Gender Blog

A Call to Family Worship

Jeff Breeding — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:50:16 +0500

In this installment of Unchanging Truth, we are highlighting this article from Ligon Duncan and Terry Johnson on family worship. We hope it will be of service to parents, fathers in particular, as they seek to lead their families in worship.

There has been a recent miniboom of interest in the renewal of family religion and family worship in the evangelical community. Perhaps fueled by (a) the sense of cultural assault upon the family, (b) the strong current emphasis on parental involvement in childhood education, and (c) in some quarters a recapturing of a covenantal vision of church and family life, many are open to and desirous of learning what the family as a unit ought to be doing together in the way of daily worshiping of God in the reading, singing and praying of Scripture. And not only is there a new impetus, but many helpful resources are now available that were nonexistent just a few years ago.

None too soon. The family itself is an endangered species in our culture, and the Christian family is under the severest of strains: the pace of life, the worldliness and materialism of church and society, the self-destructive freedoms in which we love to indulge, the capacity for temptations to access us even in the safety of our own homes through satellite television and the internet, mens loss of the sense of responsibility to take up the duty for spiritual leadership as fathers in the home, the culture of divorce, the culture of day care, and more. Furthermore, there are those who so undervalue the traditional family that they are seeking to redefine it, while at the same time some suggest that a day will come when biotechnology, community, and government programs will pave the way for the obsolescence of the traditional family.

God has never underestimated the importance of the family. After all, like marriage, he invented it. The family is the original society from which every other society emerges. This is seen in creation itself as unfolded in the early chapters of Genesis. Redemptive history and the covenant of grace both indicate the essential role of family in Gods program. Founded by a divine directive and regulated by divine ordinances, it is the normal school in which faith in God and obedience to his law are taught. Its suitability for this function is seen in its unique features: (1) it is small and close: no bureaucratic barriers impede the recognition of need and the application of discipline, no administrative distance prevents the identification of patterns or allows for idealistic assessments and solutions; (2) authority is displayed, but its harshness is tempered with parental affection; (3) ideally two parents, two parties, complement one another and are vested with joint authority; (4) mutual accountability and divine, transcendent authority are illustrated in every relationship.

You can read the rest of this article here.

An Interview with Carolyn McCulley (Part 1)

Courtney Reissig — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:35:42 +0500

[Editor's Note: Carolyn McCulley was kind enough to do an interview with Gender Blog contributor Courtney Reissig. Carolyn blogs at Radical Womanhood , which you should check out if you don't already!]

Where are you from and what is your current vocation?

I grew up in the Washington, DC, area as a military brat. I studied broadcast journalism at the University of Maryland and I am fortunate to still be working in media years later. I also received a certification in women’s studies from the University of Maryland, which was part of the reason I eventually wrote Radical Womanhood .

What is the premise of your book, Radical Womanhood?

The subtitle is “Feminine Faith in a Feminist World.” It’s the book I wish I had received as a new believer. I didn’t become a Christian until I was 30, though my mother did raise me in the church. I went to mass, but I didn’t have ears for the gospel until the Lord sovereignly regenerated me as an adult. Until that time, I lived like a Cosmopolitan feminist – not too politically active, but absorbing all the feminist messages of women’s media. So when I became a Christian and was added to a Bible-believing, biblical-manhood-and-womanhood-preaching church, you can bet I was confused! I wanted someone to explain to me the feminist assumptions I had, where they came from, and why they contrasted with Scripture. Though I found many useful books along the way, I never found one just like this one – a mixture of history, Bible teaching, and narrative stories of women who found God to be faithful to His Word, presented in a non-academic, accessible language.

The premise, therefore, is that if women understand the profound change in our culture that can be traced back to the founding of our nation, they will be better equipped to understand the purposes of God’s design. To be a truly biblical woman in a modern world is the radical act, in my opinion.

What is the biggest impact of feminism that you have seen in the church?

There are so many effects that it would be hard to narrow it to just one. Radical Womanhood examines the impact on relationships between men and women, on motherhood, on female sexuality, on the home, and more. But I would say the most serious impact has been the undermining of Scriptural authority. The very first document issued by self-identified feminists in the U.S. was the Declaration of Sentiments, issued in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention. In it, these women (and a few men) named a number of offensive elements of current society, among them the church. It stated:

The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. … He allows her in Church as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that the final resolution of this declaration included a demand for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit. The majority of feminist leaders since then, including one of the founders of the Seneca Falls Convention, have gutted Scriptural authority or rejected it all together in pursuit of more pagan beliefs.

Carson - Don't Apologize for the Bible

John Starke — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:09:50 +0500

This is our last clip from Carson's address at the Different by Design 2009 conference. In this segment, Carson exhorts complementarians not to apologize for the Bible.

To watch this video from the Different by Design 2009 conference, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

Part 1 on Permit can be seen here.

