From John Piper to Mark Driscoll there has been a bit of buzz of late about gender and God. Rachel Held Evans put out a call for blokes to respond
to these (particularly John Piper's) views so I thought I'd add my
voice to the growing throng. I've written some things in the past about
my view about what the Bible says about gender here.
However, to be honest, beyond the whole biblical exegesis I just don't get the whole gender divide thing. Rather than thinking Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars I've always been inclined to think Women are from Earth and men are from Earth. People are different from each other and in any close intense relationship (like a marriage) those differences will become really obvious really quickly. Although I haven't asked, I'm going to bet that homosexual couples experience the same amount of difficulties and communication problems as a heterosexual couples does.
To be fair I'm not a typical bloke. I stay at home while the wife works. I've always done the sewing for the family, I now cook, clean and do all the domestic chores. My wife (like many husbands) is a better cook than me but I look after the washing much better than she ever did. I am generally more patient with the kids but hopeless at noticing mess around the house. At parties I'd hang out with the mums and talk about the kids rather than hang out with the dads and talk about sport or work (I did this even when I was working). When I hear some off the things the playgroup mums complain about things their husbands do they are often things that my wife does as well (although I prefer not to divulge my wife's faults - which are going to be far fewer than mine anyway). Things like not knowing where a particular item is kept although I've told her half a dozen times. These are really just a product of me being at home all the time and her being at home a heck of a lot less. At no point have I thought of myself as less male even though I don't have all the stereotypically manly traits.
Similarly, when the biblical writers attribute God with male traits I tend to think of them just as traits that happen to stereotypically belong to a male or in some passages traits that stereotypically belong to a female. I don't think of God being Jewish and therefore look down on anyone who is not Jewish. I don't think of God as free and therefore look down on people who are slaves. Although it'd be easy to pull out verses describing God as Jewish or free there is no point where we would think of God as not being able to engage with gentiles or slaves equally. Or that these categories would make these people so different that they should have different roles in the church community or there should be some kind of hierarchy when they relate to each other. No, in Jesus there is no Jew, etc...
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)
However, to be honest, beyond the whole biblical exegesis I just don't get the whole gender divide thing. Rather than thinking Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars I've always been inclined to think Women are from Earth and men are from Earth. People are different from each other and in any close intense relationship (like a marriage) those differences will become really obvious really quickly. Although I haven't asked, I'm going to bet that homosexual couples experience the same amount of difficulties and communication problems as a heterosexual couples does.
To be fair I'm not a typical bloke. I stay at home while the wife works. I've always done the sewing for the family, I now cook, clean and do all the domestic chores. My wife (like many husbands) is a better cook than me but I look after the washing much better than she ever did. I am generally more patient with the kids but hopeless at noticing mess around the house. At parties I'd hang out with the mums and talk about the kids rather than hang out with the dads and talk about sport or work (I did this even when I was working). When I hear some off the things the playgroup mums complain about things their husbands do they are often things that my wife does as well (although I prefer not to divulge my wife's faults - which are going to be far fewer than mine anyway). Things like not knowing where a particular item is kept although I've told her half a dozen times. These are really just a product of me being at home all the time and her being at home a heck of a lot less. At no point have I thought of myself as less male even though I don't have all the stereotypically manly traits.
Similarly, when the biblical writers attribute God with male traits I tend to think of them just as traits that happen to stereotypically belong to a male or in some passages traits that stereotypically belong to a female. I don't think of God being Jewish and therefore look down on anyone who is not Jewish. I don't think of God as free and therefore look down on people who are slaves. Although it'd be easy to pull out verses describing God as Jewish or free there is no point where we would think of God as not being able to engage with gentiles or slaves equally. Or that these categories would make these people so different that they should have different roles in the church community or there should be some kind of hierarchy when they relate to each other. No, in Jesus there is no Jew, etc...
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)
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