Dear Haters
Posted on February 19, 2008
Filed Under Ashley Wolpert |
Sunday night I planned on skipping church. I had a lot of homework due that night and rushing it (after a great weekend of hanging out) just didn’t seem appealing. About an hour before church was to start, I received a text from my boyfriend that read: “go to church tonight- you will love it.” Knowing that my boyfriend knows me, I knew the service must have something to do with women in the bible.
I have this deep sense of urgency when it comes to women. Injustice against them makes me boil. I once had a professor that said something to the effect of “consider what great works have been lost due to the oppression of women.” My rants on this however, will have to remain for another day.
The service was enrapturing and heart wrenching all at once. It was indeed dedicated to the story of women. To open up, speaker Trent Sheppard read quotes from influential men such as Plato and Aristotle in which is was clear they viewed women as inferior. Some laughed, hopefully out of discomfort. I could only cry.
This sense of inferiority is one that unfortunately still permeates the minds of many women, whether they are conscious of it or not. Women still find their significance, their self-worth in relation to the views of men in their lives. This is tragic.
The message presented on Sunday was one of hope. Sheppard gave clear evidence that biblically men and women are equal. He showed that Jesus turned the notion that women are inferior on its head. He called for repentance on the part of individuals who viewed otherwise. Both men and women rose from their seats and went forward to confess their views, to turn from this idea that women are less than men.
My point is two-fold. Firstly, whether or not one believes the bible to be the word of God, there is certainly speculation that it promotes the idea that women are inferior. This is a lie. Secondly, for both women and men struggling with identity, there is hope. I would encourage you to seek out literature with regard to this subject. Realize you have a voice that can bring about equality and encourage a strong sense of self-worth, inevitably resulting in healthier relationships between men and women and in turn a stronger society.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28
To listen to the podcast of the lecture I have spoken of, follow: Trent Sheppard
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14 Responses to “Dear Haters”
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When I first became a Christian, I violated the Sabbath to study too. But you will be amazed at the blessing God pours into your life when you honor him by obeying His command to keep the Sabbath. As only one example, the discipline required to do this will bless you immensely. You see, you went to church because *you* were going to be given something, because *you* were going to have a need met, NOT because you wanted to give worship to God or to meet with your brothers and sisters in Christ to fellowship with them and encourage them and share in corporate worship. But you *should* have gone to church because God commands it. It’s a creation ordinance that’s also one of the Ten Commandments. It’s also reiterated in the New Testament in a variety of ways, including the following:
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).
So I encourage you to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ daily, by denying your urge to hang out, studying when you should, and going to church on the Sabbath, both morning AND evening services. For the Sabbath is for works that are truly necessary such as eating, sleeping, or pulling your donkey out of a ditch
; pious; or merciful; NOT for studying because you failed to do it when you should. I’ll be praying for you, Ashley. I’ll also be praying that God would open the flood gates of heaven as you further put off sin and put on righteousness in this area of keeping the Sabbath.
Love, in Christ,
Kara Ishii
P.S. I’d also watch the “you have a voice” and “strong sense of self-worth” notions. Those are worldly notions slipping in to your thoughts. They have nothing to do with the Bible. God never says anywhere that we have a voice and should develop a strong sense of self-worth. He says we are to proclaim *His* words (so it’s *His* voice) and that we are to be humble, contrite in spirit, and tremble at His word (Isa. 66:2). In Isaiah (41:14), God calls us “worms” and “little,” but tells us not to be afraid because He Himself will help us. THAT is where our worth comes from, from Christ, not from ourselves. -K
I started listening to this podcast today at work but decided to save it for a time when I could give it my full attention…after reading this I’m looking forward to it even more, thanks. This is a pretty intense topic with me as well.
I find myself confused by the comment to this post by Kara. Did I miss something? This is a blog about equality, something someone learned and desired to pass on. Kara, for you to completely miss the point and banter on and on about the Sabbath shows that you are more concerned with hearing your own voice than learn with a fellow believer.
As this post was not intended to spark conversation and or debate about the importance of the Sabbath, I will hold back on poking holes in the way you nocondescendingly spoke to this author. All I will ask is that you would check you motives before attempting to berate another person based on an opening sentence.
The latter part of Heb. 10:25 says “…but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
I think you made the same mistake with this verse as you did this post; you stopped reading at the first sentence.
