Cheryl Schatz discusses the teachings of CBMW in her blog post “Equal in Value and Worth = in Whose Eyes?” http://strivetoenter.com/wim/2009/12/20/equal-in-value-and-worth-in-whose-eyes/
In this understanding of “equality”, God is restricted in the work that He can do through women. His Holy Spirit cannot operate through women in the same way that He operates through men. He cannot gift women equally nor can He give an understanding of God’s Word to a woman without going through a man first. In the complementarian understanding, God has great limitations on what He can and cannot do through women.According to CBMW and their complementarian teaching, the angel Gabriel would have had to go to Joseph, not Mary. The entire biblical account should be suspect, because God simply would not speak to or work through a woman. Instead, Luke 1:26-38 should read:
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a man espoused to a virgin, whose name was Mary, of the house of David; and the man’s name was Joseph. 28 And the angel came in unto him and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among men. 29 And when he saw him, he was troubled at his saying, and cast in his mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Joseph: for thou hast found favor with God. 31 And behold, thy espoused wife, Mary, shall conceive in her womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Joseph unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing Mary knoweth not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto him, The Holy Ghost shall come upon her, and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow her: Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of her shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, her cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Joseph said, Behold the servant and handmaid of the Lord; be it unto her according to thy word. And the angel departed from him.Or the passage should read:
30 And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Joseph, for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Joseph unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I am a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto him, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, Elizabeth, the cousin of thy espoused wife, Mary, hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Joseph said, Behold the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from him.Indeed, there is a major discrepancy between CBMW’s statement and the Bible. Anytime there is such a discrepancy, the CBMW is correct and the Bible must be wrong. Perhaps Luke got confused or the translators got the facts twisted.
We don’t need the atheists, humanists, or liberals to misrepresent the Bible. Christians for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood are doing a super job of it themselves.
Merry Christmas everybody! God brought us His Son, through a woman. And when Jesus rose from the dead, He first appeared to a woman.
Waneta Dawn is the author of "Behind the Hedge, A novel,"a story about a woman who grapples with her husband's demands that she submit--no matter what. Please visit www.wanetadawn.com
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According to their website articles regarding the story of Adam and Eve God placed in order in place, and the serpant (Satan) disregarded this to start the confusion of the gender roles.
ReplyDelete'''Why did he approach the woman in Genesis 3:1? Why did he draw her into discussion first and make her the spokesman for the couple? Why did he lure her into being the moral guardian of the garden? Was it because she was easier prey? Is woman more gullible than man? Or could the answer be: Satan drew the woman in first, and made her the spokesman and the moral guardian because that is exactly what should not have been done?
In other words Satan spurns the order that God has established and simply ignores the man and takes up his subtle battle with the woman. And in doing that he makes man into exactly what he wants him to be: a silent, withdrawn, weak, fearful, passive, wimp. And a masculine wimp is a very dangerous person. One moment he's passive and follows his woman; and the next moment he's angry and blames her for all of his problems.
And Satan laughs to himself and says, "Now I have created such a confusion of roles they will never sort this out. They will look at the abusive man and tell him to be more passive with women. And they will look at the abused woman and tell her to be more assertive with men. And they will never get to the root of the problem. '''
I guess according to their theory God did not go to Mary's authority on a timely fashion because what he realized that Joseph was a passive wimp? He knew he had to clue in Mary first, and then send the Angel to speak to Joseph - because of his shame over this I guess - didn't want to speak to him directly knowing what he was? I mean seriously I don't get it.
He basically did the same thing the serpant did, and messed up the order. Did he, 'made her the spokesman and the moral guardian because that is exactly what should not have been done?'
He then did it again at Jesus's tomb. He spoke with women first, and told them to inform the 'men' of the Good news. Why would God not align himself with the order of design when it came to important parts of history for us?
Awesome observations, both Waneta and Hannah!
ReplyDeleteI suspect one of the reasons Jesus DID show Himself to Mary first was because He could look 2000 years into the future and see the false, destructive, rot being preached by CBMW as gospel.
Jesus gives us Living Water. He IS our Living Water.
CBMW gives out bitter waters and cannot be trusted with the spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being of women.
"Why would God not align himself with the order of design when it came to important parts of history for us?"
ReplyDeleteWhy indeed, Hannah? Could it be the male-superior order was never His design?
I wonder if CBMW ever noticed that God used a woman to bring about the birth of his Son, and appeared first to a woman when He rose from the dead. With women being the ones selected to feature in the most important roles of God's plan of salvation, why is it so important for males to claim that women are only of use in the kitchen and bedroom--serving THEM, not God? could it be they actually see that women were used for the important roles, and they fear their own contributions, like those of Joseph's, are or will appear superfluous?
