Women: Leadership Positions in the Church

Whew! We finally had our discussion in my Bible study about women! It's been 3 weeks since we said we would have this discussion... that's a long time to make me wait to state my opinion... wait, I did state my opinion-- just to everyone else! (Sorry Jill!!)
So I thought I'd share what the night was like and the discussion we had (I am being very deliberate about it not being a debate.)
Oh, and I want to say a HUGE thank you to Makeesha, Molly, and my mom for helping me with this discussion! I couldn't have done as well without your help!
And as a warning, because this was a discussion and also because I wanted to be respectful and loving towards my fellow Bible studiers, I did not express my true opinions about what they thought/believed. So, as a result, I need somewhere to vent about what they said. So be prepared. I have to be honest and say that I tend to be a little harsh and very sarcastic, so be prepared. Okay, that was my disclaimer!
Also, there are lots of different parts and they all tend to be a little long, so I'm going to break them up into different parts so everyone can read them a little easier and can comment on each idea. I'd love to get everyone's insight and ideas about each subject. So comment away!

Women in leadership positions in the church
So Cheyenne led into it very smoothly and the discussion was off and running. I was the only advocate for egalitarian marriages versus leader/submissive marriages. Needless to say, I did a lot of talking. I'm not very good about stating my opinion when I disagree with everyone (or even one person for that matter), so I must say I did a pretty good job holding my ground. I made sure to note that I understand that people have their own understandings and convictions of relationships, but I just don't agree with it.
We started with the discussion of women in leadership in a church... some interesting ideas came out. One defense of women not being head pastors was that women actually have the honor of not being a head pastor because it protects them from the spiritual warfare and temptations that go along with that position.....????? I don't even know. Women can't handle life being difficult? I understand that higher positions tend to be attacked more (not even on a spiritual level) but why would it be an honor to not have to deal with that? Oh, thanks, I don't have to deal with anything. I'll just sit here and look pretty! (Can you sense my feelings about this?)
Women are given just as many and the same gifts as men. Why should they not be allowed to live out that gift? Women are given the job as Sunday-school teachers, whether they like it or not. Women are not allowed to have authority over men... but when does a boy become a man? 5 years old? 13? 18? 21? When is it okay for a woman to teach a boy (but not a man)? And what about mothers? Once their son reaches 18, does that mean she no longer has authority as a parent? Can she no longer teach him anything? On the day of his 18th birthday, does he automatically become smarter than his mother? Wait, isn't that called adolescence? ;-) I'm 21 and I'm still learning things from my parents. I don't think they'll ever stop teaching me things! So does age and definition of a man/woman really determine when and how a person can be taught? And why can't women be up front? The girls said that there's nothing wrong with them being part of the leadership team or even as an elder/deacon, but just not the head pastor. But don't the elders have more power than the head pastor? So why can't they be up front teaching everyone? I went to a church in high school where the youth pastor was a man (big surprise) but his wife was a much more gifted of a teacher than he will ever be! However, she was never allowed to teach in youth group. Was it because her husband had the authority over the youth group? I never got ANY spiritual feeding from him, but came away a changed person when his wife taught in the main service! Gasp! A woman was a better teacher than a man? How can that be? God gifted her as a teacher, but her skill and gift were not allowed to be used to touch young girls' and boys' lives.
If someone has a gift God has given them, they should live life and follow through with that gift. If someone is called to lead worship, they should lead worship. If they have the skill to plan an instrument, but don't have a calling to lead worship or be in the band, they shouldn't be in the band. God may want to use them elsewhere or use a different gift. We should not assume that whatever talent someone has they should use it in the church. We should let people follow what God has spoken to them and into their lives. And we should definitely NOT prevent someone from using a gift that God has called them to use, no matter what their gender is. If a man has been called to lead Sunday school and a woman has been called to be head pastor, let them do so, taking assurance in the fact that they are walking in God's will and God will bless them and the church as a result. God wants what is best for everyone, so we must let Him do so. We need to leave our pride and our prejudice (wait, isn't that a book?) at the door and allow God to move in our lives and our church. It'll be amazing to see what God can and will do when we finally allow Him full access to our church and our lives!

End of part one! There's more to come!

