Sister, you can’t either

What do Christian women think when they read the headlines “Village’s men forbid women from voting?”

On Sunday morning the majority of Christian women go to churches where they are “forbidden” by their church to do certain things. Those things range from reading scripture out loud in a mixed group of men and women to taking up the offering.

The Bible does not forbid women from doing those things, but people in the church do.

In Mateela, Pakisatan, women will not be able to vote next week. The village men decided they couldn’t and “It’s the will of my husband,” one woman said. It is always up to the husband to determine to what degree he demands his wife submit.

In our own country we are facing the same thing and women are attending conferences and seminars where they are told that it is God’s grand design for them to obey the will of their husbands.

What do you think when you read that husbands have decided that women can’t vote in a national election? Do you think, “Oh, its just over there and that is how they are?”

Is there any niggling thought in your mind that we are doing the same thing in our churches? Women, on Sunday morning, you walk in the church door and leave your equality outside the door. Why? Because somebody told you to. Is that good enough reason? The Bible does not tell you to do that.

And you – women included –vote on by-laws that keep other women from the equality God gave all women. But more importantly, you keep other women from claiming the freedom Jesus gave them.

Women in Pakistan can’t vote. Well, sister, you can’t either. You are no better off than she is. You can’t speak up either. Or you won’t.

We should be outside the church doors en masse claiming our rights. We should be holding our churches to a greater standard, but we won’t and we don’t.

If you believe the Bible tells women what they can’t do, without the same restrictions being placed on men, you need to wake up. Do you really believe pastors think the Bible says so? They know it doesn’t, but they want you to think it does.

It is always people who tell others what they can’t do. Your pastor will not speak up for you. For those who demand that the congregation steps out on faith, they will not do the same thing. They will not step out of their arena to defend over one half of their congregation. And women will not ask them to.

What a sad state of affairs we are in! Pastors are afraid to speak up and women won’t speak up.

Women are made the visual sign of religion

Tamerlan Tsarnaev became a religious radical and he did what so many other religious radicals do. He demanded a visual sign of his religion and he turned to women to show that.

He demanded that his mother don the hijab to cover her head and he also demanded that his wife don the hijab to cover her head. His head remained uncovered, but began to be filled with religious hatred for those who did not believe like he did.

That is nothing new, even though to write it seems extreme to our Christian beliefs.

Because you see, we, too, turn to women to be visual signs of our religion. We, too, take on extremism, not in actual murder of those who do not fit our image, but in a more subtle way.

We too, tell women that they must visually wear our religion.

1. Church by-laws tell congregations that only men can be deacons.

2. Church creeds tell congregations that only men can be pastors.

3. Some denominations demand that women cannot cut their hair, wear makeup or jewelry, wear red clothing, or sleeveless clothes, and certainly not pants.

4. Some denominations demand that women wear little caps on their heads.

5. Pastors, bloggers, seminary professors and others remind women of their boundaries.

6. Marriage seminars are held to teach “God’s design” which means being a submissive wife.

These are covers that we have put on women in order to show our piety.

Men remain uncovered. Oh, they are supposed to live like Christians (women are also), but there is no visual sign they have to either wear on their bodies or restrictions placed upon them.

Again, I wonder what pastors think when they sit in their recliners and watch this unfold. Is there ever a niggling thought in the back of their mind that they, too, demand that women wear their religion?

The Bible is used to keep women under submission, just like Tsarnaev did to his mother and wife. But what pastors will not tell their congregations is that there is no biblical basis for keeping women in the 21st century tied to standards and cultural customs of the first century.

Will you read my book “Dethroning Male Headship” and ask your pastor to read it, and to put it in your church library?

Pastors, you have an obligation to both women and men in your congregation. There is no biblical basis for keeping women from serving God as they are called, or as they are needed.

Will you remove the covering from their heads?

Jewish sisters struggle for equality at Western Wall

It was at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem that I first made my stand. “No!” I would not enter the women’s section to stand by the Wailing Wall.

A few months ago a group of women have lodged their protests. “They have held monthly prayer sessions there, have endured arrests, heckling and legal battles in a struggle to attain what they consider their inalienable right- praying and worshipping at the Western Wall as men do.” (Houston Chronicle 4-11-2013).

It is time that we take the lead of our Jewish sisters and tell the world that we, too, have an inalienable right – that of being equal in church and in home with men.

Will you join me at the Wailing Wall?

Who will tell mothers that PINC is not biblical?

Who will tell them? If their mothers don’t and their pastors won’t, who will tell young girls that they are created equal.

There is a group called PINC: Purity & Identity in Christ for 7th and 12th grade girls. Sponsored by LifeWay.

Who will tell them that their identity in Christ is not about being a submissive girl and wife later on? Who will tell them that Jesus ministered to women who were not pure and lifted them up and gave them an identity.

Who will tell them that Jesus does not indicate that women are to be under the charge of their husbands, or any man, and he did not give that authority to men on the other side of the cross?

Who will tell misguided mothers that everything they hear in the church is not gospel?

Who will tell them that these pastors do not have their girls’ best interests at heart.

What they do have is a desire for female submission which is complementary teaching.

Who will tell these pastors who should know better that they have placed their allegiance in straw men instead of in Christ.

Who will tell these congregations that it is Christ that they should follow instead of some teaching that is contrary to the gospel?

Will you help me tell them that the Bible does not teach wifely submission as a biblical commandment for women? If you will help me get the word out, please let your family and friends know that it is time that something must be done. Will you join Shirley in Dethroning Male Headship?

