Read

 

"Read"

I came to appreciate the great blessing of being raised by parents who enjoyed reading. My mother was not so much of a book reader, but she was always (if memory serves me) reading a magazine, and she read to my brother and me often before we started school. She also loved Reader’s Digest’s condensed articles. My dad was a prolific reader from a young age. Raised in a large Oklahoma sharecropper family, Dad was taught to read at age 4 by one of his older sisters. He was often so caught up reading that he missed meals because his dad would not allow any second calls to the supper table. Dad’s interest in what he was reading overcame his hunger. And missing meals to read caused physical harm. He grew to only 6’ 3” and 230 lbs.

The benefit to me of that kind of home environment (I remember that dad usually read an entire book after supper before he went to bed!) was that I didn’t need convincing that reading was important. Couple that with Miss Daggs’ use of phonics to give me a great start in school my first year, and Mrs. Randal in second grade, and I had the advantage of reading parents who encouraged reading and superb teachers who were very effective. That said, I read little until after my conversion.

After reading the Bible through after coming to Christ, the first book I bought and read was “The Genesis Flood” by Whitcomb and Morris, a great read. That was more than fifty-two years ago, and I am still reading. However, three things about reading surface in my retirement musings.

If you read my Ministerial Musings blog, you might recall that my last contribution mentioned having been a student at a dozen colleges, universities, and seminaries. In none of those schools (some of which were very good experiences and others not so good) do I have any recollection of a teacher or professor pointing out that the class should read, read, and read some more. But readers can often tell who reads, and students who look for readers uncover clues that convince them the person standing in front of them is a serious reader. By the way, so do Church members.

So, upon reflection, and perhaps because they were so convinced of the importance of reading that they could not imagine their students not recognizing the importance of reading, I recall no one doing for me what I am attempting to do for you, which is challenge you to read, read, and read some more. I am especially challenging Gospel ministers and those who anticipate entering the ministry at some point to read, read, and then read. But read what? Read everything! You would be surprised at how many 18th and 19th-century American frontier preachers in the West and Southeast entered the ministry with a meager education and little formal training, but because they read, read, and continued to read over time, were blessed by God with incredible breadth and depth.

It goes without saying that God’s Word is primary. Read God’s Word. Read it some more. Study God’s Word. Memorize God’s Word. Hide God’s Word in your heart (not the same as memorizing!). But a person is foolish to read only God’s Word. An illustration and then an explanation.

Readers of history might be a bit surprised by the number of schools established to train Gospel ministers (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Southern Seminary, etc.) that had professors of note who not only taught Hebrew, Greek, and homiletics, but also mathematics, chemistry, and geometry. That could not have happened if those professors had read and studied only the Bible! The benefits of reading are too numerous to recount here, so I will provide only three:

Reading to learn rather than reading as a form of escapism requires a measure of humility that concerns me in the case of preachers who don’t read. A Missouri pastor (to remind you of something already blogged) told a new member (a retired pastor who is a longtime friend of mine who had a ten-thousand-volume library) that he did not read. My friend asked him what he did instead of reading. He said, “I listen to podcasts.” My friend told me it showed. Podcasts, though great while driving, are very poor substitutes for reading, and are in no way comparable to studying.

Reading to learn, even a book not directly related to God’s Word, is a form of sitting at someone’s feet who has gone to a great deal of trouble to compile and present something for the benefit of others. Thus, to open the book to consider what the author has offered requires humility: to be the learner as someone else seeks to teach, to train, to inform. Therefore, it is a false display of humility to proudly insist that there is benefit to reading only God’s Word. As well, consider that reading a book is rightly understood to be a conversation with the author, and who has not benefited from an interaction with someone who has a different opinion because of a different perspective, or a different study of the subject matter?

This brings up yet another reason for reading: to sharpen your edge. I once learned of a Baptist pastor who admonished preachers to read only books written by men in his camp. I heartily disagree with that naive and childish approach to reading. While I do not suggest reading heretics (and I mean real heretics), one reason to read men with whom you have some disagreements is to face in a straightforward fashion challenges to your positions. And if you have read God’s Word or ever sharpened a knife or ax or hatchet (Proverbs 27.17: “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”), you can see the benefit that comes from a bit of friction.

So much is missed by shallow men who refuse to read Spurgeon or Lloyd-Jones or Pink because they were five-point Calvinists, or refused to read Tozer because he was an Arminian. Thus, while one reason to read is to learn from one who teaches you, another reason to read is to sharpen your edge by developing your positions (if they are right) so you don’t have to fall back on the declaration so often used by those who refuse to put in the hard work of reading (“That’s our stand.”).

