Debbie Maken: Raised up "for such a time as this"
Captain Sensible writes: Since coming across Debbie Maken's book, "Getting Serious About Getting Married: Rethinking the gift of singleness", I have believed that God has raised her up "for such a time as this". It is really now that the full effects of the devil's "gift of singleness" and all its associated wrong teaching regarding singleness and marriage, are having the devil's desired effects.
We really must stop the spiritual abuse that Christian women are suffering: chastised and scolded for wanting to be the very creation that God made them to be -- wives and mothers. (And we must stop harming the Body of Christ and our ability to impact our culture in the process.)
But it seems that in the US (hasn't caught on here I don't think, and I hope and pray it doesn't), women are also being chastised and scolded for being "feminists".
And what is their definition of a "feminist"? A women who dares to have a "career". Apparently, because some women are blessed with intelligence, work hard at school and college, and go on to get a good job, this means that they have somehow become unmarriable.
Now even in the world, women who have jobs or "careers" still want to be wives and mothers! But the idea that because a Christian woman has to work to support herself, and maybe just happens to be using the talents God has given her, she deserves to be left single and childless, is beyond belief.
Increasingly with this whole discussion regarding singleness and marriage, I simply cannot believe what I am coming across. You really couldn't make it up. I can't help envisaging the devil rubbing his hands in glee. Never in a million years could he have anticipated the impact he is having on the Christian church with his late 20th Century/early 21st Century tactic has been. I bet he wishes he used it a thousand years ago!
We need to open our eyes.
No excuses. No bleating and whining from Christian men about how horrible women are and how they are being emasculated by their successes. No politically-correct fawning that "both genders are equally to blame". No more scolding women for not being "content with singleness" and "making an idol out of marriage", at the same time as preferring to pursue a career over marriage! (The contradiction seems to be lost on them.) And absolutely no more thinly-veiled misogyny.
Men, you need to grow some b*lls!
Until some strong Christian men take this issue and determine to put it right, the devil is going to go on having a field day.
Let's not forget, God holds men accountable for the leadership they have provided.
I only raise this issue over "feminism" because Debbie Maken's latest blog post addresses it, and you can read it here.
She ends her post like this:
I am going to conclude with Hosea 4:14. It reflects not only God’s scheme of accountability, but also from which sex the redemption must come
The NIV puts it like this:
"I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—
a people without understanding will come to ruin!"
And the ESV has this:
"I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin."
Undoubtedly, that entire book is not only about Hosea’s personal marital problems, but the general infidelity of Israel. We all know what Hosea’s wife was like. To say she had some issues is to put it mildly. But this letter reminds us that God expects men with “great compassion” to redeem this situation, as the Lord God himself has often redeemed His people when they have strayed. The issue ultimately is not going to be decided by the alleged impact of Feminism on Christian women, or the role that women and men have played in our current mess. Men are going to be held accountable when women go astray. They have failed in their leadership and have led women into sin because of it. So, we can keep blaming the Feminists, vilifying single women for daring to be gainfully employed, accusing women of genuinely desiring single parenthood, or we can begin the redemption.
Are there any strong Christian men willing to step up and sort this mess out?
Does this idea of a great reward in heaven not appeal at all? At the moment, it seems to apply only to Debbie Maken, with regard to this pressing issue.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5: 11-12)
We really must stop the spiritual abuse that Christian women are suffering: chastised and scolded for wanting to be the very creation that God made them to be -- wives and mothers. (And we must stop harming the Body of Christ and our ability to impact our culture in the process.)
But it seems that in the US (hasn't caught on here I don't think, and I hope and pray it doesn't), women are also being chastised and scolded for being "feminists".
And what is their definition of a "feminist"? A women who dares to have a "career". Apparently, because some women are blessed with intelligence, work hard at school and college, and go on to get a good job, this means that they have somehow become unmarriable.
Now even in the world, women who have jobs or "careers" still want to be wives and mothers! But the idea that because a Christian woman has to work to support herself, and maybe just happens to be using the talents God has given her, she deserves to be left single and childless, is beyond belief.
Increasingly with this whole discussion regarding singleness and marriage, I simply cannot believe what I am coming across. You really couldn't make it up. I can't help envisaging the devil rubbing his hands in glee. Never in a million years could he have anticipated the impact he is having on the Christian church with his late 20th Century/early 21st Century tactic has been. I bet he wishes he used it a thousand years ago!
We need to open our eyes.
No excuses. No bleating and whining from Christian men about how horrible women are and how they are being emasculated by their successes. No politically-correct fawning that "both genders are equally to blame". No more scolding women for not being "content with singleness" and "making an idol out of marriage", at the same time as preferring to pursue a career over marriage! (The contradiction seems to be lost on them.) And absolutely no more thinly-veiled misogyny.
Men, you need to grow some b*lls!
Until some strong Christian men take this issue and determine to put it right, the devil is going to go on having a field day.
Let's not forget, God holds men accountable for the leadership they have provided.
I only raise this issue over "feminism" because Debbie Maken's latest blog post addresses it, and you can read it here.
She ends her post like this:
I am going to conclude with Hosea 4:14. It reflects not only God’s scheme of accountability, but also from which sex the redemption must come
The NIV puts it like this:
"I will not punish your daughters
when they turn to prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves consort with harlots
and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—
a people without understanding will come to ruin!"
And the ESV has this:
"I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin."
Undoubtedly, that entire book is not only about Hosea’s personal marital problems, but the general infidelity of Israel. We all know what Hosea’s wife was like. To say she had some issues is to put it mildly. But this letter reminds us that God expects men with “great compassion” to redeem this situation, as the Lord God himself has often redeemed His people when they have strayed. The issue ultimately is not going to be decided by the alleged impact of Feminism on Christian women, or the role that women and men have played in our current mess. Men are going to be held accountable when women go astray. They have failed in their leadership and have led women into sin because of it. So, we can keep blaming the Feminists, vilifying single women for daring to be gainfully employed, accusing women of genuinely desiring single parenthood, or we can begin the redemption.
Are there any strong Christian men willing to step up and sort this mess out?
Does this idea of a great reward in heaven not appeal at all? At the moment, it seems to apply only to Debbie Maken, with regard to this pressing issue.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5: 11-12)
posted by Captain Sensible at 12:58 AM
2 Comments:
Bravo.
The whole whining about women having 'careers' is so middle-class. My mother came from a working-class background, and told me women have in fact always worked. Men who whine about women having 'careers' don't realise that they're thinking impractically. Women need to work for the sake of society, to pay taxes and national insurance contributions.
A very interesting suggestion was made to me today!
It is Biblical to look after the fatherless and the widows etc.
A single woman is in a similarly vulnerable position today.
How about introducing a "Single Male Surcharge", so that all the single men in our churches could actually make a contribution towards providing a home for the single women?
This idea would no doubt appeal to the men that believe women shouldn't have "careers"!
;-)
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