A few posts back, I asked the question “Do we have a male-dominated expression of faith?” Particularly, has the Anabaptist subculture neglected to make space for women to put into practice their faith in active and engaging ministry? In this post, I’m going to share a few thoughts I have as I observe Scripture and what it says about women and their role in the church.
I have learned that even if I am living in greater victory than ever before, Satan will continue throwing accusations at me. Finding lasting freedom means dealing with those accusations so they don’t become the terms of life I agree to. In this post, I look at how I have personally dealt with three specific lies I have faced.
Forgiveness is almost like a swearword in Christianity. We spit it at people as the solution for any kind of relational problem. And probably because it is. However, those of us who have had that word spat at us likely resent it because we don’t really know what forgiveness means. When we remember how God forgives us, we can find it in our hearts to forgive others. And that releases us from bitterness, and bitterness drives lust.
What can women do (or not do) in church? What is their role? Can they speak? Can they lead worship? Can they teach? Can they be pastors? In this Patron-sponsored post, I share three observations from my church experience and scripture about a woman’s role in church.
People often quote Romans 8:28 when tragedy strikes. And while we can look at other parts of the Bible and see that God can work tragedy for His glory and use it for good, I do not believe we are being fair to the message God is speaking through Paul here in Romans. In fact, I will go so far as to say what Paul is talking about has nothing to do with tragedy. It might actually have more to do with porn.
What happened that causes us to wrestle with lust and pornography? Why is it that we experience pain and sometimes hurt others, ourselves? Because we have chosen to listen to another person’s voice instead of God’s.
But instead of giving us what we deserve (death), God has taken personal responsibility for restoring us back to His original design. He’s done something reckless, in our human way of looking at it. Without it, we have no hope.
So, when a guy struggles with pornography or masturbation, does he struggle because his sexuality is so strong? Does he desire sex too much? Could it be that his sexual desires are actually too weak?
As the serpent got Adam and Eve to disobey God by wounding their confidence in His goodness, so he gets us to disobey God by wounding our confidence in Him. All addictions, and particularly sexual addictions, exist because deep in our hearts we believe God isn’t good.
The generation before us laid the groundwork for rethinking the way we do church—the way we do life, really. Because of our parents, many of us are free to question the status quo. We are free to revisit the methodology of church, romance, family, discipleship, and with that revisiting, comes radical possibilities. Some good, some not good.
Question Submitted: Where do we separate judging from judging? That was not a typo. Proverbs talks about “iron sharpening iron” and yet people crouch behind Matthew 7:1. And so, how do we separate the two and what are ways to confront issues such as this?
If I understand your question correctly, you are asking “how do we speak into each other’s lives without being accused of judging?” Anymore, if someone raises a concern about something a brother or sister says or does, that brother or sister takes the concern as judgment, right? Yet, does that mean we are not ever to address issues we see in other people’s lives?
If I were to ask you what you are looking for in a church, would you know? If I were to ask you what you value, could you put words to it?
Many of us could probably come up with a few things like community, life, faithfulness to God’s Word, family, peace-making, brotherhood, and many other things. But those are all actually really vague. None of them differentiate one church from another.
Most people who have commented on this series so far have strong opinions one way or the other. There is a wide vacuum of people who are silent. People who don’t want to cause conflict. People who, like me, have had a good experience in their Mennonite upbringing, but also see areas of weakness that need radical change. Only, they’re at a loss for how to change it because either they’re written off as a rebel, or their questions and comments are hijacked by people with an agenda for the opposite of the Mennonite tradition.
Allow me, if for a moment, to wrestle aloud with the questions of someone who identifies with his friends who are leaving, but is concerned with whether we’re finding anything better.
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