I know a well-read younger pastor who was heartbroken as a new believer when a single question forever chilled his relationship with his beloved pastor. Reading First Thessalonians, he asked his pastor, “What is election?” His pastor did not want to discuss the word. When the then-new Christian pressed just a bit to discuss the word election (he was sincerely curious), their relationship effectively ended because his pastor did not want to talk about it!

As he related this to me, I was reminded of my first pastor’s attitude toward such questions. It began with me asking, “What is the church?” To which my pastor responded with his standard response to every question posed to him, “That’s a very fine question, and the subject of my current study. When I arrive at a settled position, I will get back to you.” But he never did, and it was the same response I received to every question I asked him. When I asked other members, they told me he gave them the same response.

Whether the pastor of a small congregation or a Church of multiplied thousands, a man who is not open to questions, is not eager to address the questions of his members, or who does not create scenarios where questions can be fielded by him, is a man who is likely not widely read, who probably does not study God’s Word, and is fearful of being asked questions he cannot adequately answer.

I know, I know. I am meandering a bit. Do you know where the word meander comes from? Everything in this blog is preparatory (for me more than for you) to urging you to read, read, and read even more. In preparation for a life of reading, you need to not only learn how to read, but also how to read well, and you also need to learn how to read a book. Yes, there is much more to reading any book than just opening it and reading.

I have been a reader for seventy years! I have been a prolific reader for half a century. But it was less than ten years ago that I stumbled across a book I wish I had known about when I was young: “How To Read A Book.” It was originally written by Mortimer J. Adler in 1940 and revised in 1972. “This book teaches you how to read books effectively, including how to understand, analyze, and extract information from different genres.” And if you think you can be anywhere near the pastor you ought to be without being a prolific reader, there is a part of the Gospel ministry that will forever be well out of your reach.

Buy this book. Read this book, however long it takes you. Then read it again in five years. You will thank me for recommending it to you.

HOW TO SPOT A FEMINIST: One pastor’s opinion

 

"HOW TO SPOT A FEMINIST: One pastor’s opinion"

Ecclesiastes 1.9-11 reads,

⁹ The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

The essence of these three verses is that human behavior and conduct down through the ages is repetitive and not new, and that succeeding generations will not remember the behavior of previous generations so as to learn for the future from things that have already occurred. Should you want to prepare yourself to more carefully deal with what may be a jarring read, I will provide links to the Internet for you to examine and reflect on the issues I deal with.   What I will present to you might very well trouble you, so I strongly advise you to take advantage of what I am offering you.

First, please watch the five minute video titled “Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity,” which presents the opinion of the Christian martyr during World War Two named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who reflected deeply on the nature of the evil that he observed in Nazi Germany.¹

Next, spend a moment or two thinking about the towering intellect, C. S. Lewis’ observation commonly labeled Chronological Snobbery.²

Third, there is the Dunning-Kruger Effect, the tendency of ignorant people to wildly overestimate both their intelligence and their understanding of situations they are woefully uninformed about.³

Fourth, there is the “Semmelweis-reflex.”   The label “Semmelweis-reflex” was coined to describe the automatic rejection of ideas without giving them the slightest thought, inspection, or experiment, simply because they challenge entrenched paradigms. Claiming that hand washing would save lives, Ignaz Semmelweis faced ridicule and strong opposition from medical colleagues.

I mention these four observations in addition to the passage I provided from Ecclesiastes because far too many people behave in predictable, rather thoughtless, and profoundly unwise ways contrary to their own long-term self-interests.  Of all the topics I might choose to focus on that fall into the predictable, thoughtless, and unwise category, there is one area of interest that I find most provocative: feminism.

Feminism is so pervasive, so influential, and so utterly destructive that I must do more than offer passing remarks, criticisms, and observations about it from time to time.   I must present this opinion that I have titled “HOW TO SPOT A FEMINIST: One pastor’s opinion.”   Why would someone want to spot a feminist?

There are two reasons: First, if after reading this article you spot a feminist while looking in the mirror, you will be faced with the need for and opportunity to repent. Or, if after reading this article, you spot a feminist in your observations of others, you will know to be wary of those who are potential threats to themselves, to you, and to others as purveyors of demonic doctrine and a decidedly anti-Christian worldview.

Since this is a survey, I will briefly touch on issues on the fly. Do not imagine my remarks are not only documented but also mature from years of study, reflection, and observation. This brief article may serve as the foundation for a book, but for now, it will serve as a skeleton for framing an introductory alert that I trust will be beneficial to the young, the spiritually inexperienced, and those who are humbly receptive.

