Showing posts with label biblical equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biblical equality. Show all posts

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Progressive Christians Going To Hell- According to Decision Magazine

 


Christians are divided by sets of beliefs—that’s no surprise. I’ve been writing about these divisions in this blog, which grew out of the book, A House Divided.

This post is about Franklin Graham’s warning in the May 2022 stark Decision Magazine cover.

PROGRESSIVE

CHRISTIANITY

CAN LEAD

YOU TO

HELL

Decision Magazine stakes their claim, “The Evangelical Voice for Today.” It’s hard to find a more influential voice when you tally the followers on social media. Like it or not, and some don’t, Franklin Graham is the go to voice of evangelicals.

Graham’s followers 21 May 2022

  Facebook: 9,913,970

  Twitter: 2,485,942

  Instagram: 1.2 million

*****

What's seems to be the problem?

Franklin

Inside the magazine, Franklin Graham warns of “The Eternal Peril of Progressive Christianity.” In his aggressive style, he casts the division as a decades long “war” that’s “raging against Biblical Christianity.”

Referencing St Paul, Graham finds a quote from Galatians (1: 6-9) applicable to “the advocates of progressive Christianity.”

What’s in Graham’s mind?

Bible, Sex, Punishment, Theology.

Graham claims, “Progressive Christianity denies the divinely inspired, authoritative truth of the Bible as it intersects every facet of living.” What’s left unsaid is the meaning of “divinely inspired” and the notion of “authoritative truth.” Plenty of evangelical Christians cannot decide on the authoritative divinely inspired biblical truth about the role of women in the church or the home. Christians argue about what the Bible teaches concerning baptism, birth control, dancing, drinking alcohol, and military service. 

If biblical teaching were clear, there would be no need for so many different Christian groups or denominations. And for Graham's evangelicals, there would be one evangelical church.

   [See St Paul and Christians Divided About Women.]

Graham’s choice of an example reveals his passion about sex. For Franklin, gender identity is among the “nonsensical trends.” Next up is “gay marriage”—a example of “degrading cultural influences.” 

When it comes to sex and gender, Graham is clear.

Evangelicals born with male sex organs are men.

Evangelicals born with female sex organs are women.

Evangelical men only marry women.

If you claim to be a Christian and you do not accept this Graham-evangelical-doctrine, then you are progressive. And you are wrong.

It’s no surprise to see his concern about justice. Graham does not deny that the Bible includes social and racial justice but he believes Progressive Christians deny “God’s justice—how a holy and just God deals with sinful and wicked men.”

[See Jesus’ good news in the mission statement in Luke 4:18.]

Graham's focus on theology deals with beliefs about the trinity, Jesus, salvation, the atonement, and more. You will need to read his article to get the details, which Graham calls “orthodox, Biblical Christianity.” Perhaps ironically, he closes with advice to pastors quoting 2 Timothy 4:2-5 from the New King James Version. The letters of Timothy pop up a lot. Those letters make it clear that a woman's place is not in the pulpit.

*****

Alisa

Paradoxically, a woman, Alisa Childers, teaches readers “5 Ways to Counter Progressive Christianity.” I write paradoxically because many Christian groups prohibit women from many or all leadership roles in church and the family. And some take a verse literally to mean women should not teach men (1 Timothy 2:12). Here we have Alisa teaching readers about progressive Christianity. Perhaps it's ok if a Christian woman teaches men in what she writes?

Alisa attacks her perception of progressive views on biblical authority (#1), biblical sexuality and the sanctity of life (#2). She advises readers to adhere to biblical morality and mentions “a historical Biblical sexual ethic (#3 ).” There’s a reference to “truth” (#4) and the importance of proclaiming the gospel (#5). 

****

Al

R. Albert Mohler Jr. offers a moral history lesson in “The Subversion of Christian Morality.” Al Mohler offers a brief history of morality leading up to the “sexual revolution.” Here’s his view:

One by one, major churches and denominations joined the sexual revolution and reformulated their teachings on divorce, birth control, premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality. These churches had destroyed any objective foundation for believing there are any consensual sexual behaviors that are inherently wrong. They did not resist the sexual revolution, they joined it.

Al’s view is that the problem stems from progressive’s denial of biblical authority. Al does not speak for those evangelicals who believe in the equality of women and men. Here’s a quote from Al May 10, 2021.


"Simply put, the only way to affirm women serving in the pastoral role is to reject the authority and sufficiency of biblical texts such as 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2."

