CHRISTIAN FEMINISTS DEMAND APOLOGY FOR “TEACHING THAT DENIGRATES WOMEN”
- A group that calls itself the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition has issued a “Demand for Apology” from those who teach that women should submit to their husbands and that they are forbidden to preach. The group called out the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood in particular for its “complementarian” interpretation that says men and women “are equally in the image of God but assigns them complementary differences in role and function.” This position became part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Baptist Faith and Message in 1998. It says in part that “the wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”
This statement enrages the shrill, in-your-face feminists associated with the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition. Assuming for themselves the divine prerogative of knowing the motives of men’s hearts, they claim that “complementarian” doctrine is “more about power and control than about love or obeying the Word of God” (Associated Baptist Press, July 26, 2010). They demand that such beliefs be renounced and “confessed as sin.” They even claim that the “complementarian” view promotes abuse. Cindy Kunsman, one of the speakers at the recent Freedom for Christian Women Coalition conference in Orlando, said, “Many women suffer as a result of the ‘evil woman theology’ perpetuated by CBMW because their sub-Christian view of the nature of women scapegoats women as the root cause of all problems within both marriage and the family.”
This is a ridiculous statement. To uphold the Bible’s teaching about women has nothing to do with blaming them as the root cause of problems. In fact, the Bible lays the blame for the fall of the human race on Adam rather than Eve (Romans 5:12). When it comes to the home, God puts the greatest obligation at the feet of the husband and father. He is to love his wife as Christ loves the church, which is the highest standard of compassion conceivable (Ephesians 5:25). He is warned not to provoke his children to wrath but to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). To love and nurture is the opposite of abuse. Any man who abuses his wife and children does so in direct rebellion to the Bible and to the “complementarian” teaching based on the Bible. - Way of Life
PASTOR'S COMMENT: The all important issue at stake here is "what saith the LORD?" Mans opinion is of no value or validity. Read what the LORD said in His Word. (I Timothy 2:8-15) Though apostasy demands an apology from those who honor the scriptures, understand that such a demand is a subtle attempt to undermine the purity and perfection of the Word of God. Biblical correctness should never be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.
PROFESSOR FIRED FROM STATE UNIVERSITY FOR SAYING HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN
- The following is from “Firing Follows Anonymous ‘Hate Speech’ Complaint,” OneNewsNow.com, July 14, 2010: “A professor in Illinois has been relieved of his duties for telling students in his Catholicism class that he agrees with the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. The University of Illinois has fired adjunct professor Dr. Ken Howell, who taught courses on Catholicism, after a student anonymously accused the instructor of engaging in ‘hate speech’ by saying he agrees with the church’s teaching that homosexuality is immoral. Howell, who has taught at the university for nine years, says his firing violates his academic freedom.
The professor is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund in his quest for reinstatement at the school. Jordan Lorence, senior counsel with ADF, explains his firm's approach in the case. ‘We have written a demand letter to the university explaining what the law on freedom of speech is for professors and urging them to restore Dr. Howell to his teaching position,’ says the attorney. ‘And if not, we will examine our options and consider filing a lawsuit against the University of Illinois.’”
GEORGIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT FORCED TO GIVE UP BIBLE FAITH
- The following is excerpted from “Georgia School Forces Christian Student to Alter Beliefs to Graduate,” The Christian Post, July 22, 2010: “An Augusta State University student filed suit Wednesday after she was told to change her Christian beliefs or otherwise be expelled from the school's graduate counseling program. ‘A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here,’ said David French, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform.’
Jennifer Keeton, 24, has been enrolled in the College of Education’s School Counselor masters degree program since fall 2009. She has expressed her Christian beliefs in class discussions and written assignments, but it was her views regarding gender and sexuality that irked faculty. According to the filed complaint, ‘She has stated that she believes sexual behavior is the result of accountable personal choice rather than an inevitability deriving from deterministic forces. She also has affirmed binary male-female gender, with one or the other being fixed in each person at their creation, and not a social construct or individual choice subject to alteration by the person so created. Further, she has expressed her view that homosexuality is a lifestyle, not a state of being.’