I present six points:

First, IGNORE WHAT THE FEMINIST SAYS, ATTEND TO WHAT THE FEMINIST DOES

Helen Reddy used to sing the song, “I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman.” None of those things are actually true, because according to the Bible no one is strong, no one is invincible, and the political left can no longer identify what a woman is. Podcaster Matt Walsh famously produced a movie in 2022 titled “What is a woman?”   He was unable to find healthcare professionals who could clearly and distinctly define what a woman is, though they loudly proclaim themselves to be feminists. At the end of the movie, it was Walsh’s wife who provided a definition, stating that a woman is an adult biological female. On top of all that, we have a DEI Supreme Court Associate Justice who could not answer the question, “What is a woman?” because she said she is not a biologist!

Feminists proclaim their advocacy for women. They do this while urging women everywhere to engage in the murder of their unborn, to stridently oppose the spiritual leadership of their husbands if they are married, and to engage in a deadening and life-destroying sexual promiscuity. Back in the day, leaders of the feminist movement, such as Betty Friedan, pretended to be ordinary housewives who advocated for women, but were in fact committed and determined Marxists set on the destruction of American culture, no matter the cost to women.⁴

Regardless of what feminists say they believe, they are more often than not recognizable by their tendency to bristle in the presence of men who are not metrosexuals, men who are not beta males, and men who are and who act like gentlemen.

Next, NOTE THAT INFLUENCE IS NOT THE ISSUE FOR THE FEMINIST, BUT AGENDA

The Bible is remarkably clear in prescribing the relationship God has designed for married men and women.⁵ The relationship is not so much defined by intelligence, competency, or character. While the relationship is affected by those three factors, the spiritual leader in a marriage is always the husband, never the wife.

While the Bible presents strong evidence of a wife's increasing influence over her husband over time, establishing that the mind of God has always provided for female influence in a marriage, it is supposed to be the leader who sets the agenda. To state the matter another way, the husband establishes the agenda for their marriage and for their family. Regardless of the agenda that appears to be implemented by a determined and thoughtful wife, it cannot be a good agenda, nor will it be a wholesome agenda, if it is not the agenda established by a godly husband.

Regardless of what is obvious from a consideration of the Bible, and regardless of what the feminist says about loving God and wanting to exalt Jesus, if she drives her family’s agenda and generally sets the course for the family, she is not exhibiting a love for God and is certainly not demonstrating an effort to exalt Jesus Christ. That is undeniable.

Third, OBSERVE THE TACTICS EMPLOYED BY THE FEMINIST, AND THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE TACTICS

Consider only the tactic employed by the feminist mother of an infant or toddler when dealing with her husband, or the father of her child. Notice how frequently her conduct demonstrates her view that she does have, and certainly ought to have, the final say with regard to the disposition of the child. She, and only she, serves as the final arbiter of the children's welfare.

If there is a disagreement regarding the activities of the child, regarding the welfare of the child, regarding the recreation of the child, regarding the nutrition of the child, regarding the correction and discipline the child, when push comes to shove, the feminist demonstrates her tactical approach to the child’s father with regard to ultimate authority.   That is her tactic.

What is her strategy? Her strategy is to establish herself as the ultimate authority in the child’s life, at all costs.   By establishing herself as the ultimate authority in the life of a child, of course, she diminishes the authority of God in the life of the child, and the authority of her husband in the life of the child, the child’s father. The feminist deviates from the established biblical chain of command as a strategy, using various tactics.   The strategy replaces God and God’s designee as the head of the household with his wife, who is described in the Bible as his helper.

Thus, feminism emasculates men in their homes, in front of their children, and in society as a whole, with the court system in our country being all in with regard to the replacement of fathers as heads of the household with mothers. It has proven to be an effective strategy.

Fourth, SOME BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF FEMINISTS

My working definition of a woman who is a feminist is a woman whose actions undermine the role God has assigned to men, usually her husband, while exalting herself to a position in the marriage (if she is married) and the home that was never intended by God.

First, of course, there was Eve. We see her insubordination in Genesis chapter 3, in the Garden of Eden, where she presumed to ignore her God-assigned role as Adam’s helper. Without deferring to her husband as she ought to have, she made a fatal error by exercising authority she did not legitimately possess, and compounded her error by then offering the forbidden fruit to her husband.

