Cheryl Schatz

Lin,

It is divisive to say that Christian egal teaching is allowing Satan into the church.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.  In my opinion these kinds of words are “thought stopping” words meant to produce fear in any kind of communication with egalitarians.  There are so many who are willing to say that CBMW has all the answers and they trust their word and are unwilling to look at the issues themselves in order to engage an egalitarian.  We are broad brushed into the enemy’s corner without so much as a second thought.  I find this very sad because of the extreme divisiveness.

Don,
I do not believe Christians should “disfellowship” each other over secondary issues of faith.  Differences of opinions are opportunities to:

1.  Understand the other person’s viewpoint
2.  Sharpen our own viewpoint and either make adjustments to our view or solidify our view by measuring it against the challenge of the other person.
3.  Love and appreciate one another in spite of our differences and thus we have an opportunity to demonstrate patience in a mature way.

Calling other Christians degrading names and attacking their character because of their beliefs on secondary issues of faith is never a good thing.  If we find ourselves doing these things, we should do a self examination to see what our own heart motive is.

Recently I heard that it is said real men are not primarily gentle.  I strongly disagree with that.  Mature Christianity is expressed in gentleness because this is part of the “fruit” (singular) of the Spirit.

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Those who wish to separate male and female by spiritual characteristics appear to make “kindness” and “gentleness” as female fruit while “courage” is said to be a mature male trait.  Yet Paul shows us through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration that there is one “fruit” of the Spirit and we are all to have these characteristics that come as fruit from the Holy Spirit no matter what our gender.  I also believe that those who go through the troubles and trials of this life and who allow the “fruit” of the Spirit to grow in their lives are most certainly all “courageous”.

My desire is that I will not be afraid to courageously step out in faith even if no one goes with me, yet always working hard to be gentle and compassionate to those who have not yet seen the things that have been made so clear to me.  I may have a long way to go, but I am willing to stay the course and not give up.