How much of a feminist am I?

You Are 53% Feminist

You aren't a total traditionalist when it comes to gender roles. But you're no feminist either. You generally think that women should be treated as equals, but you're not convinced the world should be gender neutral.

Are You a Feminist?

This was somewhat surprising. According to the results of this survey, I’m not as anti-feminist as I thought I was. Actually, as is true of many surveys, some questions were quite difficult to answer in a 100% accurate way, because of how they were worded.

One of the survey questions dealt with women and careers. I think this is where I picked up some feminist points. You see, I do not believe that mothers absolutely must stay at home and raise the children. I think that’s ideal, but economic realities sometimes call for other arrangements. Throughout nearly 17 years of marriage, by God’s plan, I’ve never, ever earned an income sufficient to meet the needs of my family. We’ve always needed two incomes to survive financially. And, to date, my wife has always earned more than me.

Perhaps this economic reality has forced me to be a bit more liberal in my thoughts on women than some of my fellow conservative, Christian brothers. Please understand: I don’t knock stay-at-home motherhood—not at all. I was raised by a stay-at-home “mom” who worked in the home. Grandma, you see, was a “hairdresser” who operated a shop in our basement. She was simultaneously stay-at-home mom and career woman. However, there also happen to be some outstanding mothers (like my wife) who have careers outside the home.

Part 8 of Grudem interview

Whew! This is some interview!

We're now up to Part 8 of Adrian Warnock's interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem. Today's post focuses on the future, with Dr. Grudem's thoughts concerning how churches will resolve the feminist issue, as well as hopeful signs for the future of the evangelical Church in the US and the UK.

What Dr. Grudem says about churches where an egalitarian view has taken hold remind me of my former denomination. In many ways, from what I observed during my time there (and I've only been gone eight years), the denomination is but a depressing shadow of its former self. Every kind of influence is rushing in to fill the vacuum created by the absence of real spiritual substance: liberal theology, feminism, Pentecostalism, health & wealth heresy, etc. Some of the local churches that I know about have declined terribly in just the past 15 years. My own "home church" has "Ichabod" written all over it. It's heart-breaking.

The future for the Bible-believing evangelical Church is much more hopeful, according to Dr. Grudem, but in addition to hopeful signs he sees indications that God is "exposing sin and 'cleaning house' ". This made me think. When the Ted Haggard scandal broke, a male prostitute was pointed to as the one that exposed Haggard. But, had it occurred to us that God is the one who exposed Ted Haggard, and all the rest who have fallen by the wayside over the years?

This is sobering. Are we prepared to be "exposed" by God?

Now, there's something to think about.

Still more on "Women in Ministry"

Adrian Warnock has posted part 5 of his interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem on the issue of evangelical feminism. Check it out. This is a growing issue/problem in the evangelical church. Dr. Grudem feels (and I happen to agree) that evangelical feminism is a path to theological liberalism. When one looks at the mainline denominations, one of the common denominators is the recognition of female clergy. I think if you can dismiss or creatively “interpret” Scripture to affirm female clergy, it’s only a matter of time before you relax Scriptural standards in other areas. I think the issue is fundamentally one of submission to God’s authority.

There is also the issue of contentment. Are we content with God’s order for the family and the church? Or do we think we know better than God how the family and the church ought to function? The apostle Paul wrote, “Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches” (1 Corinthians 7:17). He also wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Philippians 4:11). The problem is, some church women, influenced by the worldly feminism of our culture, are no longer content to be and function as God created them. It’s the curse playing itself out in the church: Rather than finding fulfillment as “a helper fit for [or “corresponding to”] him” (Genesis 2:18), these daughters of Eve strive and fight to prove they’re “just as capable as any man.” Isn’t this what God said would occur? “Your desire shall be for [or “against”] your husband…” (Genesis 3:16). Not only is there the sin of discontentment in this push for female pastors and teachers in the church, there is the sin of covetousness.

Anyway, be sure you read Part 5 of Adrian Warnock’s interview of Dr. Wayne Grudem. If you missed the other parts, you can read them here: Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4. Also, there is this response of Dr. Grudem to a critic.

Women in Ministry and Evangelical Feminism

I am so grateful to God for His sovereign care of Christ’s sheep. As I’ve stated before, I grew up in an historically Black denomination. I would consider my former denomination “mainline”, since it is a member of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches (even though there is still a world of difference between a Black mainline church and a White mainline church). At any rate, I’m amazed that I’m saved at all, given my church background. For instance, I don’t remember the gospel ever being preached in any church I was a part of in this denomination (I mean, the true, biblical gospel), and it seems very few, if any, were ever converted through the ministry of the church (I know I wasn’t). There was no such thing as church discipline; pastors could sin scandalously, and with impunity. And I could go on and on and on...

The result of such a church environment is that I’ve had to learn a whole lot on my own, when it comes to Scripture and how the church is supposed to function. My views on quite a few things have changed drastically over the years, as I’ve grown in my understanding of what the Bible teaches. One such area in which I’ve changed my views is that of women in the pastoral ministry.

I grew up with the idea of female pastors being a given. My old denomination began ordaining women to the ministry something like 58 years ago. They began ordaining women for the pastorate about 42 years ago, if I remember correctly. By the time I came along (I’m 43), no one questioned anymore the idea of female pastors. For instance, when I was a child, we had a pastor whose wife was also an ordained minister, and she functioned as his assistant. And, everyone was okay with that.

After I entered the ministry, I got to know many female ministers and pastors. There are some female pastors that, to this day, I highly respect for their integrity and Christian example (You have to understand, I’ve known some real, bona fide scoundrels who were pastors. The fact that these women conducted themselves in a godly manner, kept themselves free from scandal and lovingly cared for their churches made them worthy of respect, as far as I was concerned.). However, as I read the Bible, it seemed to me that there was no biblical support for female pastors and elders. This presented a personal dilemma, for I trusted Scripture as the infallible Word of God, and yet, here I was, a minister in a denomination that supported women’s full inclusion in ministry (and that wasn’t going to change).

For a while, to resolve this growing personal conflict, I read and considered the arguments of Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), since they put forward Scriptural reasons for supporting women in ministry. This worked until I came across the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), of which Dr. Wayne Grudem was one of the founders. I had (and still have) great respect for Dr. Grudem, having taken one of his classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and I always found his interpretations of Scripture to be well-reasoned and true to the text. So, his affiliation with CBMW automatically gave that organization credibility in my sight. Gradually, I came to view CBMW’s arguments as more sound and true to Scripture than those of CBE. In time I came to understanding that the practice of ordaining women to the pastorate and as elders was unbiblical.

This change in my views came about as God taught me His Word. Sometimes it was through a Bible teacher or preacher on the radio, sometimes it was through a Christian book or magazine (or the articles of organizations like CBMW), but, one way or another, God taught me, and He ultimately led me out of my former denomination. God takes care of His own, and I thank Him for that.

A change in my views occurred because I had a heart that was receptive to God’s Word. If I was shown that the Word clearly taught something contrary to what I believed, I was willing to change my beliefs in order to conform to God’s Word. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me” (John 10:27).

This is why I’m troubled by the growing influence of feminism in the evangelical church. It seems a growing number of people in “Bible-believing” churches are unwilling to change their beliefs even when those beliefs are contrary to God’s Word. Adrian Warnock has been posting an interview he conducted with Dr. Wayne Grudem, the author of the recently published book, Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism.

You should read this interview. Adrian has posted it in parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Also read "Wayne Grudem Replies to a Critic".

I also recommend you get ahold of Dr. Grudem’s book.