice staying home.  We sang some songs, in a casual way, talked a little bit, in a casual way, and ate a lot of candy eggs, in a casual way.  (It’s hard not to be casual when you have a two year old [...]

Our Enemy the State (in Bile Green and Size 9 Font)

The labored sounds of a printer are to the East of me. That would be, “Our Enemy, the State” sludging itself out, page by page. The text is in a lovely green color, since the black ink cartridge ran out yesterday (likely having something to do with multiple copies of Woody and Buzz [...]

Is Loving Yahweh Enough, (or Do I Have to Love Him the Way They Say I Do)?

This is an example of the kind of preaching/teaching that makes me want to throw up.   And laugh.  Loudly. 
 
But the way I found that funny little clip (Real men “piss against the wall,” and the problem with America is that men aren’t pissing from an upright position anymore!  Sheesh, why aren’t people reading the KJV [...]

The Former “Biblical Patriarchalist” Muses on Gender Roles and Christ…

This was an excellent post (The Effect of Biblical Womanhood on a Woman’s Self-Image), albeit a few years old, from the Happy Feminist. I came from the world Crystal writes about (here, the comments being very enlightening) and I know well the way one thinks within it.
It is fair to say that these women, on the one hand, [...]

Learning “What the Bible PLAINLY Says About Gender” (Via My Handy Dandy Pink-n-Blue Gridsheet)…

Discussing gender roles in the post, “Are Women Called to be Pastors“ over at Complegalitarian, some commenters made fantastic points about the pink and blue lenses through which we derive our “plain” teaching that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.  
Psalmist said:
I would really like someone to point in Scripture to any principle that forbids us to [...]

My Dad is Bigger than Your Dad

“One of the reasons I came to trust the God of the Bible was because He was big enough to explain the impostors.  In Scripture, God never gets confused about who is and who isn’t representing Him.  Impostors represent a small god, a vapor in the imagination of a child, a god we would all [...]