Next, Potiphar’s wife. We are introduced to this character in the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob, and great-grandson of Abraham, after he was sold into Egyptian slavery and was serving in the house of Potipher. Potipher’s wife attempted to seduce the young man, tempting him to not only commit sin with her but also commit the sin of betraying her husband. Potipher’s wife attempted to sin against her own body, sinned against Joseph, and undermined with her disloyalty the position of her husband in his household and in their marriage.

Third, David’s wife, Michal. After the sweet psalmist of Israel killed the Philistine giant, Goliath, he was taken into the household of Israel’s first king, Saul, who gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife. After Saul’s jealousy drove David away for fear of his life, Saul gave his daughter to a second husband because he was confident he would succeed in his efforts to kill David. He failed. David became king. Once restored to her first and rightful husband, David, Michal publicly ridiculed her husband for dancing with delight before the Ark of the Covenant as it was being relocated.⁶ Rather than being the helper God designed her to be as his wife, Michal destroyed her own marriage with her out-of-control mouth, which is somewhat typical of feminists. No wonder Solomon wrote a great deal about such mouthy wives in Proverbs.

Fourth, Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. Jezebel is the virtual prototype of the manipulative and controlling wife who overwhelmed her pathetically weak husband with the determination of her strong personality. Jezebel was a condescending and arrogant wife, treating her husband as the adolescent he too often behaved like. So many marriages these days are arrangements between an adult man-child and a grown woman who treats the man she is married to more like her oldest son than she defers to him as the spiritual leader and head of the household.

Fifth, Athaliah. Most people do not recognize this woman, who usurped the throne in Judah when her son, the king, died. She sought to murder everyone in her son’s extended family to preserve her position, but failed in her plan when her grandson’s life was preserved. Like so many of the feminists before her, Athaliah was ruthless.

Had I more space, I could flesh out the explanations of these feminists' efforts that denigrated the men in their lives, usually in a very public way, while giving no thought to the plan and purpose of God when He established the family unit.

Fifth, SOME BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF FEMININITY

Be careful to note from the examples I will share with you that none of the women mentioned are perfect. Just as there is no such thing as a perfect man, other than the Savior, there is no such thing as a perfect woman. The women that I will list for you, whether named or described, were women whose lives were touched by the grace of God, showing what can be in the life of a godly woman.

First, Sarah. At first, her name was Sarai, bitterness. But God changed her name and her heart, and Sarah became an example of faith. Mentioned by the Apostle Paul twice in his letter to the Romans, Sarah’s faith is also mentioned in Hebrews 11.11. And in first Peter 3.6 she is held up by the apostle as an example for all wives to follow.

Next, Abigail. If you have been around me for very long, you know that Abigail is one of my favorites, being a sterling example of how to make a biblical appeal to someone occupying a position of unassailable authority. Abigail was not without her issues, related to the fact that she was married to a fool. That said, in most respects, she was an example for women to follow.

Third, Bathsheba. Our introduction to Bathsheba in the Word of God raises many questions about the wife of Uriah the Hittite, such as her complicity with King David, their act of adultery, her failure to cry out in the city, David’s subsequent murder of her husband, and her willingness to participate in the cover-up of her pregnancy. At the end of David’s life, however, we see Bathsheba cooperating and collaborating with the prophet Nathan, going the extra mile to honor her now feeble and aged husband, and suggesting that in many ways she was not at the end of her life anything like the young woman she was at the beginning of her life. There is evidence of her growth in grace over time.

Fourth, Proverbs 31.10-31. Much could be said about the virtuous woman described in this chapter, but for lack of time. She is an example of an extremely accomplished woman and wife whose conduct in no way detracted from her husband’s reputation.

Fifth, Esther. The Jewish girl who became the queen of Persia could not have survived if she had been as explicitly obedient to the Mosaic Law as the prophet Daniel had been. Nevertheless, while she was a flawed individual (and who is not flawed?), she demonstrated wisdom in her dealings with her husband. There is much about her conduct as the wife of King Ahasuerus that women of all ages might benefit from emulating.

Sixth, Dorcas / Tabitha and Lydia. The woman in Acts 9 was likely of low station. The woman of Acts chapter 16 was likely a woman of high station, a businesswoman. Yet, whether occupying a low station of life or a high station of life, nothing is said about either woman that would even slightly suggest they were not exemplary of Christian womanhood.

Seventh, Titus 2.1-5:

¹ But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

² That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

³ The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

⁴ That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

⁵ To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

This passage only scratches the surface regarding womanhood, being a wife, and being a mother. There is so much generational knowledge that needs to be passed from experienced, aged, godly women to young women who know nothing about womanhood, nothing about being a wife, and nothing about being a mother. Yet feminism produces females who imagine there is nothing for them to learn from others.

