Advent Love – Birth of the human rights activist

Posted on December 19, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Love is plastered all over many church’s websites. But for most, it is like looking for love in all the wrong places.  Jesus came into the world that was having a problem with love, and we still have not fully understood what love means.

In particular, Christian women are still held to a rigid law of submission to all males.

Jesus did not speak of – nor did Jesus indicate – male supremacy. There is no love in patriarchy (male headship). Many have closed their minds to the pro-feminist actions of Christ. Feminists do not want to harm or deny men any position, but male headship leaders choose to hammer women.

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 has led many pastors astray with this theology of male headship, and in doing so, they have forgotten the Jesus who was born into a world of rules and laws. They have forgotten that Jesus came to call humans to a better way of life – to love God and to love others. Not only in word, but in how we treat each other.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-34)

Bob Edwards, author of Let My People Go, reminds us that Jesus is concerned with human rights, which includes the human rights of women, and we must be, too.

“I don’t discuss prejudice against women in the church as “one of those theological issues we just have to agree to disagree on.” I would not have “agreed to disagree on slavery.” I do not agree to disagree on racism. I will not politely agree to disagree on the devaluation and subjugation of all women by men in the name of God. It’s an injustice that grieves the Holy Spirit and must be addressed as such. The Bible is full of excellent examples of men and women who love people AND tell them to repent of unjust practices. Jesus, for example, confronted the religious leaders of his day for confusing the will of God with the traditions of men. I think we should do likewise.” – Bob Edwards

Jesus came to free us from the rigmarole that man had bound God with. Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, and to love our fellow-man. When love is the motivator, our worship of God, and helping our fellow-man, will take on a different meaning. We will feed the hungry, help the poor, heal the sick, treat others as we want to be treated, and give the Good News to everyone.

However, instead of being like Jesus, we still desire to enforce laws for Christians, especially laws about what women can and cannot do, and I wonder if Jesus would have turned his eyes upon us.

The true meaning of Christmas is the freedom that Jesus gave us. Yet Christian leaders today want to withhold that freedom for women. They have forgotten that Christianity is about human rights.

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”(John 15:12)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

This Christmas, will you remember the birth of the greatest human rights activist? Will you open your heart to loving women as equals, and not as someone who was created to submit to all males?

I dare you!

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

 

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Advent – The Magnificat

Posted on December 16, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

We are in the third week of Advent, which is Joy. Sunday a pink candle was lit for preparation of the birth of the little boy who would become the Christ. It is fitting that we read the Magnificat. Elizabeth had just told Mary that the baby she carried in her own womb leaped for joy when Mary came into her home, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” (Luke 1:46-55 NIV)

The Jews yearned for a Savior, and I imagine each had his or her own expectations of what that Savior would look like. I have heard that at each wedding, they expressed wishes that the new couple would bring forth that baby boy. We should not be surprised then, when we learn that a couple who had not yet consummated their marriage would be the bearer of that baby.

But let’s go back to Mary’s words. “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Before Jesus is even showing in the womb, Mary told us what he would do.

This is not about money at all.  It is about their spiritual condition.

So exactly what did Mary say?

Mary said that those who hunger for God will be filled, but those who think they are already rich in the knowledge of God will be turned upside down and the money they hold in their pockets (what they think they know about God) will fall out on the floor.

Or, as Jesus said in Matthew 23: 23, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”

Romans 13:1. Paul says not to set yourself up as a governing authority. Such as the Jews were a governing authority over themselves. Obey the authorities you already have. In other words, don’t become a “Christian Nationalist.” Well, read it for yourselves. Here it is. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.”

God, I pray that those who are filled with their own sense of righteous riches and who claim to know that you favor males for your kingdom work, will have their eyes opened to Justice, mercy, and faithfulness to you.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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Advent Joy – Return to the cradle

Posted on December 13, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

 With Christianity on the decline, and false teachings flourishing, we must return to the cradle and look again into the face of the newborn babe.

Sometimes you just have to start all over. We see that in the birth of Jesus. A new start. God was still there, He still loved His people, but they had taken a path that was far from the core message. Read Matthew 23 and see the condemnation Jesus gave the religious leaders.