Part 2 on Authority can be seen here.

Part 3 on Adam before Eve can be seen here.

Part 4 on Elders and Deacons can be seen here.

Part 5 on The Christian Family can be seen here.

Part 6 on Submission can be seen here.

You can listen to all of Carson's address here.

Mahaney - Potential Peril for the Gospel

John Starke — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:43:34 +0500

To watch this video, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

CBMW Responds to TIME (Pt. 3)

Jeff Breeding — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:10:10 +0500

Here's the final clip from our conversation with Denny Burk and Jim Hamilton on the TIME cover story .

To watch this video, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

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You can watch the entire conversation here.

CBMW Responds to TIME (Pt. 2)

Jeff Breeding — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:02:31 +0500

Here's more from our conversation with Denny Burk and Jim Hamilton on the TIME cover story .

To watch this video, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

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You can watch the entire conversation here.

CBMW Responds to TIME (Pt. 1)

Jeff Breeding — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:09:36 +0500

Time Magazine's recent cover story, The State of the American Woman , has generated a fair amount of conversation. CBMW staffer John Starke sat down with Denny Burk and Jim Hamilton to discuss a variety of issues related to the piece. In the clip below, Burk and Hamilton offer their initial responses to the article.

To watch this video, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

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You can watch the entire conversation here.

Carson on Submission

John Starke — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:14:18 +0500

In the following clip, D.A. Carson discusses submission in marriage. This clip is from Carson's address at the Different by Design 2009 conference.

To watch this video from the Different by Design 2009 conference, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

Part 1 on Permit can be seen here.

Part 2 on Authority can be seen here.

Part 3 on Adam before Eve can be seen here.

Part 4 on Elders and Deacons can be seen here.

Part 5 on The Christian Family can be seen here.

You can listen to all of Carson's address here.

Galatians 3:28 - Prooftext or Context?

Jeff Breeding — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:29:47 +0500

In our latest installment of Unchanging Truth, we would like to highlight this article from Pete Schemm on Galatians 3:28. As Dr. Schemm notes, this is a key text in the gender debate, with egalitarians often citing it as proof that there should be no gender-based distinctions in the church. Dr. Schemm helpfully analyzes this verse in its context and shows that it does not support the claims of egalitarians. If you are interested in the gender debate, this is a key text, and Dr. Schemm's article will help you understand what Paul is communicating to these Galatian Christians and to us.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

No single verse of Scripture has attracted as much attention during the modern gender role debate as Galatians 3:28. The declaration by the Apostle Paul that "there is neither ... male nor female ... in Christ," though not directly addressing the role of women in the home and in the church, nevertheless, has played a critical role in the development of the issue. Egalitarian and complementarian scholars claim to be in general agreement about the main point of this verse-all believers are united in Christ. The question concerns what else this verse might entail. Clearly salvation does not eliminate all of our human differences. As Christians we retain racial, social, and gender distinctions. In what sense, then, is it true that in Christ there is neither male nor female? Does Gal 3:28 negate gender specific roles?

Egalitarians answer the latter question affirmatively, seeing the text as "the foundation for a new social order in the church." The result of this new social order is that there are no longer gender-based ministry distinctions in the home or the church. Complementarians, however, do not find such a proof text for eliminating gender roles here in the midst of Paul's argument for justification by faith alone (Gal 3-4). As S. Lewis Johnson has put it,

Never could the Apostle Paul have envisioned the place of Galatians 3:28 in contemporary evangelical literature... . While traditionally commentators have discussed Paul's words in the context of the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith, that has become a secondary matter. One can understand this to some extent, since the vigorous debate over sex roles has, in effect, lifted it from its exegetical underpinnings and set it as a lonely text, a kind of proof text, in the midst of a swirling theological debate. This is not without justification, but it also is not without peril. I am referring to the human tendency to forget sound hermeneutics and find things that are not really in the text.

In an effort to understand the text as it was intended, this article argues that Gal 3:28 does not abolish gender specific roles for men and women. Rather, Paul simply has in mind that all believers, no matter what their racial, social, or gender status, share the same spiritual status in their union with Christ. Further, if one chooses to speak in terms of "equality in Christ," based on Gal 3:28, it must be done carefully and with precision. It is only properly understood as equality "in Christ," or as equal status "before God," not gender equality in role or function.

You can read the entire article here.

Carson on The Christian Family

John Starke — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:01:33 +0500

This is the fifth installment in our series of clips from Carson's talk at the Different by Design conference. In this segment, Carson discusses the Christian family.

To watch this video from the Different by Design 2009 conference, you will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed. You may download it here: http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer

Part 1 on Permit can be seen here.

Part 2 on Authority can be seen here.

Part 3 on Adam before Eve can be seen here.

Part 4 on Elders and Deacons can be seen here.

You can�listen to�all of Carson's�address here.