Eighth, First Peter 3.1:

"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives."

Of course, the passage that begins with this verse runs through verse six, but I would like to point out a single truth. The Christian woman who’s married to a non-Christian man, or an unspiritual and disobedient Christian man, is provided with a directive. Notice what the directive does not do. It does not direct the wife to take the reins of leadership in the marriage or in the home. At no time is the Christian woman authorized to seize control of the family because her husband is lax in the performance of his duties, obligations, and responsibilities as the spiritual leader in his home. This the feminist cannot abide.

Finally, SOME BIBLICAL ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH THE FEMINIST THREAT

This advice is good for dealing with any kind of spiritual threat, but the focus at this time is the existential threat of feminism, which has overthrown the established roles of husbands and wives in marriage, and men and women in society:

First, seek advice. Most of what I am saying about feminism is for men, while recognizing that men are the least likely to seek advice when it is needed. People laugh at a man who is lost and refuses to ask for directions, but it is a reminder of the tendency among so many men to think it is more important to act on their idea than to make the right decision. Much of what comes into a man’s mind is just really stupid, and the reason so many men don’t want to talk about what they’re thinking about doing is that in the back of our mind we know that when we put into words what we’re thinking about doing, the words coming out of our mouth will sound stupid, because they are stupid. Men really need to seek advice. It is not beneficial to anyone for men to refuse to seek advice when making important decisions. In the multitude of counsel there is safety.

Second, don’t expect what you don’t inspect. This runs parallel to that great theologian, Ronald Reagan, who always urged people to trust but verify. There are sometimes things going on in a man’s house that he knows nothing about, because he is not paying attention. Too often, men make the notoriously bad decision that their wives’ actions and decisions do not need oversight. Excuse me, the importance of oversight in no way suggests that your wife is not intelligent, is not wise, and might not be a better decision-maker than you are. But you are abandoning your God-given role as a spiritual leader if you do not engage in the oversight of every aspect of your marriage and family, including the decisions that your wife makes. If she is making good decisions and you take note of them, it will only enhance her value to you and your confidence in her wisdom.

Third, let me recommend the book “A Theology of the Family.”⁷ No matter how long you have been married, or how much you think you know about marriage, about raising children, about being the man or the woman that you and your wife ought to be, you cannot help but be blessed and improved upon by reading this book (preferably with your wife).

Finally, immerse yourself in the company of the godly men in your Church. It is certainly not a wise woman who seeks to discourage her husband’s participation in the body life of the Church with other men. Such shortsighted, selfish feminist shortsightedness serves only to deprive men of the fellowship and experiences that can make them better men, better husbands, better fathers, and better grandfathers. The man who does not recognize the benefit to him and others of his spending time in and around the company of godly men identifies himself as spiritually immature and unwise. The woman who does not recognize the benefit to her and to her husband of his spending time in and around the company of godly men identifies herself as selfish, shortsighted, and likely a feminist. Remember, the agenda is supposed to be set by the man, not the wife.

I will admit to you that over the last several years I have been captivated by YouTube videos that report the lives of two couples: Prince Harry and his wife, Megan, the cable TV actress, and actor Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

My interest in those two couples stemmed from my conviction that both women are cutting-edge third-wave feminists and that they are married to, or were married to, what I referred to as manageable men. The only kind of man a feminist can tolerate is a manageable man. If a man demonstrates manliness, his manliness is labeled by feminists as toxic masculinity. So, Prince Harry and Johnny Depp are manageable men.

I have formed the additional opinion that feminists, whether they be wildly promiscuous and secular or prim and proper churchgoing professing Christians, believe that a well-ordered universe demands that men be manageable and that women manage them. They insist on managing their sons as they grow up, are outraged to discover a son as uncontrollable as a wild horse, and are happy only with sons they can push around and boss.

The Bible teaches us that he that findeth the wife findeth a good thing, but the feminist has no interest in being found by a man. Such an event violates her understanding of how the universe ought to operate: with her in control, with her doing all the planning, with her doing the deciding, and with the man she has selected being manageable. So long as a man is manageable, like Prince Harry is proving to be, his wife will be quite happy as she makes his decisions for him and, one by one, cuts all ties with anyone who might influence him more than she does.

This is the pattern with the feminist. She wants to get her man out of his neighborhood, away from his classmates, away from his longtime buddies and pals, and if necessary, away from his Church. Why is this? Because only she should control him. In time, she will get him away from his family, from his parents, and from his siblings, so she and only she can be the dominant influence and controlling force in his life. She will brook no interference with her determination to establish the agenda.

