Talk of Hephzibah House

My friend, Joe at Incongruous Circumspection is coming to the defense of the abused again.

I just love it when he does that.

http://incongruouscircumspection.blogspot.com/2012/01/tim-dunkins-hephzibah-house-faux-pas.html

I like seeing strong men in action. He and men like Lewis Wells boost my faith in men.

http://thecommandmentsofmen.blogspot.com/2012/01/when-sycophants-spit-against-wind.html

These are true brothers to their sisters. They are not like this Tim Dunkin who defends the strong by further abusing the already down-trodden.

Human Structures in Review

We have spent three months on human structures.
In March we looked at Job, false structures and started talking about order vs chaos or Apollonian vs Dionysian and even touched on yin/yang.
In April we looked at the Wild at Heart phenomenon and how it has affected the church and perpetuated a not always female friendly male vs female structure. We also looked at the tiny boxes or structures that small-minded men build for women using religion to beat them into down into those boxes.
In May, we looked at big-hearted men and contrasted the loving freedom they offer to women with the limiting, restrictive structures that small mind men uphold for their sisters. We also did a rather long series on Chimananda Adichie's "Single Story" and how this applied to human structure.

Perhaps I've spend an inordinate amount of time on human structures. If so, it is only because I want people to start discerning the existence of these human structures and begin to hold them up to the light of scripture in order to debunk the false structures.

But this month, the lovely month of June, we will turn our attention on some of the ways that God structures things and how they differ from human structures.

And here I will leave you a verse.

Isaiah 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.
Vs 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, SO are My ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.

Lost Comments

When Blogger hit its most recent hiccup, I lost at least two already approved comments. One from Waneta and one from Hannah.

I don't know how many unapproved comments were lost that I never saw.

Also, that hiccup kind of threw me. I was on a roll but due to not being able to post and having the posts I had made being scrambled and otherwise mistreated my roll was thrown off.

I hope to get into comparing and contrasting true brothers of women to the false brethren who don't want to be brothers, but rather lords, masters, high priests, and little Christs to their women.

True brothers inspire their sisters onto godliness.
The false ones push down, push back, reduce, and weaken their women. And though the false brothers may be brothers in the sense that they call upon the name of Christ, they undermine their position of brothers in the lives of women by trying to be more than what they are called to, by thinking more highly of themselves than they ought.

And I wanted to get into comparing and contrasting the True with the false because women need to be careful of whose voices we listen to. Not all men who claim to love God know how to love and encourage their sisters.

Houses of Healing

There is a scene from Lord of the Rings that didn't appear in the theatrical version. I've shared it elsewhere. But because it seems to go with this series on strong men and men who have the heart of true brothers towards women, I've decided to link it here for those of my friends who haven't seen it yet.

Jesus taught us to treat one another as brothers and sisters. And this view is so lost when you start dividing things up into boxes and roles and giving one gender the lesser role. When in fact we are all called (male and female) to be warriors and brothers of light. The chapter that immediately follows Ephesians 5 is Ephesians 6 which tells us, regardless of gender, to take up the full armor of God. Yet the role pushers want to make only men warriors and relegate women to helpless damsels in distress, or victims. And such a set up sets women up for failure. Then when failure comes, the woman is relegated to the level of strange women and her humanity, brother/sisterhood is lost and she becomes even lesser still and a thing to be mocked, warned against, and even further used.

More about that later.

This scene opens up with a heart wrenching cry from a warrior brother who has discovered his sister's body on the battle field and shows his anguish over her. Then it quickly moves to the following scene in the houses of healing and what follows there.

The reason I like this scene is because it shows a couple things. One, the love of a brother for his sister (who refused the box of her culture and went into battle thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy and gaining a huge victory). And, two, the healing of this sister by another man who is not her biological brother, but is most definitely her brother in arms and in heart.

There is a third man shown who becomes a love interest later, but in this scene it shows his attraction and admiration for her heroic actions on the battlefield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6UhO9K7F3I

True brothers want to make the church into a house of healing for all, including women, no matter where the women come from or how they are wounded. True brothers believe that the name of God, "The Lord our Healer" still applies today and is more important than their own 'advancement' and authority in the Kingdom of God.
False brothers are only concerned with their own authority, controlling women and making extra rules for them that men don't have to obey, and extra sins that men can't be guilty of.

