[Vision2020] what the Bible really teaches (wasDouglasWilsononwomen)

[keely emerinemix]

I'm always puzzled, Michael, about why some folks think that feminism is 
inherently "unfeminine" for women and "effeminate" for men.

My husband is a masculine man -- but he is not a macho man, nor an 
effeminate man, and the difference between masculine and macho is enormous.  
(Hint:  One is inherent in a created-male person, and one is a grotesque 
caricature never pleasing to God).  I am a feminine woman -- because I am a 
woman-person -- and I am not at all "masculine," even though, before my 
shoulder injury, I could throw a breaking curve ball just like the boys.  In 
that case, I threw like a girl -- a girl whose dad taught her well!  And 
yet, because my husband is nurturing, kind, and funny; values his wife 
exactly as she is because God made her that way; and openly adores his 
children, some macho men of chest might think he's not as studly and rugged 
as they.  But God is pleased.  (To Jeff's credit, and my eternal 
appreciation, he never boasts about virility and number of progeny, which 
makes him more of a man than those boys who do).  I think we've seen 
evidence of these same men of chest accusing me of being "unfeminine," as 
though any examples of cogent reasoning and grasp of factual matter argue 
against my created nature, even though, in me, those things are wonderfully, 
eternally feminine because, given by God, they're housed in my created-woman 
body.

The truth about masculinity and femininity is that our God, neither male nor 
female in physicality, created women and men in the image of the Divine -- 
that image reflecting equally and eternally both male and female.  If God is 
relational, wise, strong, affectionate, and demonstrates any other trait, 
and is not those things because of God's gender but because of the Divine 
nature, then we must realize that non-biological traits are also "of the 
Divine," not of genitalia.  I don't doubt there are differences in men's 
brains and women's brains, but I believe that those and any other biological 
difference don't, when speaking of roles in and out of the church, trump the 
clear nature of God or the teaching of Scripture.

The man God is pleased with is like the woman God is pleased with -- both 
fulfill their mirroring of the Divine in and through the ways God created 
them, and not in and through the stunted stereotypes of those who persist in 
getting it wrong because getting it right feels too foreign.

keely



From: "Michael" <metzler at moscow.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] what the Bible really teaches 
(wasDouglasWilsononwomen)
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:32:02 -0800

Since I'm now an intolerista and a tax gatherer, I figured I'm now free to
talk about my church here. So here it goes:  I think Wilson makes an
interesting point in response to some criticism here over the woman fighter
pilot thing.  So I'd be curious to know what some of your responses to this
would be. There's something I agree with and something I don't, but I'll
keep it to myself for now. Wilson writes:

"Femininity is creational glory. But effeminacy in men is a grotesque parody
of this. Equally troubling is the attempt on the part of women to be
masculine. A few days ago I put up a post that revealed my view that
Scripture prohibits training women for combat (for those interested, I have
a detailed discussion on this in Federal Husband). Apparently, from what I
have heard, a local listserve went nuts for a time over this Calloused
Insensitivity on my part and, once again, I was a Bad Person. This is
because I am a Christian who believes that Scripture teaches that women were
not created by God to be warriors. If I were a Muslim who believed something
comparable and I made my wife wear a burka out to the mall, then I would be
praised by these same people for contributing to the rich diversity of our
small little town. And if I were a Christian again who pointed out this
discrepancy, then I would once again be a Bad Person. Since I can't win for
losing, then I will content myself with a chuckle."

Thanks

Michael Metzler

www.poohsthink.com <http://www.poohsthink.com/>





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