If it turns out that she cannot control her manageable man, which was the case with Johnny Depp because he was such a dissolute drunkard and fornicator, then the feminist is left with no alternative. The man who is not manageable is the man who must be destroyed. The problem with Amber, of course, is that she attempted to destroy a very passive individual, but one who had almost inexhaustible financial resources to hire the best attorneys money can buy. If Johnny Depp were not a multimillionaire, his ex-wife would have succeeded in destroying him for not being manageable.

I have seen this dynamic for many, many years. I know pastors who are manageable men, and whose wives expertly dominate and control them without them having a clue that they are being manipulated. From selecting his personal attire, to changing his preaching style and sermon content, to granting permission to begin the worship services, I have seen women control men in every conceivable way.

I am also aware of girls growing to be women in Churches who decided they would not expose the manageable man they had chosen to marry to their pastor (who they may like, perhaps love, but dare not expose their husband or husband-to-be to me) for fear that their man might learn to become unmanageable, which is to say manly.

It has happened in my ministry as well as other Churches, usually taking the form of the feminist not exposing her manageable man to a masculine congregation, or a feminist determined to remove her manageable man from a masculine congregation. So, how does a feminist cut the ties? Because she must cut the ties. We see it happening with Prince Harry, his wife having cut herself off from her father, her half-sister, and her half-brother, and keeping only her mother because she is controllable. Then, she turned her attention to Prince Harry’s family, one by one destroying the relationships he had with his brother, father, grandmother, grandfather, and cousins by rewriting the family history.

I have seen it happen in Churches. The feminist, and I first saw this at my first pastorate, must accuse the congregation of being unfriendly. The friendliest Church in existence must be redefined as unfriendly, because once you define a congregation as unfriendly, you can reinterpret every action and comment made by everyone, and this would include every inaction and noncomment made by everyone, as being unfriendly.

Understand the process. Every single time, once the Church has been redefined as unfriendly, the individual friendships will be severed, followed by coworker relationships, then family relationships, and finally the suggestion that you relocate. The goal of the feminist is to get you from where you are to where she wants you to be so that she and only she is the controlling influence in your life. Not your mom. Not your dad. Not your siblings. Not your lifelong friends. Not your congregation. Certainly not your pastor. Only her.

This is a survey. It is superficial. It is primarily opinion. It is worth further consideration, including seeking the advice and counsel of others.

1 https://youtu.be/ww47bR86wSc

2 “The uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.” - C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy. London: HarperCollins, 2012.

3 “Dunning-Kruger effect, in psychology, a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general. - https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect - https://youtu.be/GJz66wm95-M

4 https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individuals/betty-friedan/

5 Genesis 2.18; 1 Corinthians 11.9; 1 Timothy 2.13

6 2 Samuel 6.16-23

7 Jeff Pollard & Scott T. Brown, editors, A Theology Of The Family, (Wake Forest, NC: The National Center For Family Integrated Churches, 2014)

Higher Education

 

 "HIGHER EDUCATION"

Allow me the privilege of thinking by writing. Writing is a great way to think because writing forces the writer to put precise reflections and concepts down for further consideration and future refinement. Each article posted to my “Ministerial Musings” blog is a reflection, consideration, the development or establishment of a position, or a challenge to convention. Each of them is unfinished.

This contribution to the process is related to my thoughts and reflections on higher education, a subject I am familiar with.

• First, I enrolled in Portland State University (then Portland State College) when I was a junior in high school, taking two three-hour courses.

• My next school was the United States Air Force Academy. I received a medical discharge and, therefore, did not graduate.

• My third exposure to higher education began when I enrolled at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, and I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

• My fourth school was El Camino College in Torrance, CA, while working for Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo.

• My fifth school was Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College, San Dimas, from which I graduated in 1978.

• School number six was the Grace Graduate School of Theology, Long Beach, for a year.

• Seventh was the International Seminary in Florida, earning a Th M.

• Eighth, was Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, CA for two years.

• Ninth, I graduated with a ThD from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, Shreveport, LA.

• Tenth, I enrolled in courses at American Jewish University, Bel Air, CA.

• Eleventh, I went back to Louisiana Baptist University, Shreveport, and enrolled in post-graduate Biblical counseling courses (on hold since moving to Greece, with the intention of completing).

• Twelfth, I taught for several years at a Baptist Bible college.

I point this out only to establish my familiarity with public colleges and universities, Bible colleges, Christian theological schools, and seminaries. Different schools have different goals, and the same schools have different goals depending on who you are. Parents might have one or two goals, matriculating students' other goals, with the school’s administration having still different goals.