A Remediation Plan required that Keeton attend workshops on diversity sensitivity training toward working with GLBTQ [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Queer] populations, work to increase exposure and interaction with gay populations by attending such events as the Gay Pride Parade in Augusta, and read more on the topic to improve counseling effectiveness with GLBTQ populations. ... When Keeton asked why her biblical ethical views would disqualify her competence as a counselor, Mary Anderson-Wiley [an associate professor who oversees student education and discipline] at one point responded, ‘Christians see this population as sinners.’”
PASTORS COMMENTS: Sounds as if those who demand tolerance from bible believers are intolerant themselves !!!
CHRISTIANS SHOT DEAD IN PAKISTAN
- The following is excerpted from “Pakistan City Tense after ‘Blaspheming’ Christians Shot,” BBC News, July 20, 2010: “Police reinforcements have been called in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad a day after two Christians charged with blasphemy were shot dead outside court. Clashes broke out in the city, home to a large Christian community, after the brothers were gunned down. Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and Sajid, 24, were accused of writing a pamphlet critical of the Prophet Muhammad; a rights activist said they were framed. Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law carries the death penalty.
A police officer who was escorting the brothers from a district court on Monday was critically wounded when the unidentified gunmen opened fire and then escaped. ... Atif Jameel, spokesman for the Pakistan Minorities Democratic Foundation, told the BBC: ‘No-one in his right mind would issue a derogatory pamphlet against the Prophet and put his name and address on it. This appears to be a conspiracy against peace and religious harmony in Faisalabad.’ ... Although no-one has ever been executed under Pakistan's blasphemy law, about 10 accused have been murdered before the completion of their trial, according to a BBC Urdu correspondent in Lahore. Dozens more are living in exile to avoid punishment under the legislation.”
MUST READ: OBAMA’S FREEDOM OF WORSHIP VS. THE CONSTITUTION’S FREEDOM OF RELIGION
- The following is excerpted from “Why Is Obama Changing ‘Freedom of Religion’?” Paul Cooper, NewsRealBlog.com, June 29, 2010: “Last month the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 report revealed grave concern about both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejecting the term ‘freedom of religion’ for the term ‘freedom of worship’ in public pronouncements. Why the change when the First Amendment talks specifically about our freedom of religion and not simply worship?
Last November Obama used the term ‘freedom of worship’ at the memorial service for the victims of the Ft. Hood shooting. A few days later he did it again in speeches in both Japan and China. In December Hillary Clinton also used that terminology three times in a speech at Georgetown University. In January of this year Clinton used the ‘freedom of worship’ term four times while addressing senators.
The response by many religious freedom advocates is fear of what this all means. Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom and member of the Religious Freedom commission, believes freedom of worship is limited to private beliefs and prayer but not public activity. She says, ‘It excludes the right to raise your children in your faith; the right to have religious literature; the right to meet with co-religionists; the right to raise funds; the right to appoint or elect your religious leaders, and to carry out charitable activities, to evangelize, [and] to have religious education or seminary training.’
World Magazine adds, ‘That’s not an inconsequential change: Freedom of worship means the ability to have church services, which is crucial, but leaves out protection for Christian schools, publications, and Christian compassionate ministries… Freedom of religion means that ministries designed to help prisoners change their lives, or to help the poor enter the workforce, can teach what the Bible teaches. Under freedom of worship, these ministries could become illegal, as they are in many parts of the world.’”
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP ISLAMIC STYLE
- The following is excerpted from “The New Inquisition,” The Berean Call, April 1999: “In Saudi Arabia there is a total blackout on anything Christian: one cannot carry a Bible on the street or have a Bible study in the privacy of one’s own home. Even in our embassy, over which the American flag flies, Christian church services are banned. It is officially the death penalty in Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim countries (and enforced unofficially elsewhere) for a Muslim to convert to any other religion. Only Muslims can be citizens of Saudi Arabia.
Even in Arab countries where shari'a (Islamic law) is not enforced by the government, Islam’s influence prevents freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, and of conscience. In PLO territories, Christian Arabs, who once had freedom under Israel, now suffer persecution, imprisonment, and death for their faith. Yet neither the UN nor our own government protests such oppression behind the Islamic curtain. Muslims build mosques and worship freely in the West, but in their own countries they deny such freedoms to others. Instead of reporting this hypocrisy, the world media covers it up.”