What would Jesus say to us today? We have messed up his message! We have taken the love that God has for all his people and have distorted that love into a message of rules and laws – just as they had. We have forgotten the greatest commandments.

And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 22:37-39)

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, I want you to imagine this. A black Christian family moves next door to you and you invite them to church. They arrive after you get there. You greet them and tell them how glad you are to see them, take their money in the offering plate, and introduce them around. Then you hand them a list of restrictions and things they cannot volunteer for because certain volunteer jobs are held for White and Asian and Hispanic people only – everybody but blacks.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

How do you think the black family feels? We all know that is wrong. Christians used to do that in churches (actually they would not even let the black family inside the door). But we can’t do that anymore. We have changed in our thinking and our understanding of human rights.

So, while we can’t do that – and it was government laws that required the change, not Christians – we can still bar women from doing any volunteer or professional job in the church. Just because we want to – claiming a biblical reason for doing so. Just as we used a biblical reason for barring blacks.

It is time we returned to the cradle and saw a new baby.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.… “ (Luke 2:10-11)

It is time that we remember that the angel said, “Do not be afraid.” This baby was going to upset everything and turn the world upside down. And he did. But we continually swaddle the babe because we have ignored his greatest commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Will you revisit the manger and allow your heart to accept women as your neighbor?

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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Advent – Should women look for the Christ Child – or a husband?

Posted on December 12, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

 

Each year at the beginning of Advent, churches light the Advent candle, and the church begins its countdown until the Christ child is born on Christmas Day.

Many faith denominations do not light Advent candles, but almost all churches spend the month of December with Cantatas, children’s Christmas plays, and so forth. The song, “A Baby Changes Everything,” was popular one year and Don and I heard it sung at two different churches.

But do women really need Jesus?

Listen to what a man commented on my blog, “The man answers to God for the actions of his wife and children.”

Whoa! Did you catch that? How can a man answer to God for the actions of his wife and children? For that to happen, we must find scriptures to support the following beliefs:

• The unbiblical belief that a husband can stand as a mediator between his wife and kids and God. The husband would have to be divine because it is a divine Jesus who stands as the mediator for the husband. Surely women would not need a human standing before God for her, would she?

(Job 9:32-35: “He (God) is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Jesus became that mediator between God and man.

(1Timothy 2:5-6 tells us that no husband can stand between a woman and God, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.)

• The unbiblical belief that the wife cannot speak for herself because she is an incomplete human being, incapable of coming before God for herself, and who has no hope outside her husband.

(Romans 3:22-23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”)

• The unbiblical belief that children are not complete human beings capable of having personal relationships with God.

(Acts 2:17: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”)

There are no scriptures to support a man answering to God for the actions of his wife. Adam and Eve each accounted for themselves. In fact, each scripture reference that I have given says completely the opposite of what the person who wrote the comment said. Oh, but he is just one person. Nobody really believes like that, do they?

Cindy Kunsman can tell you that some seminarians believe it. Several years ago she was invited to a conference at a Southern Baptist affiliated seminary. Cindy wrote that “Several young men asked how it was that I believed that they would not stand before God…to give an account and to intercede for their wives…These (young men) were seminary students.”

Advent—should women be looking for the Christ child, or for a husband?

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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I learned the true meaning of Christmas at a mosque

Posted on December 2, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Years ago I was watching television while wrapping Christmas gifts. It was about the true meaning of Christmas. They promoted the popular idea of giving gifts because the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. I knew they were wrong, but truthfully, I did not know the true meaning of Christmas.

It would be many years before I learned the true meaning of Christmas, and it would happen at the last place you would expect to learn about Christ. I learned the true meaning of Christmas after visiting a mosque.

The Missions Division of the Baptist General Convention of Texas took us on a trip to a mosque in Richardson, Texas, near Dallas. The imam met us, asked us to remove our shoes, and then he showed us the shelf where we were to place our shoes. We were led past the wash room where Muslim men wash their hands, elbows, feet, face and nostrils before going into the main worship room.

We women had the option of wearing a headscarf and I did like the rest. We sat on the floor while the imam told us about their worship. He pointed to the upper room where he said the women chose to worship. He said they could worship with the men, but they chose to climb the stairs and privately worship there. The women also had to perform ritual washing of their body parts, separately from the men, of course.