-David
K-
I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but notice the self-righteousness in your tone of writing. Way to tear down a fellow believer so that you can seem more ‘holy’. Honestly, let’s look at the plank in your eye before picking out the speck in your brother’s or in the case sister’s.
“For the Sabbath is for works that are truly necessary such as eating, sleeping, or pulling your donkey out of a ditch ; pious; or merciful; NOT for studying because you failed to do it when you should. I’ll be praying for you, Ashley. I’ll also be praying that God would open the flood gates of heaven as you further put off sin and put on righteousness in this area of keeping the Sabbath.”
How incredibly self-righteous can you be. SO WHAT IF SHE WANTED TO STUDY ON SUNDAY. THE SABBATH WAS CONSIDERED TO SATURDAY ANYWAY! geez.
-m
Kara, please tell me that you know Ashley and have a relationship with her that gives you the right to chastize her. Thanks for the reverent display of self-righteousness and giving us a peak at your extensive knowledge of the scriptures with the references you gave. Well don indeed. Ashley, thanks for your honesty in saying that you didn’t want to go to church and who knows maybe the time spent with friends instead of the books was right where God wanted you to be.
kara,
How would you define “church?” Judging by the definition i gathered out of your posting, it would seem to you that church is a place that you go. Church is not a place, but an experience, a journey, a community, and a relationship, both with God and fellow believers. I’ve skipped church before, and I would bet that you’ve been guilty of that as well.
Oh, and FYI, nowhere in the Ten Commandments is’keeping the sabbath holy” equated to congregating in a building. it’s about attitude, not actions.
Hey guys, thanks for all of your comments, I really appreciate your thoughts. My hope is still that the focus of this piece would be equality among men and women and not keeping the Sabbath as that was just an off comment that revealed nothing about my views on the Sabbath or the purpose church. I would love to hear your thoughts on equality and the struggle within and outside the church.
That is the downfall of written communication, as one cannot discern tone. I meant to encourage Ashley in walk with Christ to obey the commands of God, as written in the Bible. I do not need a personal relationship with her to do this. As Ashley claims to be a Christian, she should be open to hearing Scripture, comparing her life with how Scripture declares she should be living, repent (turn from sin and to God) if she falls short, and do the right thing.
God doesn’t tell us never to correct someone. He tells us only that we shouldn’t judge hypocritically. So there is room for godly criticism meant to encourage someone in their Christian faith. The Lord tells us through Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
So I spoke as I did, not condescendingly at all (Is it evil to tell someone that you’ll be praying for them? How ridiculous!), but to help her become more equipped to write a blog that accurately represents Christianity so the “haters” will not be led astray as to what it really means to be a Christian.
I read the entire blog, my motives were pure, and I do examine my own self and repent daily, so my reply is not an issue of having a log in my own eye while pointing a speck in someone else’s. I quoted Scripture because that is the basis for my post, not my own ideas (such as “so what if she wanted to study on Sunday”–that is a violation of the Sabbath, since it was not absolutely necessary; we are to do no regular work on the Sabbath. Period.). I did not quote Scripture to show off.
As for what it means to keep the Sabbath and on what day the Sabbath falls, a couple of you would greatly benefit from reading the following books:
The Lord’s Day, by Joseph Pipa
The Ten Commandments, by Thomas Watson
As for what “church” means, absolutely nowhere in Scripture does God say that “church” is an “experience” or a “journey” or an “attitude.” Those ideas just came out of your own head. God says that the church the body of Christ (a body of believers living under the Lordship of Christ) and that we should not stop meeting together. This means we must congregate in a PLACE, whether it be a building or someone’s home. Also, Scripture speaks of the need for pastors. We sit under the authority and teaching of pastors when we congregate in a place.
And being part of a church DOES mean action. Whole sections of Scripture are devoted to telling us what we should do (what actions we should engage in) for members of the church.
But I’ll stop here, because it is apparent that the people who responded to my post are not open to godly correction using Scripture but prefer their own ideas, and so dangerously misrepresent Christianity to the “haters” who will be reading this blog.
While my comment was awaiting moderation, a post from Ashley came up. Ashley, I am sorry to say, and I say this with the greatest kindness, that it is extremely dangerous (and not pleasing to God) to begin a blog entry stating that you were about to violate a command of God, especially when writing to unbelievers (”haters”). That is why I commented as I did. I did not miss the point of your blog at all, but the point was marred by this misrepresentation of God and His commands. If we do not honor the law of God as holy, then the “haters” won’t either.