Strong Men, P.C.

Here is another fellow that I'm unsure what his name is. But he has a video on youtube where he is talking about men using the Bible to hurt women. The video is listed under Prophecy Channel, Hence, for this post, the man speaking is dubbed P.C.

Where as I.C. demonstrated his view through anger, you can hear the catch in P.C. voice as he goes through Ephesians 5 and talks about how it has been abused to hurt women. He's imploring men, and a certain man in particular, to not look upon headship the way the present world looks upon headship, but rather look at it from a Roman culture stand point.

P.C. also carries the heart of Jesus for his sisters, being brought to tears over the abuses that his sisters have faced in the name of God. He wants to bring comfort to hurt women and correction to men who don't know how to be brothers and uplift women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVloUiTwdO8&feature=player_embedded

Strong Men, I.C.

Yep, you read it right. I.C. because I don't know his name. But he has a blog and I was made aware of it through Lewis's blog.

A certain fellow by the name of Spencer came to Lewis's blog one day, and was determined to set us all straight on the clear Biblical teaching of female subordination and the need for tactics for fathers to control their rebellious daughters.

I.C. wrote an open letter to Spencer on his own blog, and I'll tell ya. I.C.'s anger and indignation was not unlike Jesus going into the temple with a whip and chasing out the money changers. Jesus said that God's house was to be a house of prayer but men were making it a den of thieves.
This is what is going on in sections of Christianity. There a thieves who are stealing freedom from others. Jesus said that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But the thieves have exchanged the truth for a lie, labeled it 'biblical' and even called it 'clearly scriptural'. And the lie has brought deep bondage into the lives of women.

With the same zeal that Jesus drove out the money changers, I.C. set about to boldly confront a truth exchanger who is seduced by the lies of patriarchy.

The truth exchangers pretend to be brothers, and even in a sense may be Christian brothers. But they are very misled brothers like my sister-in-law's bio brother who didn't know how to be an actual brother. (May 9th post)

I.C.. along with Lewis, knows how to be a true brother, a defender of women against the thieves who are out to steal freedom in Jesus. It's exciting for me to see men who are strong and love women with the love of the Lord rather than with the love of gaining seats of honor for themselves.

You can read I.C.'s open response to Spencer here and take comfort in his zeal for our freedom.
http://incongruouscircumspection.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-open-response-to-spencer.html

Strong Men, Lewis

Most of my readers are familiar with the blog "The Commandments of Men".

The host of this blog is Lewis Wells who had a close encounter with Neo-Patriarchy that has left him shattered. He relates this encounter in his, "The Joke was on Me" Series.

He has received a severe wounding at the hands of supposed 'brothers' in the 'Church' but instead of turning around and wounding others, he has found strength in Jesus Christ and has become a watchman on the wall, warning others against the false doctrines and commandments of men being held up as gospel.

I could say a great deal more but would like to quote one of his commenter's on his "Steadfast Daughters Leaves Me Quivering Once Again" thread.

DoaHF said to him at 12:16 pm on November 22, 2010: "Three cheers, Lewis. Thanks for standing up for us. You didn't have to, and you sure didn't have to care at all after what they did to you, but here you are. You keep us laughing, make us think, and bring us through the hard days. Much love."

Lewis is being a true brother who sees his sisters as valuable and worth defending against men who conspire to use religion to control their women. He wants people, including women, to be free in the love of God and Spirit of Christian brotherhood.

As DoaHF said, he doesn't have to care or stand up for the downtrodden, but he does.

And here is a quote of his that explains his motivation that he has a the top of his blog: "When we become unwilling to risk everything for the sake of the right thing, our salt has lost its savor, and we no longer season our world."

Thank you Lewis, for being salt and a light in the darkness. The light you shine for your brothers and sisters showing them the way out of the darkness of patriarchy is much appreciated.

You are a strong secure man that I can honor and am proud to call brother.

http://thecommandmentsofmen.blogspot.com/ (link for anyone visiting who hasn't been to his blog yet)