The main worship area was a long rectangular room. The imam pointed out that the room was long so that it made the front row longer and, therefore, more men could be on the front row. He said they all wanted to be on the front row because it showed their devotion to Allah. He made his arms into wings, and he laughed as he showed us how they would nudge the other men out of the way with their elbow, and make their way to the front.

Inscribed on the wall were the 99 attributes of Allah.  My supervisor who is a Christian Arab, said that none of the attributes said that Allah is love.

After it was over, we thanked the imam and put our shoes back on, we women took off our scarves, and we all climbed onto the bus to go back to our offices. One supervisor who was also a preacher (as they all were) threw his hand up high in the air and said:

“Thank God for Jesus!”

That is when I learned the true meaning of Christmas.

The Jewish people looked for a Messiah like King David. A powerful leader who would take down their enemies, make Jerusalem Jewish again, and who would die a mortal death, as all humans do. The scriptures promised them a savior and they anticipated his arrival.

What they got was not what they expected. Instead of a physical warrior who would defeat the Romans, they got a spiritual warrior who, instead of turning his eyes upon their enemies, turned his eyes upon their relationship to God. In particular, the laws they had expanded to make life miserable, and then the artful and deceitful ways they had of getting around those laws. Read Matthew 23 to see what Jesus had to say about their spiritual condition.

Jesus came to free us from the rigmarole that man had bound God with. All those laws did not mean anything (Matthew 23, Amos 5:21-24) because men had found ways to get around them. Jesus told them to love God with all their hearts, and to love their fellow man. When love is the motivator, our worship of God and helping our fellowman will take on a different meaning. We will feed the hungry, help the poor, heal the sick, treat others as we want to be treated, and give the Good News to everyone.

Instead of being like Jesus, we still desire to make laws for Christians, especially laws about what women can and cannot do, and I wonder if Jesus would have turned his eyes upon us.

The true meaning of Christmas is the freedom that Jesus gave us. No more rigmarole such as the way to wash your hands before eating, and not working on the Sabbath – things that had absolutely no spiritual significance in them. In doing away with these things, Jesus said: “My yoke is easy and my load is light.” Matthew 11:30.

Thank God for Jesus!

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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Part 5. Creating divine men by misinterpreting scripture

Posted on November 27, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Christ gave himself for the church

The beauty of Christ being the head of the church has been lost. Imagine! Christ gave himself for the church. There is abundant grace in those words. There is love. There is meaning for our lives. There is a reason to learn about and feast upon the Word of God. There is a reason for becoming a pastor. There is a reason to teach children about Jesus. There is a reason to give money and hours of service to a church. There is a reason to get up and go to church every Sunday. There is a reason to feed the hungry and minister to others. There is a reason for dedicating your life to the service of God. Christ is head! Shout it out. Our reason for doing these things is for Christ!

Jesus gave his life for those who make up the church body. Christ is the head of women, too, and not as a secondary head, sharing headship with husbands. Paul said “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Ephesians chapters one through four are also “love” chapters—the love Christ has for the church which includes both men and women. It is not love that demands female submission to males, and it cannot be prettied up enough to make it so.

The joy of both men and women submitting to Christ for what he has done has been stolen from Him. Concentrating on wives submitting to their husbands has obscured the real message.

Male headship distorts marriage, misrepresents salvation for women, creates enmity between the genders, and divides the entire body of Christ.

(End of series. Read more in my book Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood)

This Sunday, December 1, 2024, Advent begins. Rejoice in this season of expectation of the Christ who told us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Christ who gave women the Good News that the Messiah who they had hoped for, had now arrived.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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Part 4. Creating divine men by misinterpreting scripture

Posted on November 25, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Marriage roles have become the overriding theme

Because so many denominations and pastors have accepted complementarianism, marriage roles have become an overriding theme and even focal point of Christianity, diminishing the gospel of Christ.

The family has taken on a much larger priority in doctrine than it has for 2000 years. Christianity is now focused on the family and is swamped with male headship conferences, books on male leadership, and blogs that promote the gloriousness of “joyful” wifely submission.

