Some members of my congregation at Bogwulf Baptist have been asking me to explain Complementarianism. And clearly it is a very long word. But the essence is that men and women originated differently in the Creation. Since Adam was created, and then Eve, it is obvious that Adam must be more in God's image than Eve - because surely there was the possibility for a genetic mutation, even between Adam's creation and Eve's drawing-out from his side.
And then Eve fell first, followed by Adam. So no matter how far men are fallen, women are just that slightly further.
In days gone by, the division between men and women was clear. Men, in less fear of hell than women (due to being made more in the image of God, and slightly less fallen) were bigger, stronger and generally more suited for the dangerous jobs - fighting, hunting, reaping. While women needed longer lives to repent, and were smaller, so needed to stay at home scraping animal hides, or if they had to go into the fields, gleaning.
Now, we have machines to do our agriculture and killing for us. And so it is important that we consider what men and women's roles should now be. I hope this list helps. I have restricted this list to Church life - but I am sure you can see from this example how things can be expanded to the rest of life - the home, or the workplace.
Woman-friendly activities
Cleaning
Making tea
Making coffee
Flower arranging
Welcoming
Sunday School leading
Singing
Playing Acoustic guitars
Making quiche
Playing Flute
Tidying
Swooning
Holding coffee mornings
Attending Bright Hours
Drawing up rotas (in a suitable position of submission to the leader)
Being pretty
Creche
Leading Bible Study (as long as it is attended by other women, and is not too taxing a passage)
Listening to praise CDs
Visiting the lame
Banner-making.
Man-friendly activities
Drumming
Leading.
Somehow, this reminds me of my father, generally a very fair-minded and reasonable man, explaining to me, at my first real summer job, that it made sense that I got one of the lower-paying ones that involved sitting in a hot dusty little room wearing a breathing mask... let's not go into details; let's just say it involved working with a lot of dried mud, and the only redeeming quality was that it didn't involve caring for small children.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, girls were good at that sort of work, they had more patience. If boys were assigned to that work, they'd get bored, sloppy and careless. So they were given the field jobs, which just by coincidence paid more....
I suspect that your idea of complementarianism is the definition of someone brought up with an over protective mother. You were probably kept in skirts (like Victorian or Edwardian children) until you were due to attend school.
ReplyDeleteYou played with dolls and helped in the kitchen and generally doing those girlish things that your mother thought best for you.
Now, you're having an extreme reaction and seeking to 'man up' by denigrating women in this way. There is nothing scriptural about your views, just pure reaction to your treatment.
I 'real man' celebrates the equality of women and their ability to do things more thoroughly, and quickly than most men. Jealousy is probably mixed into this, and feelings of inadequacy.
You need to put on a skirt, makeup and heels and go down to the White Horse and get in the Saloon bar with the builders. You'll soon learn about discrimination.
Ouch, my head hurts. Does UKViewer believe this to be a serious post on complementariamism (surely not); or is their comment a work of comic genius? Should they be belated or congratulated? I can't decide. I'm off to lie down in a darkened room for a while.
ReplyDeleteUKViewer is a reliable source of truth and sound doctrine. And Drayton Parslow was most concerned to hear what the builders are wearing at the White Horse. He thought it was only the bikers that went down there in heels.
DeleteYoung Keith, meanwhile, is wondering when they added the saloon bar.