Male Hierarchy – Equal Love or Not?

Though (or maybe because) I was raised in a strict male hierarchy world, I had never been comfortable with inequality between genders. My thoughts on this issue were solidified more during the emotional and spiritual hurricane following my physical trauma. I dealt with so much pain – body, mind and spirit – that pain traumatizes me, so I look at anything that causes someone pain (any kind of pain) differently.    Inequality between genders creates pain … so I cannot agree with it.

Recently, I expressed some of my thoughts about the equality of men and women in a few posts. Equal does not mean the same … men and women are equal, but different (I never stand to use the bathroom)

Last week I read and reviewed Half The Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Custis James which addresses the inequality between men and women, especially in church settings.  While I have no desire to be in a leadership position in a church … this book has highlighted some of the issues I’ve questioned.

men and women equalphoto © 2008 The Trucking Tourist | more info (via: Wylio)

.

Imagine with me … what if one day you and I are able to rescue a girl from a brothel where she’s been held captive for ten years. Being beaten and raped by men daily. We pour love and care on her. We provide physical and emotional experts to help her. With time, healing begins and she realizes there is hope. She wants to know what propelled us to save her. We tell her that we care about others. We love others because everyone matters. We tell her about God’s love for everyone.

She’s interested and wants to know more. She wants to meet with other people that love God. She begins attending a church. As healing for her past happens, she wants to help others. She sees the role of  a pastor as the place to best do that.

Then we have to tell her … oops, while God loves you just as much as he loves men, you are not equal to men in church*. There’s certain things you can do and certain things you can’t do … though men can have any position they want.

While amazing healing has happened in her life and she knows not all men are abusers … how would she feel knowing that many churches embrace a male hierarchy?

Along with the imbalance in leadership in church settings, how would she feel if she learned this same hierarchy exists in many home situations … and has caused untold levels of abuse for wives and daughters?

I can’t even begin to imagine how confusing all that would be for her. Though I couldn’t because then I’d be controlling her, I’d want to shield her from it all. I’d want to only give her contact with church communities and people that embrace full equality. How else could I honestly tell her God loves everyone equally?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The information in Half The Church about how the Bible supports equality for men and women is foreign to some and/or viewed as unBiblical by others. If you fall in either one of those camps, I encourage you to read Half The Church. For a view on how a balanced marriage could work, read this post …  Humility Without Hierarchy: How Submission Works for Us by Rachel Held Evans.

Good news! I have a copy of Half The Church to give away. Leave a comment on this post or on my review post of it (before Monday, April 18th at midnight) for a chance to win a copy.

*I know this isn’t true in all churches, but it’s true in many of them.
Bookmark and Share
  • Jamie

    A woman cannot be a pastor in my church, and I have long wondered why. The answer given is that women shouldn’t teach or have authority over men.

    If the prohibition is from the belief that women can’t teach “men,” then why are women given the responsibility of teaching young men in Sunday School? We don’t have a single adult male in that program. At what magic age do these young men then come under prohibition from being taught by a female? Middle school? High school? Has the church made exception in this area because men don’t want to step up?

    On our worship team, I can lead the music and present the “message” before both communion and the offering. Sometimes the message is 5-7 minutes long and always contains some words of wisdom. Is that teaching? (“to impart knowledge or provide information about a subject”) -according to Webster.

    I have been interested in a seminary program for a long time that teaches core competencies by putting the student to work in their local church. They are asked to prepare messages, deliver messages, perform a funeral and a wedding, lead acts of service int he community, etc. I brought the church to my pastor at the time and as he looked down the list, pointed out the items I would have to “do somewhere else” because “you wouldn’t be allowed to do that here.” I asked for a written policy about those things and one didn’t exist, it was just something that was an “unwritten rule.”

    Thanks, Janet. You got me fired up for the day. :):) Grrrr.

    -Jamie

    PS- Please include me in your random prize generator for a chance at the book. :)

    • http://www.JanetOberholtzer.com Janet Oberholtzer

      Sorry you get fired up this Monday morning … then again, maybe I’m not.
      You point out many things in your comment that have frustrated me in the past … I’m glad people like James are writing books about this issue, it makes it easier for pions like myself to talk about these subjects.

  • http://profiles.google.com/jdeeds Jason Deeds

    Maybe it all steams from Adams dissatisfaction with his first wife Lilith who would not Lie below during intercourse. ~reference, The Alphabet of Ben Sira.

    Men have been trying since the beginning of time to place woman below them, and as in the text when the woman will not do so she is demonized.