...and Justice for All

I was in my religions class yesterday and we were continuing our study of Islam (let me just say I sit in complete confusion for the entire hour!). We talked about the central and very strong belief in the importance of justice. We then compared it to the Christian concept of justice. In regards to the Christian concept of justice, my professor said, and I quote, "Jews and Muslims laugh." At first, I was slightly offended. However, as he kept talking, it started to make more sense. Justice means to give a consequence for an action. We talked about that in Islam, if a son does something wrong, a mother is bound by her beliefs in justice to turn him in because she must value justice (and Allah) over the love for her son. That seemed so tragic and heartbreaking.
With the Christian perspective of that scenario, the mother would embrace her son and give him grace... hmmm... doesn't sound like justice to me! It started to make more sense. Grace is central to Christianity and we function and love within that belief. God is graceful and merciful because He loves us. Yes, God is just, but His love and forgiveness overrides that.
Also, my professor started making fun of the idea that Christians are passionate about "social justice." Again, slightly offended. It was also through this I realized my professor may not hold the beliefs I thought he did (being from Ireland and all, I assumed he had either a Catholic or Protestant background... maybe not... or he could have been playing devil's advocate... but not likely). But it really got me thinking about what social justice really means. Is it truly justice? Is there a better word/phrase to describe what is implied by when people mention social justice? How would changing the wording effect what was done or expected? Would it have an effect? This is just something that I've been thinking about. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this or anything else related!

Don't Stare at the Chimps!

Hehehehe This just amused me so I thought I'd share!

Day of Silence on April 30th

This day of silence will be on April 30th... spread the word!

My boyfriends' names are Ben and Jerry!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year: it's FREE CONE DAY at Ben and Jerry's!!! I love this day! What is better than free ice cream? Nothing! My mouth waters just thinking about how great Dublin Mudslide tastes, and how much better it tastes when its FREE! And being a poor college student, free is even more important! I'm so bummed I have classes today so I can't spend my day getting in line over and over again to get free ice cream (frowned upon but not forbidden)! I need to stop writing about this before I freak out and ditch my next class to go get ice cream!

(And yes, they are getting free publicity out of me... but I can't help but spread the good news!)

Stupid and Addictive Red Dots

I'm in a writing mood! I just thought I'd admit to the world how shallow I am when it comes to my blog. No, I'm not shallow about what I write, but about that stupid map at the top of the page! For a while, I was having a close competition with my boyfriend about who had more viewings... sad, I know! But then he got busy and stopped writing so the competition wasn't fun any more. But that didn't stop my obsession with knowing from what states and countries people are viewing my blog from! I have no idea why it's so facinating, but it is! I have some pretty cool locations, but I can't help but wish I had more! What is wrong with me? They're stupid red dots! I'm sure, deep down, I have a sense of jealousy that those people are there in exotic countries and I'm not. Oh well, at least I've admitted I have a problem... that's the first step, right?

Does this bother you?

I get a "Quote of the Day" thing on my homepage and this quote was there and I really liked it:

We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?
- Ray Bradbury

At first, I didn't think too much about it, but when I started thinking about my own life, it really struck me. What kinds of things really bother me? How long has it been since God really tugged on my heart? When was the last time I actually did something about it? What issues--social, personal, etc-- do I really care about?
This quote really convicted me of how I have been living my life. I haven't been bothered enough! Only recently have I become passionate about different issues... but I still struggle with actually doing something about it-- griping about it changes nothing!
I've had to realize that I need to allow myself to be bothered. Sounds uncomfortable, I know! But if I guard myself against being bothered about things-- my life, my relationships, my faith, social injustices, tragedies, etc-- I won't grow as a person. I easily say, "well, it doesn't directly effect me, so it doesn't matter" or "what will worrying about it do?" However, if you worry about it enough, change will happen because you won't want it there, nagging at the back of your mind. You'll actually do something to change it! So I will pray that God will give me the strength to open myself up to being bothered. And especially to do something about the things that end up bothering me. Imagine the change that could happen if everyone allowed themselves to be bothered

Happy Early Easter!

I wont have time to post this this weekend so I thought I'd wish everyone a very happy (or would it be hoppy?) Easter!! (and I guess a Merry Christmas in April!)

Also known as...

WONDER WOMAN!!! I bought a shirt with her picture and logo cuz it was on sale and it was cute! And then Makeesha and David called me wonder woman on two seperate occasions, so I guess I am! :-D Except I think I'd be cold not wearing any real clothing...
And according to Wikipedia, I am "described in the splash page of each story, as 'beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Mercury, and stronger than Hercules"'-- I'm okay with that! Bring it on Hercules!! And aparently I get to fly around with the stars! How awesome is that?! But I guess my shorts (or underwear?) have stars on them so I guess it makes sense! I'm off to go save the world!