Marriages are important, but they are not specifically important to the gospel. The entire body of Christ is important to the gospel. In reality, a marriage is a unit that produces and nurtures children, but has little function to the outside world.

The church body, on the other hand, has a major responsibility to the outside world. A husband ruling over his wife and children does not reflect the gospel. It is the body of Christ that reflects the intent of the gospel by looking outward to the world through teaching and ministries.

The body of Christ demonstrates the love of God

The body of Christ demonstrates the love of God through its actions: feeding the hungry, caring for the ill, loving our neighbor, proclaiming salvation, and showing justice. This is the way the church functions as the body of Christ.

The church is to be the presence of Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:27-28). The body of Christ serves God through being filled with God’s spirit and using the gifts the Spirit gives to each Christian.

Instead of focusing on outreach, complementarian teaching focuses churches inwardly on man-decreed gender and marriage roles. This weakens the whole body of Christ, because it has become divided into male and female sections.

When the church, the body of Christ, is divided, it cannot reflect Christ’s relationship to the church. Jesus said that if a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand (Mark 3:25). A marriage that has specific roles for each spouse to play is divided against itself; they are not working in partnership, nor are they working within their gifting. Male headship distorts marriage, misrepresents salvation for women, creates enmity between the genders, and divides the entire body of Christ.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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Part 3. Creating divine men by misinterpreting scripture

Posted on November 22, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Male headship is contrary to everything Jesus said

In fact, male headship is contrary to everything Jesus said. The apostle Paul recognized this in his letter to the Galatians (3:26-28) where he wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.”

Therefore, we are presented with three scriptural challenges to the doctrine of men being the heads of women: 1) It is contrary to Jesus’ teaching and actions; 2) it makes men the vicars of Christ on earth if men are the head of women; 3) it removes Christ from headship over women; otherwise you have to believe that it takes two—one divine God and one earthly god—to be the head of one woman.

Complementarian teaching has harmed the Gospel

Scriptures used to support complementarian teaching have been studied and explained, and the meanings, it seems, depends upon who is speaking at the moment. One theologian says this and another says something else entirely different. This has distorted Jesus in the process, and has elevated marriage into something it was never intended to be. These scriptures have caused as much hurt and unhappiness as any other scriptures in the Bible, all because of the demand for a complementarian interpretation of what Paul is saying.

Pastors, bloggers, and theologians have produced untold words describing how women are to submit and behave. Seminary professors have taught courses, and books have been written on the subject of the subordination of women. Careers have been built upon it. This does not glorify God. This does not build up the body of Christ.

Teaching that women must submit to their husbands, without taking into consideration how the culture of that day impacted what methods Paul used to teach about God, does not do anything to further the gospel.  Instead, this teaching has harmed the gospel, just as it has harmed women.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

Books by Shirley Taylor

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Part 2. Creating divine men by misinterpreting scripture

Posted on November 20, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Then what does Ephesians 5:22-24 mean?

These new Christians wanted to understand who Jesus was. While explaining how Christ was the head of the church, and thus the head of the new Christians, Paul said in effect “the best way I can think of is to compare it to your marriage.” That is clear in Ephesians 5:32 when Paul says “This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church,” meaning that instead of it actually being a human marriage he is referring to, it is the relationship that Christ has with the church that he is talking about. That is a far cry from Paul making a human marriage the focus.

Then Paul says that even though he is talking about the church, their marriages are important too. “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” The Common English Bible translates it this way, “Marriage is a significant allegory, and I’m applying it to Christ and the church. In any case, as for you individually, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and wives should respect their husbands.”

Is the husband the head of the wife like Christ is head of the church?

However, some will still say “I believe that the husband is the head of the wife like Christ is the head of the church.” Paul says exactly that in Ephesians 5:23. We do not know what Paul or the translators meant when they said those words. We do know that Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection made him head of the church. Complementarian husbands become heads of their wives at their wedding ceremonies with comparatively little sacrifice. The two are so dissimilar, with Christ giving his life while a husband obtains a wife, that it appears sacrilegious to make that comparison.

