Mary

Thanks for posting that quote from Danni’s blog, Cheryl. Good for her! This Craig Coffey/”Happy Promise Keeper” has indeed established a pattern of bullying; Danni did right to name the behavior and refuse to put up with any more of it.

Something we would all do well to remember is that the whole “complementarian” movement, started by CBMW (Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood), came into being in order to stand against biblical equality and the organization that first promoted it widely (CBE – Christians for Biblical Equality). “Complementarian” was coined as a more palatable word and concept than “patriarchal.” The word was co-opted, as though men and women are somehow not “complementary” under biblical equality. Since its inception, CBMW and those who speak for the organization have had a vested interest in discrediting egalitarian Christians and the tenets of biblical equality.

And now, we see a number of groups (including the CCC-forum) that consider CBMW “wimpy” and “closet egalitarians” because they acknowledge that scripturally, a man is not supposed to rule over his wife. The hard-core patriarchalists DO promote “father rule” and “husband rule,” quite unabashedly. And it is a group of such patriarchalists who were cheering Mr. Coffey on (assuming he gave CCC his actual name) in his false witness and character assassination here.

We should beware those groups that define themselves by what they stand against. What they stand FOR is usually pretty seriously skewed. When people expend that much energy in denouncing such thoroughly biblical concepts as equality and mutual submission between men and women, it goes a long way toward illustrating what they think male-female interactions should reflect instead.

And one more point: Try getting agreement on what the “instead” beliefs are supposed to be, among those who stand against biblical equality. Truly, “complementarianism” is all over the map. The only point of agreement you’ll find is that there is some degree of abridgment of freedom for women that is not also abridged for men, and this abridgment is justified for purely gender reasons. Just what gets abridged, how severely, and in what areas of life (i.e., church, family, marriage, society), is a matter of what seems right in their own eyes, since there is no agreement on any of the specifics. So it’s a matter, for women, of it being OK and even “biblical” for our freedom in Christ to be abridged simply because we’re women.

Such is the fruit of a belief system that uses only biblical descriptions of worldly social systems as its justification. “Everyone (does) what is right in their own eyes.” Men receive preferential status simply for being men, and women are taught that it is a virtue to accept that status quo. It’s no wonder that egalitarians and biblical equality are so hated! There’s a great deal of worldly power to be lost if women accept their full freedom in Christ and Christian men start considering their Christian sisters as better than themselves. The hard work of treating one another as Scripture commands we treat each other, means putting others first. That’s virually impossible to do if we believe all the lies about men and women being so different and only “spiritually” equal (if even that concession is made). Patriarchy (including the versions masquerading as “complementarian”) pits women and men against each other, as thought “man” and “woman” are antonyms. By contrast, biblical equality/mutual submission requires that we submit to the truth of Scripture that we are all one in Christ Jesus and all members together of the body of Christ.