Who wants to be doormat... Anyone? Anyone?

So I'm writing this blog because I've discovered another of my least favorite words. Some people have favorite words, like... um... I don't know cuz I don't have favorite words (well, besides the words, "ice" and "cream" and "chocolate," of course!). However, I do have some least favorite words-- either because of their meaning, connotations, and sometimes just how the word sounds.
Here's how I discovered what the word was:
I'm in a Bible study with the on-campus ministry called Navigators (Navs for short). They tend to lean on the very conservative side of the spectrum and as you can already guess, it's caused a few issues for me. I've become more and more liberal in my thinking over the last year or so. As a result, I've come to disagree a lot with some of my closest friends on theoretical issues. We still love each other dearly, but we disagree about almost everything concerning the Bible and theology. It makes for interesting discussions, that's for sure-- all respectful discussions and debates-- no yelling matches yet...
Anyway, back to what I was talking about. We're doing a Bible study called, "Becoming a Woman of Excellence." I was very hesitant about it cuz in my experience, books on how to be a Godly woman never turns out well for me, but I gave this one a try. It's definitely not the best study I've done but it wasn't too bad... until I got to chapter 8: "Made Precious by a Quiet and Gentle Spirit." Let's just say I was already pissed off before I even started the chapter. But, because I was interested in what the author would say, and also cuz it's the chapter for the week, I did it. Every question was answered first with a "I don't know! This is dumb! I hate this! F*** this!" Needless to say, I was not doing the study with a quiet, and definitely not gentle, spirit.
What the word is:
It was through this study, however, that I discovered my new least favorite word. Are you ready for it? The word is: meek. UGH! I just typing that word puts a bad taste in my mouth. So for the study we had to look up a bunch of words (gentle, quiet, meek, calm--there's no agenda there!), which are fine on their own, but when put in this context made me furious! The connotations and message that was being told through those definitions were totally overbearing and degrading to women. It was all about "submit! submit! submit!" Why is that always the focus? Anyway, I looked up the definition of meek, cuz at first, I didn't really know the true definition of it. All I can picture when I hear that word is a woman with her hands palm-to-palm in front of her chest with a robotic smile on her face.
So here's the definition from dictionary.com:
meek /mik/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[meek] Pronunciation Key
–adjective, -er, -est.

1.	humbly patient or docile, as under provocation (something that incites, instigates, angers, or irritates... I'm not very good in the vocab arena!) from others.

2.	overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

3.	Obsolete (no longer in general use; effaced by wearing down or away). gentle; kind.

No wonder I didn't like that word! overly submissive? Spiritless? Tame? Obsolete?? BLECK! It just makes me so angry!!! I understand that a woman, or a man for that matter, should be respectful and loving towards people and not aggressive or violent in how they interact, but really, is that how to teach people to not do so? I know that is the idea that they are trying to convey, but that is not what the definition says! By telling women to be meek they are telling them to be compliant, not care about anything, easily manipulated, overworked, and unappreciated. Sounds like so much fun! I can't wait to become a meek woman! Jesus, make me meek! (If you can't catch the sarcasm, I'm telling you now!) I know I'm taking a pretty liberal stance on this issue, because talking to my conservative roommate about the chapter, she kept using my least-favorite word over and over again as something women should be. (I was grinding my teeth the whole time she was talking!)
Why do women need to be meek? Being gentle and not too aggressive is a good trait. But meek? Why choose that word? At the prompting from my much more gracious and understanding sister, I looked up meek in the Strong's Bible dictionary... here's the definitions it gave (any italicized words were that way in the dictionary-- I'm not trying to make a point with it!):

- depressed, in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, espec. saintly):-- humble, lowly, meek, poor, afflicted
- gentle, humble:--meek, mild

Well, that didn't help. But there was more emphasis on being humble and gentle, which I can understand more. But they all still involved the word meek... I don't know what to think. I'm just frustrated I guess. I never like people, the "church" especially, telling me what to do, what to wear, how to act, etc. It just makes me want to rip off my clothes, run around the sanctuary in the middle of a church service, and start cussing... it'd definitely make a few people uncomfortable! Thankfully I go to a church where clothing is optional... juuuust kidding! I'm done with my rant. I'm glad I could get that off my chest (and keep my shirt on)!