 It is more probable that Paul meant for the Ephesians to look at their own families where the husbands were already the heads, and then think of Jesus as being the head of his church family. To compare Jesus and husbands culturally in the First Century is no problem, but to make a biblical commandment for 21st century husbands to be in authority over their wives promotes men to the god-head.

Traditionally interpreted, those words create a contradiction in what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “Now I want you to realize the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God,” because Paul told the Ephesians that Christ is head of the church which is comprised of both men and women, whereas he told the Corinthians that Christ is the head of men only. But we know that Christ is the head of female Christians, too.

Jesus himself answers the question

The answer is found in the Gospels. Jesus affirmed that he was the head of women both before and after his death. He left women no room for doubt. Think back to Mary of Bethany who he allowed to sit at his feet and learn from the Master himself. Then remember the Gentile woman to whom Jesus revealed that he was to be the savior not only to the Jews, but to all people, which included her. Read again how Jesus revealed to the Samaritan woman that he was the Messiah. And finally, stand before the tomb where Jesus, in his resurrected body, made himself known to Mary before he told any man that he was alive. Jesus himself was telling women that he alone is their head, and there is no middle man between them.

These are powerful events that cannot be discounted. Jesus’ ascension into heaven did not change those truths. Women are as important to our Lord on this side of the cross as they were on the other side.

Headship has no place in the Gospels. Jesus said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be the first must be slave of all, for even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42b-45).

Jesus did not say that men were heads of their wives, and he did not indicate that men would be elevated to headship after his resurrection. Since Jesus did not bind women before his resurrection to their husbands, there is no reason to believe that Jesus would bind women to their husbands after his resurrection.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part 1. Creating divine men by misinterpreting scripture

Posted on November 18, 2024 by bwebaptistwomenforequality

Male headship distorts marriage, misrepresents salvation for women, creates enmity between the genders, and divides the entire body of Christ.

Considering the answer Jesus gave to John and James when they asked for the privilege to sit at his right hand side when he came into his kingdom (Mark 10:38), it is highly doubtful that husbands can stand-in for Christ here on earth. But standing in for Christ is exactly what they would be doing if husbands were given the privilege by God to be heads over women. Christ does not share his headship with human males.

The scariest scriptures, Ephesians 5:22-24

Ephesians 5:22-24 is often quoted by those who teach that women must submit to their husbands.

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”

Those who quote Ephesians 5:22-24 do not adhere to it. The Danvers Statement Concern #8 is “The increasing prevalence and acceptance of hermeneutical oddities devised to reinterpret apparently plain meanings of Biblical Texts,” but even their writers back away from the plain meaning of this text.

The plain meaning of Ephesians 5:22-24 is:

  • Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. The plain meaning would put husbands on equal footing with God.
  • The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. The plain meaning gives husbands salvation rights, judgment rights, forgiveness ability, healing ability, miracles, obedience authority, to accept worship, to answer prayers, and the right to receive tithes.
  • The husband is the savior of the wife just like Christ is the Savior of the church. The plain meaning makes husbands saviors of their wives. Why would the great I AM, share His salvation right with an earthly man?
  • The church submits to Christ. The plain meaning makes husbands worthy of having wives submit to them.
  • Wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The plain meaning makes man divine and infallible.

Does any Christian believe that men can save their wives, and that wives should submit to their husbands in absolutely everything? Ask your pastor about this and he will begin to qualify this statement. It is qualified when they say that women should not follow their husbands into sin. It is qualified when they say a wife should not endure physical abuse. It is qualified when they make old age or infirmity of a husband an exception to allow wives to make decisions for their aged or infirm husbands.

Anyone who reads Ephesians 5:23 and insists that this scripture means that the husband literally has spiritual or physical charge over his wife, has made a golden idol and named it husband. To read this scripture that way gives man divinity and nullifies the whole Bible that proclaims only “One” God.

The plain meaning of this scripture is scary, yet it is quoted so casually that we have accepted the part we want to hear “that wives should submit to their husbands,” and have ignored the significance of the remaining part of that sentence.

See Shirley Taylor in Baptizing Feminism Documentary Trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg5CmgjF2wM

Books by Shirley Taylor available in Print and Kindle on Amazon

The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
From Wife to Widow: What I know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition

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