This morning I have been in a bit of a frazzle, for I am flying to a strange city later today, and I could not recall the email that told me what hotel I was in. I had disconnected the modem last night (I knocked the power box out of alignment when charging a camera battery) Once I fixed that I got the correct email up, calmed down, and can contemplate the word.

You cannot do that when frazzled. Like Elspeth, I blog, but generally it is around what the word is doing with me, and the reason it is interesting is that I am contrary, broken and verbal. otherwise I am writing to myself. And Elspeth’s last sentence is correct: reading religious blogs is no substitute for time in the word of God. And in prayer. Which is why the texts are in the posts. Prayer you need to do yourself. And say one for Elspeth and her family. And mine.

I’m objective enough, for a girl that is, but at the end of the day my filter is something I continuously contend with. The subjective part of me is alive and kicking almost all of the time and I don’t know very many women, even among the most devout, for whom that isn’t true.

The lie is that God’s word doesn’t account for that. It does account for it in the home and in the church. The lie is that God, who “created them male and female”, would then make the mistake of trusting mature Christian women, feminine by His sovereign design, to “admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

Which brings me to the point of this, why the Bible was penned by men, I mean.

Although we, women, can and do communicate the Truth and exhort one other on the foundation of God’s word, we connect and relay those truths from the springboard of our shared experiences as women. It’s perfect for the assignment God has given us, but terrible as a teaching foundation for the church body, local or universal. I suspect this in part is why women are forbidden to have authority over men in the church. And while I think what I do here can be valuable, it’s no substitute for hiding God’s word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him.

Now, our society does not understand that men and women are different. But we are, and the reason women have difficulty teaching is that very subjectivity. It is also the part of them that makes them very good at teaching other women how to do things.

Consider cooking: men love Alton Brown, because he treats it like a chemistry experiment or hardware project. Women… prefer someone like Rachel or Gina who tells stories, brings them in, makes them comfortable and talks about how you will worry but it will be all right.

When it comes to theology, men need to know their duty and support in doing it. But the bible then tells us to throw away all the worldly tools of persuasion: the trained voice of the lawyer or rhetorician, the use of music and ritual to heighten emotion. We are not to market. We are not to turn our worship into a rock concert. (Or worse, Justin Bieber). We are to let the word of God speak.

For the results are not our business, and here God is correcting men wore than women.

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

(1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 ESV)

The witness we leave is the lives we have influenced. Not the number of women that we claim to have slept with, nor the car we have, nor our investment income. The women will complain and bring lawsuits, the car will be stolen, break down or rust (Particularly the ones I like, made in Italy during the 1970s and 1980s our of Russian Steel), and at present the banks are demanding you pay them to park your money.

It is people. It is not marketing.

And the trouble is that people are exhausting, contrary, subjective and rebellious. They are also broken, and it is our job, if we are of Christ, to bring light, truth and healing.

And, in my experience, these things do not happen when sitting in a circle doing non directed sharing. They happen when you do your duty, though you do not like it, and with absolutely no motivation, but out of sheer obedience. How we do these things will vary: and one of the reasons men and women should form their celibate communities apart is because the way we will teach and train will vary because we are different. Hearthie, who is deeply involved in her Bapticostal church, commented on Elspeth’s post with considerable wisdom.

Deep Strength touched on one part – men are to father, women to mother.

Closely related is that men do not enjoy being led by women, and a church managed and led by its women is a church on its way to death. First it’s just mostly women in the congregation, then as the men leave, so do the families, then… well. We’ve seen this. God intends His church to be His bride, He doesn’t want her to dissolve because it’s all gone to the land of potluck.

Also, men know about facing men’s battles and they rarely feel a need to preach about women’s battles – but if you’re paying attention, most of the things you shouldn’t be doing as a woman will be quite well covered in a sermon aimed at men. The things that are not can be addressed woman-to-woman, which is much the best way to get another woman to listen to you.

Women listen too well to the little voices – men are more stubborn, and better at just listening to God and holding to the Truth, not being steered by emotion.

Women like listening to strong men.

Women’s leadership is better suited to groups. Think of women as joined in a cobweb. We think of “how does X’s action affect Y? How can I work the connections to everyone’s benefit? How can we come together to accomplish our goals?” If you are trying to run a community, you need strong women to provide examples, keep everyone connected, match skills with needs… etc. There are plenty of women who lead in the Bible. They just don’t lead *men*.

There is MORE than enough for a capable, organized woman with leadership skills to do, within the home, the church, and the community without getting anywhere near the pulpit.

God makes these rules for a reason. I figure there are plenty more reasons, so this should be interesting.

We need to ignore the fashions of this age. We need to just say no to. We need to preach the word of God, though it is not the season for this, and there are many who want to silence us within the church, requiring us to be relevant.

As if relevance is the goal. It is not. Lives saved is the currency of the church, and the very gates of hell stand opposed to that project. But that matters not. For our Lord and leader tells us the very Gates of Hell cannot withstand his church.