Archives: 'Family'

CT — February 26, 2007, 11:34 pm

When Pastors Make Mistakes

Christians of all stripes make mistakes, but usually they are not quite as public as when a pastor stumbles in a service. I was present at a very painful service earlier this month in Ecuador which started out with good intentions but ended in fiasco. A little girl of 13 in a gorgeous […]

CT — August 6, 2006, 8:08 pm

Roles — Bondage or Freedom?

One of the first things I noticed many years ago about my in-laws was that they lived with strict roles. A gift had been given to this couple, a two-tiered plate with a handle and separating piece with threads on both ends and maybe a nut for the bottom. My mother-in-law-to-be opened the […]

CT — July 14, 2006, 10:51 am

Fixing Marriages

I consulted a relative of mine, Dr. Sara Brandt, who is a registered Marriage and Family Therapist about whether she sees differences regarding divorce and happiness in egalitarian vs. hierarchical marriages. She claimed to not be an expert on the subject as she does not get many couples who have a hierarchical marriage due […]

CT — April 30, 2006, 11:00 pm

What I Like About My Church

When one writes for awhile on the subject of gender and Biblical equality, one wonders whether all the words sound just a little too negative when all that is meant is to try to make things just a little better in church, at home, and in the world at large. So it’s good every […]

CT — April 26, 2006, 6:26 pm

Good Early Decision Making

It’s tough making personal decisions that cause pain, especially ones that affect close relationships. More women are standing up for themselves, however, when it comes to their long-term goals, and how much better it is to do it early, say, before the marriage, than after. A very good friend of mine just did […]

CT — April 15, 2006, 2:30 pm

The Men Churches Attract

I’m not so sure that feminists and egalitarians aren’t shooting themselves in the foot when they actively de-emphasize differences between the sexes. In my experience a high percentage of people not only see their spouses as quite different from themselves, but they see more similarities between themselves and their (same-sex) buddies. In fact, […]

CT — March 26, 2006, 11:00 pm

Female Mutilation

Each year in 28 African countries two million girls undergo what is euphemistically called “female circumcision,” but what is really mutilation and excision of the female external genitalia and clitoris (clitorectomy). “One quarter of them die as a result.” [Daughers of Hope by Kay Marshall Strom and Michele Rickett, p. 12]
Page 13: […]

CT — March 22, 2006, 12:40 am

Balancing Gender Traits

I gather that there are disagreements in the egalitarian camp on whether true gender traits exist or are only socializations. On the one hand, society creates differences like boys play with toy trucks and not dolls and girls play dress-up and not fix-it-up. Everybody had better line up and adapt. On the […]

CT — February 26, 2006, 2:00 am

The Real Question

After Tony Campolo speaks to Christians at church or other gatherings about marriage and family, as he is asked now and then to do, he often gets a man who stands up and says, “But you haven’t answered the real question…. Who’s supposed to be the head of the house?”
Should Christians ever ask who […]

CT — February 25, 2006, 11:25 pm

Sexism as Principality and Power

Ephesians 6:12 in the KJV reads: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Both the NIV and TNIV read: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the […]