As to why Satan went to Eve, I suggest a different possibility. Considering that Adam did NOT offer a single word of protest when Eve presented the forbidden fruit to him, I think Satan went to Eve because he already knew Adam would eat the fruit. Eve was the one who had to be convinced. The couple had likely already discussed sampling the fruit, and Adam stated he would like to taste it. Eve strongly urged him not to eat it, to not even touch it. Satan went to Eve because she was the obedient one of the pair, and Adam would never be able to convince her to eat it. Therefore, Satan stepped in to convince her with deception.
It appears to me that from the very beginning, the man was the one who had a heart for breaking the rules, and the woman was the one who tried to get him to obey God.
When Satan came to Eve, she knew nothing about liars and deceivers, how to spot a lie and how to deal with it. She could easily have thought the snake was a type of embassador from God. After all, a snake talking looked quite miraculous, so it must be of God.
Adam, on the other hand, didn't need a talking snake to convince him to eat the forbidden fruit. His heart was already in rebellion against God, Eve was no longer holding him back, and he ate the fruit eagerly.
"Jesus gives us Living Water. He IS our Living Water.
ReplyDeleteCBMW gives out bitter waters and cannot be trusted with the spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being of women."
Mara, CBMW cannot be trusted with the well-being of men either. Although they add a few statements about husbands loving their wives, their focus is on wives submitting to husbands and giving husbands the freedom to be lords over their wives.
Their statements about husbands loving their wives are not enforced. But their teaching of husbands having authority over their wives ARE enforced--emphatically, without compassion, without common sense, and with deception. That tells us the true condition of their hearts. They are in rebellion against God.
CBMW does indeed give out bitter waters for both wives and husbands. However, most husbands may not realize they have been drinking bitter water until they are brought before Jesus on the Judgement Day.
To battle for an end to the rot of CBMW is an effort to stop the bitter waters for husbands, too, although many of them do not see it.
It is true it is bad for husbands.
ReplyDeleteIt is bad for children.
It is bad for entire families.
The only reason I don't mention the husbands is because I don't expect many of them to listen.
(Gene and such others exempt, of course)
They are too busy following the golden rule, "Who ever has the gold makes the rules."
CBMW gives the men all the gold. They have all the power. Telling most men that holding that power is bad for them is like telling Saddam Hussien during the height of his reign that being a dictator is bad for him. He would have laughed in your face and had you shot.
We can all see now that in the end, it was bad for him. But in the end it is too late.
I guess I look for women to rebel and then men can see it's bad for them.
Sorry if I have a bad attitude. But history tells us that those in power do not let go of it easily, without a fight.
"Sorry if I have a bad attitude. But history tells us that those in power do not let go of it easily, without a fight."
ReplyDeleteMara,
I don't think you have a bad attitude. As you point out, HISTORY tells us how those in power behave. It is reality. It is a sad truth--for everyone.
My latest on my daughter---please remember us daily!
ReplyDeletehttp://babyboomlearner.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-thursday-and-he-got-out-last-night.html
I am praying for you and your family Gene.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way those who want to can send you $ to help you through a hard time? Perhaps send it to you in care of your church, if you prefer to not give out your home address?
Or would you prefer that we pray that you get a real good ice storm? Complete with limbs and trees down everywhere? (sounds so evil, doesn't it? LOL!)
Missed the ice storm overnight--as a matter of fact it was nothing but some light rain. God decided to get Yankees north of the Maxon-Dixon line this time!!!
ReplyDeleteI still hope our time is coming.
My home address is:
Gene Scarborough
1085 Bayview Road
Bath, NC 27808
My son-in-law knows where I live so it is not and essential secret!
Obviously, since Mary wasn't really married to Joseph yet, she was still under her father's authority. Luke just forgot to mention that the angel spoke with her father first. :-)
ReplyDelete"Luke just forgot to mention that the angel spoke with her father first. :-)"
ReplyDeleteThe Revising Committee,
Or perhaps her father never mentioned it to anyone. What father would agree to allowing his daughter to have a child out of wedlock in those days?? It should have been a crime punishable by stoning. Ooohhhh! So THAT must be why the angel didn't go to the any of the men in Mary's life--or Luke forgot to mention it.
Isn't it interesting the ramifications of God having Mary to be part in the birth of his Son.
ReplyDeleteFrom the human and legal side, she was an unwed mother worthy of stoning according to Jewish law.
From the religious side, she was the first woman in recorded human history to have a child without a sexual partner. Even Parthenogenesis does not explain it, because such a pregnancy always produces a female sans the X chromosome.
What a mystery!
Never to be explained. Always involving a human mother. Knocking to shreds the idea that women are inferior and unnecessry.
I LOVE IT!!!! Male egos and arrogance take a back seat---PLEASE!!!!