My Portland State coursework was completed while still in high school and living at home. I was then not treated like an adult, and I did not think of myself as an adult at the time, since I was not independent. I was living at home. While at USAFA in Colorado Springs, I was not treated as an adult, but as a sworn member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the closest legal status to slavery allowed under law for someone not incarcerated.

It was after my discharge and subsequent enrollment at Oregon State University that I began to function as an adult, though OSU initially interfered with my efforts, requiring me to live as a college freshman in a dormitory. It took three days for me to escape dorm life and move in with three upper-class men in a two-bedroom apartment. I graduated on time four years later with a bachelor’s in ME.

Since then, I have wondered from time to time how different types of schools get away with treating their students like children, requiring them to live on campus with resident assistants who babysit them. This is accomplished at secular schools (usually for incoming first-year students) and Christian schools (with some Bible colleges getting away with treating all of their single students as children for the entirety of their four years enrolled). I have always wondered what school administrators expect their students to act like when they treat them like children. That is the subject of another “Ministerial Musings.”

Seminaries do not, typically, require students to live in campus housing, though campus housing is a convenience sometimes provided but not mandated for single and married students. The reason for this is easy to understand. Seminarians are a different type of student than is found in a Bible college, with most having an undergraduate degree of some type, usually in a field unrelated to Christian ministry. Thus, seminarians enroll as adults after having attained a level of maturity and academic standing not typically found in university undergraduate programs or Bible colleges. For the most part, seminarians are serious students. The cadets at USAFA are usually also dead serious about their enrollment, having jumped through a number of hoops to get there, in preparation for a career in the Armed Forces.

Undergraduates in public universities are enrolled for a variety of reasons, some of them legitimate. Graduate degree programs (except for the humanities, schools of education, and cultural studies programs, which are not serious academic programs), especially in the STEM areas, require real effort to succeed.

Since I am obviously making no attempt at academic rigor but musing, you will excuse me for making a hard turn here to Bible colleges. Contemporary Bible colleges trace their origin to Dwight L. Moody’s Bible Institute in Chicago. I find this ironic, since Moody never pretended to be a Baptist, #1, but did openly and honestly establish his program for men who were admittedly unprepared or seriously underprepared for what lay ahead of them, the ministry of the Word, #2. His program was a three-year curriculum that resulted in the awarding of the graduate degree in theology, Th G.

Why some Baptists in the mid-twentieth century adopted the Moody approach, while ignoring what some established Baptist groups had been engaged in for a century, I do not pretend to know. Moody’s men knew they were minimally educated. They never pretended to be well educated or thoroughly prepared for the ministry, because they knew they were not. They knew they were beginning their preparation for ministry when they passed through Moody Bible Institute. For the last half of the 20^th century and the first quarter of the 21^st, however, too many graduates of those Baptist schools modeled after the Moody pattern (enrolled though only minimally prepared, and almost never flunked out for a failure to measure up) thought when they graduated that they had arrived! Not so!

Understand that my musings are not criticisms, but observations. I have no expectation of being a change agent. Without exploring the entirety of the issue, I have arrived at this stage of my life at certain conclusions:

1. A surprising number of Bible college presidents and teachers are not academics. If they have written any books at all, they were ghostwritten, and they focus on means and methods rather than on Bible exegesis. Rather, most Bible college presidents and teachers are pastors who are not noted for being theologians, or for being prolific readers, but for managing congregational organizations in a pragmatic fashion.

2. A surprising number of Bible colleges were not founded to train men for the ministry, but to obtain large numbers of workers who, though enrolled in the school, are really there for the work they do on Saturdays and Sundays to make the church bigger. And they actually pay the church (through tuition payments to the school) for the privilege of putting in many hours of work on weekends.

3. A surprising number of Bible college presidents are quite willing for their students to either drop out or graduate but not enter the ministry, in the hope that they will continue to live nearby and continue attending the church where they went to school. That is why the emphasis is for them to “Try out Bible college for a year.” Never before in Christian history has such a thing as that been suggested.

4. A surprising number (if not almost all) of Bible colleges teach “How To” courses, such as how to do a bus ministry, how to do a Sunday School, how to do a choir, how to do a youth camp, but do not teach important Bible doctrines. Let me illustrate. Since 2019, I have searched for Bible colleges that teach an ecclesiology course. I have not found a single school that teaches a course on the doctrine of the church!

5. Pastors back home frequently want their aging youth group to go away to Bible college so that if they stop going to church, they will stop going to church after relocating somewhere else.

