Mark Baker-Wright

I want to not only pray for John Piper, but to (politely, I hope) suggest to those of us who are egalitarian to keep our comments on this matter as respectful as possible. In a situation like this, it is all to easy for me to see those of us who oppose Piper on ideological issues as taking the opportunity to fire cheap shots. This, if and when it happens, will not reflect well on egalitarianism. We would do best to simply remain silent.

I hope that, whatever God is telling Piper he needs to work on, that Piper is able to use this time of sabbatical to the fullest.

Apologies to those who’ve seen this before, but that last post reminded me of the following from the “Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained” that a bunch of us have circulated in the past.

8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do other forms of work.
9. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, and maybe even lead the singing on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.

Others have already responded to this better than I will here, but I’m actually kind of stunned that someone (with whom I share a name) could take the story I referenced (that women were the first to tell of Jesus’ resurrection) and re-tell it so flatly as to equate it with the fact that he just happened to “appear” to them first.

He told them to tell others. They told others. This is the very essence of the Gospel. They were actually instructed, one might even say commanded to tell others (dare I say “preach”?) the Good News. This is no mere accident of appearance. It is the most essential element of our faith. To dismiss it so blithely is absolutely stunning.

To paraphrase something I got from Margaret Fell, the NT doesn’t seem to consider women “sinners” for being the first to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection. How, then, should we deny them the opportunity to preach the Gospel as it is found in the Bible?

I respect the fact that complementarians seeks to uphold the Bible (as they see it, anyway). However, I do feel that they miss the bigger picture when they make such a big deal about issues like this one.

Although I’m sure that a few will just be offended at the humor being poked at the common bumper sticker, I hope that it at least gets a few of them to actually think about the assumptions they’ve been making (probably without even realizing it).