Dethroning Male Headship available NOW

Dethroning Male Headship is a call to action.  It lays the biblical foundation for female equality, exposes the myth of biblical manhood and womanhood, and dives headlong into male leadership teaching.  Finally, the book leads readers to understand why they must, and how they can, dethrone male headship. Dethroning Male Headship is available now online. 

Last night I got the first book in my hand and sat down and read it through.  It is a good book.  I think you will like it. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and titillating.  I owe so much to my publisher One Way Press (Jocelyn Andersen), and the cover designers and my editor, Waneta Dawn.  What a wonderful group to work with.  I love the book.

availabe through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  Please read the Media Kit info.

I never wanted to write a book, but that is exactly what I have done.  It is a good book and I believe you will think so, too.

The subject is far too relevant today.  Every Sunday morning, good little women gather up the kids, find their Bibles and head off to church.  Upon arrival, they stash their God-given equality outside the door of the church.  Some pick up their equality when they leave.

They don’t even know what they have done.  But they will know after they have read my book.

Of course every good book has some central characters.  This one does, too.  It centers around the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the pastors and professors who wrote the Danvers Statement and those who wrote the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.  It brings in other characters who have been influenced by that group—megachurch pastors: Timothy Keller, Mark Driscoll, and Ed Young, Jr., in the Chapter called “Sexualization of the Trinity.”

Dethroning Male Headship is written for both men and women of all faiths and denominations.  Special attention is given to church pastors and their responsibility to accept and teach gender equality.

Please buy my book!   Not because I need the money (even though I do), but because the world needs to hear what this book says.

 Will you help Dethrone Male Headship?

Every Woman & Child by Adele Hebert

Adele Hebert’s book “Every Woman & Child” is a must-read.  It is a georgeous book.  I know you will enjoy re-visiting all the passages in the New Testament that are about women.

I didn’t know there were so many references to women!

Adele begins with “Jesus gave women a voice” and then sets out to explain in detail all the scriptures in the New Testament that feature women which gives them a voice. As you read the book, you feel the author’s desire to make sure that women know that Jesus loved women when he walked the earth, and that he loves women now.

The author spent considerable time on re-writing topic headings that are found in the New Testament. She changed those headings to bring out positive points of each story about women and children. The author points out that where there are women, there are children. In creating the new headings, she uses words from the scripture passage that are often overlooked.

The author points out that the passage headings found in the bible were written by man, and are not inspired scripture, and these headings often minimize the value of women. She leads you to see that the New Testament is about women and their importance to the gospel because most of the stories in the gospels were told by women. Adele makes the statement “Our Christian faith is based completely on the words of women.”

In the chapter “Jesus was angry” it is pointed out that Jesus became angry many times, but never at women. Another chapter explains Jesus’ teaching on divorce which was a protection for women. The book mentions those women with whom we are familiar in the New Testament, and some women who we do not even know about. The book itself is a Memorial to Mary of Bethany, because the writer explains that Jesus commanded only two things be remembered: the Eucharist and Mary of Bethany’s anointing of his feet with oil.

This book will give comfort to all women and they will know that Jesus loved women when he walked on the earth, and that he loves them now.

I recommend Adele Hebert’s book. 

Will you join Adele Hebert and me and thousands of others who have made the commitment to female equality in the church and in the home?

Easter – when Love returned

Love returned on Easter morning.

Not as anyone expected. It didn’t happen that way. Early in the morning a group of women gathered their spices and went to anoint the body of Jesus, as was their custom. They thought he would still be lying in the tomb where he was placed before the Sabbath.

The men thought so, too. But there was a surprise in store for all of them.

Jesus was not there! He was gone! All that was left was the linen he was wrapped in.

Mary saw him first but didn’t recognize him. Then he called her name and she cried out, “Rabboni!” Teacher.

There is a song that describes Mary and Jesus’ reunion. If you are like me, you have sung this song many times. In popularity, it is next to “The Old Rugged Cross.” But if you are like me, you had no idea that this song was about Mary and Jesus.

Certainly it is not a song that you will hear on Easter morning. Easter morning seems to be a day of singing resurrection songs and shouting out praise. This song is a comforting, worshipful song but I doubt that it is ever sung on Easter morning. It begins this way:

“I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.”

“In the Garden” was written in 1912 and is the story of when Love returned, and made himself known to a woman named Mary.

Love was lost for a long time in Christianity. We would like to think it has returned, but I don’t think Christianity knows Love like it ought to. I found this today. It is the Bylaws of the Southern Baptist Convention of Texas and explains their doctrine. Look at it. I’ve underlined what they say about women. You will notice that they equate being a woman with sin because their very next sentence that is always glued to women in ministry is about homosexuality.

Section 1 Affiliation Qualifications Any affiliate church must agree with the foundational beliefs of the SBTC set forth in its Constitution and Bylaws. Affiliated churches must actively cooperate with the work of the SBTC through regular participation and financial support through the Cooperative Program. Any church which has taken action affirming, approving, or endorsing the practice of female senior pastoral service shall not be considered for affiliation or continued affiliation with this convention. Also, the SBTC will not consider for affiliation or continued affiliation any church that has taken action affirming, approving, or endorsing the practice of homosexuality. Such actions include but are not limited to the licensure or ordination of homosexuals, marriage or blessing of homosexual relationships, and endorsing homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.

We pray for the return of Love. We pray that Love will return to women, as he did the first time. Will you join me in praying for Love to return as we live out our Christianity on this earth?