The twin connection between biblical authority and sex is a recurrent message. It's true. Christians disagree about matters related to gender and sexuality. And it's true that the Bible does not address all these issues. Humans, mostly men, use their reasoning abilities to make statements about some matters not in the Bible.

*****

Erwin

Erwin Lutzer asks, “Making the Narrow Door Wider?” The lead picture is a classic church building sporting a rainbow flag. Erwin refers to Jesus' lesson about the “narrow door” in Luke 13. And he refers to “the broad road that leads to destruction.”

Interestingly, he offers a subtle difference from the attacks of others. Notice his comment on “Biblical authority.”

Progressive Christians do not reject Biblical authority outright; rather they purport to walk a middle path with the Bible in one hand and cultural sensitivity in the other.

Erwin is aware that progressive Christians focus on God’s love. He agrees but there is a but… 

But when we replace God’s view of love with our own view of what we think love requires, it can lead us to justify sinful behavior.”

Now the argument becomes challenging in the next paragraph. We may wonder if God’s love is conditional. Following is the quote:

Jesus clarified the meaning of love: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). To love God is to obey His Word.

Some Comments

As I have written about in A House Divided, Christians hold different views about morality. The morality of particular concern to evangelicals is related to sex and gender. My point in A House Divided, is that Christians in many congregations hold different views about these topics. Evangelicals themselves are divided about abortion, birth control, divorce and remarriage, the equality of women and men in the church and the home, and so forth.

The disagreements about biblical authority are not entirely fair because evangelical Christians who disagree about such things as the equality of women and men do not deny biblical authority. They simply interpret the texts in different ways.

Although there are identifiable differences between Graham’s evangelicalism and the leading writers we may categorize as Progressive Christians, there are differences between groups of evangelicals. And to be fair, there are differences between groups of people who might identify with the progressive movement.

[See Progressive Christianity to learn more about general beliefs and examples of authors.]

 

Psychological Notes

The presentation in Decision Magazine is an example of Terror Management Theory. In the face of a threat, that is Progressive Christianity, people who feel threatened become more conservative. As one may expect, the specter of death, and particularly eternal death, looms large in the concerns presented by the authors of Decision Magazine.

One way to analyze the differences between conservative and progressive views of sex-linked moral topics is to draw upon the findings of Moral Foundations Theory as presented by Haidt in The Righteous Mind. This is the approach I took in A House Divided. See reviews by Ev Worthington and Rod Bassett.

Abortion is a flaming hot topic in the United States. The Faultline Hypothesis may be helpful in identifying nuances in the disagreements among Christians and others in their views on an acceptable abortion (See The Faultline Hypothesis and Abortion). By nuances, I refer to the common concerns of the life of the mother, rape, and incest along with differences in when a woman may legally or ethically terminate her pregnancy.

Fundamentalism is a term often used when describing some conservative views of religion like those presented by Franklin Graham. The model of Intratextual Fundamentalism is one way to understand the link between the Bible and how it may be interpreted to support conservative beliefs. Of course, as many have written, conservatives disagree about text-based guidance.

Readers may want to think about research on the “divide and conquer” strategies used by some leaders in contrast to the promotion of group unity (e.g., see Maner, 2014). Franklin Graham and his team highlight the divisions between evangelical and progressive Christians (for examples of Progressive Christian writers). Some progressive Christians highlight the difference between their view of Christianity and the views of evangelicals. However, Brian D. McLaren promoted Christian unity in his popular book, A Generous Orthodoxy.

Ads

A House Divided: Sexuality Morality and Christian Cultures

-about conservative and progressive views of matters related to sex and gender

AMAZON     Kindle Version

 


 








A Generous Orthodoxy

-toward Christian unity in core Christianity












The Righteous Mind


- a look at the psychosocial foundations of morality based on research











God Forgive Us for Being Women

-an evangelical woman's perspective












I study and write about the psychology of religion

Please check out my website   www.suttong.com

   and see my books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE


Also, consider connecting with me on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    


You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     


  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 

 

Monday, May 31, 2021

Some Difficulties in Christian Higher Education Illustrate Sharp Divisions

 

College Students for Illustration only - not SBU

Various news sources have reported difficulties at a Southern Baptist University in Bolivar Missouri (Southwest Baptist University; SBU).

What’s going on behind the decisions? Some stories portray at least some concerns as a battle over academic freedom in the context of a conservative Christian university.

**********

Zach Manis was a tenured philosophy professor. The SBU board of trustees decided to close the philosophy program (Weinberg, 2020 Sept 18).

