Another Attack on Womanhood...

Are you listening Ryan over at Wartburg Watch (see previous post).

This is actually an old one. But I'm bringing it to the forefront and reposting it so that Ryan can see that Womanhood is being attacked by the leaders of the Evangelical movement.

Tim Challies is a respected leader among his subgroup of Evangelicals. And apparently he has seen something that he doesn't like. And in order to fight it, he has polarized it into gender forms, making the masculine good, strong, and right and what he doesn't like as effeminate (weak and accepting of wrong).

His polarizing and defining, making masculine good and feminine evil is another example of the war on womanhood being carried out everyday by those who are defending manhood from perceived attackers.

Still, I don't see a war on Manhood in any of this. But I do see a lot of men claiming that there is a war on it. These men get on the offensive and start attacking whoever they think they should blame, namely the feminine (again, like Adam blaming Eve) when really, it is a manufactured and propaganda propelled war.

Here is the old post reprinted out, complete with links to Challies and places that refute what he's saying. I originally wrote this post back in the days before I understood how to work the blogger linky thingy. Back then I just cut and pasted the links 'as is' into the post.

(Note: I was a bit upset back in the day I wrote this. I'm still not happy with Challies and his conclusions, but I'm not nearly as angry today as I was then. But I'm not ashamed of my back then anger. There is a reason to be angry with this war that men have declared against the feminine. It is wrong.)

*****

Soft Effeminate Christianity. ROTFL!

I read this and all I could do was laugh.

The famous Tim Challies, who has caused a stir in the blog world by declaring that women cannot even read scripture out loud in the public assembly has decided to quote Horatius Bonar. In fact, he entitled and entire post "Soft, Effeminate Christianity" in order to quote Bonar. He says this about Bonar's quote that he reprints.

Tim Challies: "Bonar is warning against a kind of soft and, in his word, effeminate Christianity, that may come about when Christians are too afraid to fight for what is right and to protest against what is wrong."

http://www.challies.com/quotes/soft-effeminate-christianity

Why am I laughing at this?

Because of his hypocrisy and blatant hatred of the feminine. These pushers of gender roles force women down into a soft, submissive, subservient role THEN show hatred for such things in the church.

Well, let me tell you Tim Challies, who wants to turn women into little helpless lambs. Let me tell you this. You and your cohorts' relentless pursuit to dis-empower and bring into bondage, women, half or over half of the body of Christ... This pursuit is blowing up in you face.

More and more women are done with all the rules men keep making up for them.

I'll give you a few examples:

http://www.emergingmummy.com/2011/12/in-which-i-am-done-fighting-for-seat-at.html

http://rachelheldevans.com/daughters-will-prophesy

http://www.elizabethesther.com/2011/12/i-will-prophesy.html

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2011/11/04/tim-challies-deleting-both-scripture-and-hurting-people-a-request-from-sgm-refuge/

http://bwebaptistwomenforequality.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/industry-standards/

These are mother grizzlies and lionesses who are not afraid to fight for what is right and to protest against what is wrong. And your stance on women reading scripture in the public assembly and your support of C.J Mahaney are both dead wrong. These women are not afraid to declare it. They are very feminine. But they are strong and powerful, able to preach and teach men of their wrong. And yes, they are able to prophesy in the name of Jesus. No amount of Scripture twisting by you and others is able to take away from them the promise of Almighty God.

The real problem in all of this is your refusal to hear about the wrong that you commit against all of your sisters and many of your brothers.

Hero Mom

Move over Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Found this link on Thatmom. And I agree with her. This is my kind of mom.

Dorothy Baker, Punches and Runs Over Man Who Threatened Her and Her Kids.

And why do I bring this up?

Because I am soooooooooo tired of the John Pipers and Mark Driscolls and Tim Challieses*** of the world who hold up their ridiculous ideals of womanhood as soft and weak. I get tired of these men who think women can't defend themselves and must always be defended by a man.

Well, what do you do if there is no man to defend you, and in fact, the one man in the whole story is the one threatening you and your children.

I guess you are just supposed to put tilt your head back, put the back of your hand to your forehead and say, "Woe is me. God made me a soft, weak, defenseless female. Therefore I must submit to the all-powerful male in every situation. After all, this is what my clueless, misogynic, neo-Calvinist preacher has taught me. He has declared unto me that this is God's intention, will, role, and purpose for my life. To deviate from it would be to sin against the essence of manhood and womanhood and by so doing, rebel against the Gospel. Did I say, 'Woe is me'?"

(Forgive the snark. Please understand that it is better for me to do this than to cuss clueless preachers out on what is supposed to be a Christian blog. But believe me, they deserve to be cussed out or snarked out when they teach the crap they do and call it the Word of God.)

(Tim Challies is author of the infamous "Soft, Effeminate Christianity" post I wrote against some time back.)

Promise Keepers Hurt My Marriage

When my husband had the opportunity to go to Promise Keepers over fifteen years ago, I sent him with my blessing not knowing what they were filling his head with.

I am a woman that likes men. I like fellowshipping with them. I want them to be encouraged and strengthened and to grow in confidence in who they are. And that is what I thought Promise Keepers was. I was wrong.