6. Parents want their children to go away to Bible college, and are willing to pay the tuition bill to accomplish it, to get them out of the house, and to get them married. Don’t get me wrong. These are not bad objectives, just typically unstated objectives.

7. Why do students go to Bible college? Some go for no other reason than not knowing what to do with their lives. Others go to find a spouse. Still others enroll because they do not want to grow up. There are some who attend to train for the ministry, and they will tolerate being treated like children to achieve their goal.

My time for musing has come to an end for now. I have made no accusations. I am not suspecting anyone’s motives. I expect no one to change as a result of reading this. However, I do hope I have dissuaded anyone in the Gospel ministry from thinking that his graduation from Bible college ended his need for study, serious reading, and continual reflection on how to improve in various aspects of the ministry.

God

The following is from a post I recently received, and I have no idea who sent it to me.

​

- 

This changed my life….literally.

In classical Christian theology, God’s knowledge is called omniscience. 

That means: 

• He knows all that is. 

• He knows all that has been. 

• He knows all that will be. 

• He knows all that could be. 

Not by learning.

Not by predicting.

Not by calculating. 

He simply knows. 

⸻ 

 1. God Does Not Discover 

You and I move through time.

We experience:

• Surprise

• Uncertainty

• Waiting

• “Let’s see what happens”

God does not experience unfolding the way we do.

He is not looking ahead.

He is not guessing.

He is not bracing.

All moments are present to Him.

What feels like “future” to you is not future to Him.

He does not anticipate outcomes.

He sees them.

⸻

2. His Knowledge Is Not Cold Information 

God’s knowledge is not data storage. It is relational. He knows:

• Motives.

• Histories.

• Trauma.

• Capacity.

• Intent.

• Blind spots.

• Growth edges.

• What each person can handle.

• What timing will produce formation rather than collapse.

He knows not just actions — but why those actions occur.

He knows your childhood.

He knows your temperament.

He knows your history.

He knows how various personalities within families, friends, co-workers interact.

He knows about any problem or issue you may face.

He is not observing confusion.

He is observing process.

⸻

3. His Knowledge Includes All Possible Branches 

This is important.

God doesn’t just know what will happen.

He knows what would happen if:

• you double down.

• you soften.

• you collapse.

• you hold steady.

• Counseling works.

• Counseling fails.

• Boundaries increase.

• Anxiety spikes.

He knows every branch.

So when something escalates, He is not thinking: “I didn’t expect that.” He already accounted for that branch.

⸻

4. His Knowledge Is Paired With Wisdom 

Knowledge without wisdom could still be chaotic.

But God’s knowledge is inseparable from His wisdom.

He knows:

• How much pressure produces growth.

• How much pressure produces breaking.

• When to allow discomfort.

• When to restrain it.

• When to expose.

• When to conceal.

• When to delay.

He is not randomly permitting events.

He is governing formation.

⸻

5. His Knowledge Does Not Eliminate Process 

Here’s the part that trips people.

If He knows the end, why allow the middle?

Because growth occurs in time.

Character forms through:

• Repetition

• Exposure

• Choice

• Pressure

• Repentance

• Repair

• Delay

• Uncertainty

If He bypassed process, He would bypass formation.

He knows the outcome.

But the outcome includes who you become along the way.

⸻

6. His Knowledge Is Not Threatened by Your Anxiety

When your nervous system surges and thinks:

“What if the worst happens?”

“I’m overthinking again and I can’t get it to stop.”

“What if I keep on having panic attacks?”

God is not adjusting strategy.

Your fear does not add information to Him.

Your calm does not increase His competence.

He is operating from complete awareness already.

⸻

7. His Knowledge Is Not Detached 

He is not a cosmic analyst watching neutrally.

He is:

• Involved.

• Present.

• Sustaining.

• Restraining.

• Allowing.

• Working through people.

• Working through structures.

• Working through timing.

He is not scrambling.

He is not surprised.

He is not caught off guard by escalation.

He is not threatened by protest.

⸻

8. What This Means Practically 

If God knows every branch, then:

There is no moment in your life that is outside His sight.

There is no escalation or panic that catches Him off guard.

There is no regression that surprises Him.

There is no identity defense that confuses Him.

There is no counseling session He didn’t foresee.

There is no outcome in which He says, “That went differently than I expected.”

That is sovereignty joined with omniscience.

⸻

9. The Stabilizing Truth 

When you feel the surge —

that brief “collapse” sensation —

What you are feeling is uncertainty.

God is not feeling uncertainty.

He is fully certain.

Not because He forces outcomes.

But because He sees the entire map.

You see the current square.

He sees the whole board.