But so that you will know that I didn’t miss the main intent of your blog entry, let me say that it is a fact that only in countries where Christianity has taken its hold are women held in honor and not oppressed. Consider China, India, and any Muslim country . . .
Men and women are equal in position before God, but serve different functions.
I greatly encourage everyone to read about the high calling of motherhood (unique to women, obviously) in the The Mother at Home, by John S. C. Abbott. A bishop also wrote a book on Christian motherhood, but I can’t find the link right now. It has about 8-10 chapters on the various spheres that are to be directly influenced by mothers in the lives of their children, forming the foundation of society itself.
Love, in Christ,
Kara
Ashley, sorry for the straying comments…..I actually had to re-read the article because I forgot what it was about after reading the first comment. I think the saddest thing is that the Church is still struggling with these gender issues. How can we expect the world to straigten out these issues when the Church has such a hard time understanding them as well. God created a partner for Adam. Partners are equal, neither having a more important role than the other. Over time we placed more value on the male side of the partnership and this brought forth the idea that women are inferior because their role in the partnership was seen as inferior. This is what we have to reverse. We must see that the female side of the partnership is just as important.
Ashley,
I’m still trying to put together a response and figure out exactly what it is that I believe about this whole topic. I do believe that men and women are created equal, but I also believe they are intended to have very different roles within the church. I’m not entirely sure where this leaves me.
Kara,
Perhaps you would benifit from listening to my pastor’s series on church. Give them a listen and let me know what you think.
http://ajesuschurch.org/teachings_topic.php?tid=448&c=2
In him,
Stephen
“MOTHERS and MOTHERHOOD” are you kidding me? Kara, once again you have totally missed the point.
Matt,
Actually, I didn’t miss the point of the blog at all. As I stated in my reply, men and women are equal in position before God, but differ in function, and that motherhood is a unique function of women. So I spoke on one difference between men and women.
In Christ,
Kara
Stephen,
Thank you for the link. I’m listening to “Part 2: The Body of Christ” right now. Perhaps you might be interested in hearing a similar sermon by my pastor. I don’t think it’s available as a podcast yet, but here is a link to the written sermon:
http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon_trans/2002/Life_in_Christs_Church.html
All the following topics are covered in one sermon, entitled, “Life in Christ’s Church”:
Introduction: What Is the Church?
Builder of the Church
Built Into the Church
Members of the Body of Christ
Nature of the Church
Life in Christ’s Church
Conclusion
Kara
OK, I found my copy of Different by Design: Discovering God’s Will for Today’s Man and Woman by John MacArthur Jr. This book has a personal and group study guide in it. It covers the following topics:
Part One: The Attack on God’s Design
1. Creation to Corruption
2. The Case for Authority and Submission
Part Two: God’s Design for Marriage
3. Marriage As It Was Meant to Be
4. The Excellent Wife at Work
5. A Different Place in God’s Plan
Part Three: God’s Design for the Church
6. The Church’s Leading Men
7. God’s High Call for Women
8. The Character of Service
9. For the Sake of the Kingdom
Below I will quote just a few points John MacArthur Jr makes in this book:
Page 17: “Feminism began in the Garden when Eve, who we could call the first feminist, listened to Satan’s lies, stepped out from under Adam’s authority, acted independently, and led the human race into sin.”
Page 18: “Like God, each has a rational personality. Men and women alike possess intellect, emotion, and will, by which they are able to think, feel, and choose.”
Page 18: “Author J. David Pawson remind us that the male-female equality of creation in god’s image also “does not mean interchangeability.”
Page 19: “Immediately Adam recognized her as his perfect companion.”
Page 19: “Since man was created first, he was given headship over the woman and creation. The fact that Adam named Eve–a privilege bestowed on those who had authority in the Old Testament–manifested his authority over her. But their original relationship was so pure and perfect that his headship over her was a manifestation of his consuming love for her, and her submission to him was a manifestation of her consuming love for him.”
And so on.
I read this book so very long ago, but as it is based on the perfect, unchanging word of God, it is relevant to all Christian men and women today. I highly recommend it.
Kara