My husband and I got along fairly well before Promise Keepers. But after he came back, issues we never had before began to crop up. When we got into disagreements, all of the sudden he started playing the "You aren't being submissive" card. For a long time I had no clue of the connection between his trip to Promise Keepers and this new tactic in arguments.

Now, many years later, I'm seeing that connection. I'm sorry I ever sent him to Promise Keepers. Instead of being a place of blessing they pretended to be, it was a den of thieves. They stole the heart of my loving man and turned him into a "I'm the one that wears the pants in this family" kind of guy.

So what did they teach my man back in the 90s that set him backwards in his walk with the Lord? Lots of bad things.

Here's what Tony Evens told him:
“The first thing you do is sit down with your wife and say something like this: `Honey, I've made a terrible mistake. I've given you my role. I gave up leading this family, and I forced you to take my place. Now I must reclaim this role.' Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not suggesting that you ask for your role back. I'm urging you to take it back.” He went on to say, “If you simply ask for it back, your wife is likely to refuse...Unfortunately, there can be no compromise here.” 


I wouldn't be surprised if the great comp leaders of today all went to Promise Keepers meetings. Leaders like Driscoll, Piper, Wilson, Baucham, Grudem Challis, etc.
I'm sure they went to those meetings or read those books. Because they are saying the same things and hurting countless other marriages.

Thanks for nothing, Promise Keepers.

For more on what was wrong with Promise Keepers, search the web or follow these links:
http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/promkeep.html

http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/fw/9609/promise.html

Calvinism, Useful Tool for Making Jerks?

Hey, I didn't say it. Kevin DeYoung did. He actually makes some good points and I don't have it out for him. Just let me quote something from his post linked here:

Does New Calvinism Make People Jerks?

"Calvinism is a way of thinking. It's a worldview. It's a doctrinal system. It demands thought and intellectual rigor. It must be learned. It is a minority position in America and in the American church. None of this make the Calvinist a nasty person. But if you have a predilection toward nastiness, then developing an intellectually sophisticated set of beliefs that you understand and most people do not will help you immensely in your feelings of superiority and expressions of condescension."

Whether or not traditional Calvinism makes people jerks or not is not for me to say. Anyone pushing a complicated set of doctrines thinking that what they have is the truth and what all others have is a lie even if all those others profess Jesus, well it makes me very wary.

As Paul point out in his New Calvinism For Dummies pt 6, when major leaders like Tim Challies claim that what New Calvinist have it wheat while all others have chaff, well, that's pretty arrogant. It is easy to see why some New Calvinists fall into elitism which flows nicely into Phariseeism. I'm not saying that is happening to all New Calvinist. But I am saying that I've seen some really jerky, Pharisaical New Calvinists roaming the blogsphere. Just saying.

A Couple of Men Weigh in on Challies

Yes, what women say about Challies is important.

But so is what men say.

Here's a couple good ones:

http://networkedblogs.com/rqtSo

http://www.wadeburleson.org/2011/12/trifling-with-subtleties-while-ignoring.html

Soft, Effeminate Christianity? ROTFLMHO!

I read this and all I could do was laugh.

The famous Tim Challies, who has caused a stir in the blog world by declaring that women cannot even read scripture out loud in the public assembly has decided to quote Horatius Bonar. In fact, he entitled and entire post "Soft, Effeminate Christianity" in order to quote Bonar. He says this about Bonar's quote that he reprints.

Tim Challies: "Bonar is warning against a kind of soft and, in his word, effeminate Christianity, that may come about when Christians are too afraid to fight for what is right and to protest against what is wrong."

http://www.challies.com/quotes/soft-effeminate-christianity

Why am I laughing at this?

Because of his hypocrisy and blatant hatred of the feminine. These pushers of gender roles force women down into a soft, submissive, subservient role THEN show hatred for such things in the church.

Well, let me tell you Tim Challies, who wants to turn women into little helpless lambs. Let me tell you this. You and your cohorts' relentless pursuit to dis-empower and bring into bondage, women, half or over half of the body of Christ... This pursuit is blowing up in you face.

More and more women are done with all the rules men keep making up for them.

I'll give you a few examples:

http://www.emergingmummy.com/2011/12/in-which-i-am-done-fighting-for-seat-at.html

http://rachelheldevans.com/daughters-will-prophesy

http://www.elizabethesther.com/2011/12/i-will-prophesy.html

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2011/11/04/tim-challies-deleting-both-scripture-and-hurting-people-a-request-from-sgm-refuge/

http://bwebaptistwomenforequality.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/industry-standards/

These are mother grizzlies and lionesses who are not afraid to fight for what is right and to protest against what is wrong. And your stance on women reading scripture in the public assembly and your support of C.J Mahaney are both dead wrong. These women are not afraid to declare it. They are very feminine. But they are strong and powerful, able to preach and teach men of their wrong. And yes, they are able to prophesy in the name of Jesus. No amount of Scripture twisting by you and others is able to take away from them the promise of Almighty God.

The real problem in all of this is your refusal to hear about the wrong that you commit against all of your sisters and many of your brothers.