The Persecution of Women in the Church

[Scott Hutchinson]

My wife loves me too, she can keep me cool in the summer,and keep me warm in the winter.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Sounds like you have a very Godly husband and you are fortunate.

Blessings, Rhoni

Hate to break it to you, Rhoni, but I'm not in the minority.

[Scott Hutchinson]

I think MR.Brat and son are blessed to have Sister Brat. around.

[SDG]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

There is a big difference from being authoritative and being authoritarian.
Authoritative is one who disciplines when there is need for discipline but does so in a caring and nurturing way, whereas, authoritarian is one who controls and manipulates with an iron hand just because he can.

Authoritarian leadership/headship is primarily those who are rigid and manipulative for self-serving purposes which is abusive in nature. It is very healthy and Godly to be authoritative and take the leading role as a safety and covering for women and children.

Sounds like you have a very Godly husband and you are fortunate.

Blessings, Rhoni

Thank you for the clarity this evening Rhoni .... these two terms are often mixed up .... even in the classroom

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Perhaps because this isn't the first time this conversation has come up, and from some posters, its the same ol' same ol'. Blech.

It is in Satan's best interest to attack ALL Christians, not just women. Do you really believe that Satan is only attacking women? In our church right now we have two men fighting cancer, several working multiple jobs to support their families, men who have lost children...men who struggle with all kinds of things in their lives.

How arrogant would I have to be, as a woman, to say that they are not engaged in spiritual warfare on a daily basis?

I just don't like this thread. *Note The Big Scowl On My Face*

I can feel your disdain across the wireless internet, but the issue isn't against our local arena, I was trying to discuss a much broader picture, women in general are still being abused and persecuted across the world today. Just turn on the news. Sorry, you didn't like it. Didn't mean to offend you.

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

This is an excellent post that cuts the ideological heart out of Apostolic feminism (which this thread reveals to be a very real problem).

That is a ridiculous post. This thread is not about Apostolic feminism but the abuse of authority and power. It can be done by women as well as men. PP you have a one track mind and it is on the wrong track.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

I think MR.Brat and son are blessed to have Sister Brat. around.

Scott, you're sweet!

[SDG]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

This is an excellent post that cuts the ideological heart out of Apostolic feminism (which this thread reveals to be a very real problem).

R U sure you want to go there? oloroid

Originally Posted by crazyhomie

Early church fathers left us with a difficult heritage; evidenced by the continual denegration of...women in particular. Originally Christianity was quite positive for women, (Jesus treated them equally) but by the time of Augustine, women were regarded as responsible for the fall of man. The letters of Jerome teem with loathing of the female almost to the point of sounding deranged. Tertullian had castigated women as evil temptresses, an eternal danger to mankind:
"Do you not know that you are each and Eve? You are the devil's gateway; you are the unsealer of that forbidden tree; you are the first deserter of the divine law; you are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You so carelessly destroyed man, God's image. On account of your desert, even the son of God had to die."-

Augustine agreed; "What is the difference," "whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman."
As a matter of fact Augustine is puzzled that God should have made the female at all, "if it was good company and conversation that Adam needed, it would have been much better arranged to have two men together as friends, not a man and a woman." "Early church fathers regarded a womans only function as "childbearing which passed the contagion of original sin to the next generation, like a veneral disease. -"

Western Christianity never fully recovered from this neurotic misogyny, which can still be seen in the unbalanced reaction to the very notion of the ordination of women. - a history of God, pg.124, karen Armstrong.

My personal view is this: Satan's attempt to destroy Eve in the garden was a direct attack against her seed. A man is never greater than his mother. It's been said 'behind every good man is a better woman". Truthfully, this is usually his mother or grandmother.

The persecution of women in the church is still evident today. Catholicism teaches that women are to blame for original sin and should be avoided; thus the doctrine of celibacy. A holy man cannot be defiled by a women.

Is it possible that much of what women have had to endure relationally with regard to the church is a carryover of this wicked and insidious spirit to destroy the women, thus destroying their seed?

An angry mother produces angry children. An offended mother produces offended children. A bitter mother produces bitter children.

God's fundamental law of creation is this; "everything reproduces after its own kind."

Women, now is your opportunity to be liberated! You should love me for this!

Contrary to your last comment, it is not you who liberates any woman or man, it is Christ Jesus. I believe the best way to view this observation of historically shameful behavior is simply to trust that God had his hand in the church fathers of these last few centuries. Who through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, opened not only their understanding of women's roles in church today,( although there are many Hispanic Pentecostal churches who still forbid women to preach based on what Paul wrote in the epistles). They also stood next to their wives whose struggles mirrored that of the feminine roles in our multi-cultural influenced society we live in. Most women in Pentecost history had no confusion over their ministries and God's will in their lives. They often harbored, nutured, and educated men in their schools they founded to bring forth the spread of Pentecostal movement. Praise God for the hindsight, foresight and insight into what HE is doing today!
(Call me long-winded, there's nothing good on TV these days).

[Scott Hutchinson]

The Wise Rhoni has spoken.