 

Previously, an SBU professor was terminated. According to Kaylor writing in Word & Way (2018): “On Nov. 28, officials at Southwest Baptist University fired a tenured associate professor after that professor met with Missouri Baptist Convention leaders over the past three years in an effort to drive out other professors in the school’s Redford College of Theology and Ministry.” Kaylor provides details of the actions and issues.

 

Wingfield reported news on October 22, 2020: “Southwest Baptist University president resigns in struggle with Missouri Baptist Convention.” The lead paragraph exposes the heart of the conflict.

Missouri Baptists continue to find themselves at the epicenter of the struggle between fundamentalism and non-fundamentalism that has dominated the Southern Baptist Convention publicly since 1979.

The latest casualty is Eric Turner, who abruptly resigned as president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., Oct. 20, just two years after being elected to the post.

 

Earlier this year, 26 February 2021, Ogle filed a report on the local KY3 News Site about protests at SBU. Ogle offers results from interviews. In addition to the end of the philosophy program, concerns about the behavioral sciences are relevant to my posts about psychology and religion. Ogle interacted with Brian Kaylor who believed the Behavioral Sciences were the next target (see more on this below).

 

Brian Kaylor observes May 14, 2021 that two decisions could make a difference in the future of the school. The Polk County Circuit Court and the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) are making decisions. Here’s what Kaylor wrote about the court case:

After MBC-appointed trustees at SBU adopted new governing documents last fall to give more legal control of the school to the MBC, a former trustee, a professor, and a student filed petitions in February and March to block the documents. A judge heard oral arguments in the case on March 5. The various parties continued to file claims and counterarguments after the hearing, but the last filing came on March 16.

The HLC has two investigations in progress. Of interest to academia and faith-based institutions is the commitment to academic freedom. A second investigation deals with the denial of tenure and termination of the director of the Social Work program (Kaylor, 2021).

 

Most recently, Redden posted a story in Inside Higher Ed with an intriguing headline “A ‘Hostile Takeover’” (2021, May 25). Her lead paragraphs report questions the trustees asked a professor of social work. The questions involved creationism and homosexuality. Redden identifies what faculty need to affirm. Thanks to her work, I will include the links to the documents.

Baptist Faith & Message 2000

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

Danvers Statement

Nashville Statement

Again, relevant to this blog is the denial of tenure to psychology professor, Debbie Walker.

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Those of us on the outside will likely never know the details of the struggle at SBU. The list of documents that faculty must affirm offer some insight into the importance of beliefs faculty must affirm and support. Indeed, a look at the documents reveals a set of beliefs consistent with what most would call Christian fundamentalism. Of course, not all fundamentalists agree since there are obviously a variety of Christian groups. Nevertheless, there is a pattern of reading the Bible like other Christian conservatives do with an emphasis on literal or near literal interpretations of the texts.

A word of caution is in order. Faculty, staff, students, and parents supporting their student’s expenses should look carefully at the official positions of a college or university on matters of faith and morality. Several years at a place where one is at odds with the official positions of the school can lead to considerable distress.

In the case of SBU, it appears things have changed. That can be difficult to plan for. One thing people can do is look at the official positions of the church or denomination associated with a particular college or university with the idea in mind that faculty and staff might be required to demonstrate their loyalty and faithfulness to the way the denominational leaders interpret the Bible and reason about science and culture.

**********

 I write about psychology and religion. One book looking at some topics relevant to the concerns at SBU is A House Divided



Please check out my website   www.suttong.com

   and see my books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Also, consider connecting with me on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

 


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

SUBMISSIVE WOMEN DOMINATE





The rise of women to diverse positions of power in many world cultures marks a change in the historical record of male domination. Yet, in politics, religion, and family life, the predominant role for women is less than equal.

Pictures of Muslim women wearing the Burka, Niqab, or Hijab remind us of the powerful role of religious traditions in prescribing what women wear.

In preparing a presentation about biblical gender roles, I was reminded again of the consistent pattern of male leadership in the Bible­­—including those specific verses telling women to submit to their husbands.

In this post, I want to look at some ways women have emerged from the stifling grip of male-dominated Christian traditions. I will leave it to others to examine what is happening in other religious cultures.

Men Rule by God!

In the opening biblical stories, it is not long before Eve finds her place in a narrative that keeps women in submission for thousands of years. Paul, the traditional author of 1 Timothy 2, takes his readers back to the first few chapters of the Bible to explain the importance of “full submission” for women.

Of course, one text doesn’t make a doctrine. But the pattern of female submission, based on the order of creation, the teaching that the first woman led a man into sin, and the God ordained male leadership role (Genesis 3:16) remains the norm for male-female relationships in much of Christendom.

