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Words of a Fether

I am the way, the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father except through me. ~Jesus

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Drive-By Theology

Many of us are aware of the term “drive-by media”, a description of the shallowness typical of the big news bureaus today. They can manipulate public opinion with only snippets of information, keeping people distracted with trifles or gossip while “Rome burns”. The schools likewise do not teach depth; no classes on real un-rewritten history, nothing on logic, very limited and controlled discussions of philosophy, etc. And as many of us know, it is virtually impossible to reason with the products of such relentless and lifelong mind control.

In the same way, Christianity has been “dumbed-down” and manipulated with “bread and circuses”, pop-psychology “Bible” studies, and seminaries that carefully omit data and historical arguments that would change how the trusting students think. It’s all too easy to guarantee people’s “choices” when the choices are limited artificially and arbitrarily. And here again it is virtually impossible to reason with these people once the indoctrination is complete.

I say all that as a backdrop to the issue of the ongoing debate over women in Christianity. Recently I’ve been in yet another cage match with the indoctrinated, who just keep chanting “God made me the boss of you!” instead of engaging in a study of whether that claim is true. I had changed tactics in the past year to focus more on the essential tenets of the faith, instead of getting mired in minutiae that depend upon outdated dictionaries and popular but biased authors and teachers. But the indoctrinated cannot go there; they cannot hear the cognitive dissonance between “me first because God said so” and “not so among you”.

No progress is ever made, and it’s extremely frustrating. Even the women are conditioned to cannibalize their own, backing up the men who, they have been told all their lives, represent them to God. But the poisonous teachings have reached Life-threatening levels. For example,

What’s to admire about a passive man who has no desire to ensure that his spouse ends up in Heaven? (source)
Wow... here’s an average man claiming Christ, who thinks he is the determining factor of whether his wife will enter heaven. And as a look at that thread will show, such men see no connection between this statement and the meaning of the word “idolatry”. They are defensive and understandably so, because their privileged place is being threatened... and not by subtle arguments over Greek grammar, but the very heart and soul of the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

But they want sound-bite, drive-by answers, because that’s how they got their own ideas in the first place. It never comes from a deep and patient study of scripture, but from sermons thundering male pride, from men’s programs reinforcing their natural superiority, and repeated lessons emphasizing their special standing with God simply due to their reproductive organs. They want “plain reading” and appeals to tradition and culture-- but only when it suits them.

My question for you is this: do you see a way to cut through this fog? If not even appeals to the foundation of our faith-- love, service, humility, spirit over flesh-- will budge the colossus of male supremacism, is there a tactic or method that would? We can argue grammar and context till free enterprise becomes fashionable in Washington and it still won’t make a difference. But can there be any hope in Christianity when half the Body refuses to follow Jesus’ example?

Posted 2010-07-18 under roles, debate