THEOLOGY GALS, PATRIARCHY, BULLY PASTORS, AND WHINY WOMEN: MY TAKE AND A WAY FORWARD

Editor's Note: This was written in September of 2019 and is still relevant today, as the "Patriarchy" controversy continues to rage in Reformed circles.  I would be remiss if I did not share this with the hope it will help clarify the issue for readers and reveal the Biblical truth that is at stake within the body of Christ. May God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. Amen. - AW

 By Thomas F. Booher - Posted at The Tulip Driven Life:

The Reformed church is deeply divided over many issues, not the least of which is gender roles, or even more fundamentally perhaps (depending on how we are defining things), gender itself, what it means to be a man, and what does it mean to be a woman. What is masculinity and femininity? What does the Bible have to say about this, if anything at all?

It should be pointed out that this crisis mirrors the very real issues in our nations today, especially here in the United States, concerning gender/sexuality, etc. It is quite likely that the #metoo movement has been able to take root in the church as well because there are real issues of abuse, and because there are real instances of primarily women lying about being abused, stretching the truth, etc. Both men and women are sexual sinners, and I have seen and/or heard of both of these situations, men abusing and women lying about abuse.

This of course means that the church is very worldly, rather than the world being very churchly. We are having a difficult time speaking with one voice as the Church concerning gender, sexuality, racial issues within and outside of the Church, etc. But we have had these issues for a long time, and other issues that lead to these much bigger issues. We do not know how to worship God because we hardly know who God is. Is it any wonder, not knowing God well, that we do not know ourselves, men and women made in God's image, well?

Five years ago if you asked me if I was "part of the patriarchy" I would have said no, and that I was a complementarian. The word patriarchy, for me at that time, was largely a modern movement and had a bunch of bad apples and bad examples in it. Think Doug Phillips in Reformed circles, but in more broadly evangelical churches, there are plenty of names to choose from too. Doug Wilson would have come up as well, and I knew little about him, mostly that he promoted the serious error of Federal Vision theology, that you get in the covenant of grace by faith, but stay in by works. I did read his book Wordsmithy in Bible college, and found it very helpful, so I figured he couldn't be all bad so long as I avoided his theology.

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