“Wives, submit yourselves…” (Ephesians 5:22 NIV). In this New Testament document, Paul explains the biblical hierarchy for family life as part of his teaching about the church. The message of wives submitting to men is repeated in Colossians 3 and 1 Timothy 2 as well as 1 Peter 3. The words are pretty similar so, it is easy to see why Christian women have lived in submission to men for thousands of years.

People used to joke about marriage being a “ball and chain” for men. In truth, women were the ones in bondage. Their only biblical methods for escape from a bad marriage were the death of a husband or divorce based on the husband’s adultery (e.g., Matthew 19; 1 Corinthians 7). In reality, men controlled political and religious power and thus determined who could divorce whom. And because women could not be in authority over men and were relegated to salvific childcare by God (1 Timothy 2:15), there was not much of a chance for women to live independently of a man.

Women as Helpful Property

We should not forget that women were created to be helpers for men (Genesis 2). In the “rapist rule,” women had no obvious control over their life. In Deuteronomy 22, a rapist must pay the girl’s father and marry his raped girl-victim for life. It’s common knowledge in Christian cultures that only men could have multiple wives and concubines. The biblical accounts make it clear that having a lot of beautiful women was evidence of God’s blessing.

Revising Men’s Bibles

So many things have happened in the past century in terms of male-female relationships that it is impossible to point to any one event as the primary reason for women approaching equality with men.

The links in the chain of submission include education, employment, and birth control. Ironically, two World Wars enhanced the role of women in those nations most involved in the wars. It’s only been about 100 years that women have gained the right to vote.

Following the revision of societal traditions of male dominance, women and men have begun to tackle the Christian submission narrative. Liberal divorce laws enabled women to separate from abusive men. In the last few decades, divorce among Christians has risen as it has in secular cultures. Divorced and remarried Christians are welcomed in most churches. The biblical text hasn’t changed but the narrative of condemnation has been silenced.

A number of churches hire women as clergy and support women in higher leadership positions. Religious people depend on text-linked arguments to justify changes. Women and men have promoted the few biblical examples of women in various leadership roles in ancient Israel (e.g., Miriam, Deborah) as well as during the early church (Mary, Tabitha). And they point to some examples of how Jesus interacted in kind and respectful ways toward women.

Revisionists highlight bits of text to show that there is no difference in God’s kingdom between men and women (Galatians 3:28). They remind congregants of mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21). And argue that many biblical teachings were specific to a godly life within an ancient culture or even a subculture.

A quick look at challenges to the restrictions in 1 Timothy 2 can be found at the Junia Project post by Gail Wallace. She makes five points worthy of consideration: 1. The translation of the word authority, 2. Failure to apply literal interpretations to other texts, 3. Ignoring the personal letter context, 4. Elevating these verses above other verses, 5. Logical problems in putting the text into practice.

Some like Karen King take an even stronger approach as she challenges men’s views of the Biblical texts. Not only does she point to leadership roles for women and challenge the negative narrative about Mary Magdalene, but she also refers to other texts (e.g., Gospel of Mary) left out of the Bible.

Will Christian Women Ever Attain Full Equality?

It is hard to imagine a world in which the Pope and Patriarchs of Christian Orthodox churches will be women. But it is not hard to see that women will continue to increase in shared decision-making power with men in many Christian groups, including the Catholic Church.

I suspect there will always be groups of Christians who will remain bound by traditional understandings of the biblical texts. Even in these conservative groups, the recent revisions in narratives have emphasized the importance of love and respect such that men are taught that leadership in homes requires them to love their wives as Christ loved the church.

Men have found crafty ways to maintain control or perhaps a semblance of biblical leadership. For example, women may be the pastors of churches or the CEOs of Christian organizations and Christian colleges but the denominational leader or head of the board is still a chairMAN.

When pressed about love, some men are  quick to point out that love is sometimes tough and that, as in medical care, sometimes pain is justified to save a life.

Notes

An interesting documentary, The Ascent of Woman, looked at the history of women and provided many examples of women left out of dominant narratives of history.

In A House Divided, I cover submission in the context of marriage in Chapter 8. In Chapter 10 I discuss biblical views of women and men.

A House Divided is available from the publisher, PICKWICK, and other booksellers, including AMAZON.



See the Gender Inequality Index for a general view of women and men in the world.

The conservative publication, Christianity Today, often includes stories of women in ministry.

After writing this post, I noticed that George Paul Wood posted a Podcast of an interview with Waldemar Kowalski questioning limitations to women's leadership in churches based on 1 Timothy 2:8-15.