2022

The scoop: every day in the month of February, I’m publishing a comic strip I’ve drawn! I’ve never been much of an artist. I once decided to make a sketch everyday to improve my drawing skills – I think I made about three. However, I have made 28 drawings for this new project! I reflectContinue reading “My New Comic Strip – FUNDAMENTALS”

When we take Jimothy’s position and boil it down real nice and simple, we deceive ourselves (and those we instruct) into thinking the Bible is always straightforward and easy to comprehend – and to say otherwise is to somehow insult God. Perhaps what is being insulted is a low view of scripture. Have I beenContinue reading “Feb 1”

We’ve probably all heard some form of Jimothy’s complaint in the first frame. Maybe we’ve even said the same thing ourselves. Yet we have to recognize some form of “this was written in context.” Often we fool ourselves into thinking we really want to apply every verse literally. However, when it comes to something likeContinue reading “Feb 2”

Around 2005 a new translation of the Bible was released which sought to accurately translate scripture with regard to pronouns. Whereas the translators of the KJV used almost exclusively male pronouns even in cases where the original Greek and Hebrew words were gender neutral (or included men and woman), this new translation sought more accuratelyContinue reading “Feb 3”

Interpreting and applying scripture is an active process. When we read, and especially when we tell each other what passages mean, we are making choices about what we think the author is doing. Many of us cite Genesis 3:16 as a “prescription” for how things ought to be. It is also read, more correctly IContinue reading “Feb 4”

My mom and my aunt tell me how when I was a very young boy I used to give passionate sermons to them both about how women need to submit to men, how men are leaders and women need to obey them. I was an impassioned fundamentalist of a child. 20 years later, the questionsContinue reading “Feb 5”

Denominations have different procedures for making church decisions. In some churches, members vote in a democratic process. If only men are empowered to voice their opinions, not only does it remove every woman from a participatory role in the decision making process, it also ensures that the agenda, debate, and decisions make in meetings areContinue reading “Feb 6”

If we wonder how our church views what men and women are capable of, we can take a look at the way we delegate responsibilities. If the missions committee is made up of all men, and the hospitality committee is make up of all women, that says a lot about what we believe women areContinue reading “Feb 7”

Sometimes we believe that God isn’t pleased with us if we admit we don’t know what’s going on, that he’ll be disappointed if we don’t have answers. When we view scripture as a textbook full of answers to life problems, we often are left having to choose and then defend our choice whatever the cost.Continue reading “Feb 8”

I remember sitting in a small group and hearing Jimothy’s explanation voiced regarding people who didn’t live or believe quite like the person speaking (this had nothing to do with women). I believe the person’s exact words were, maybe they ought to just go on down the road. We must also consider that if aContinue reading “Feb 9”

Here we see how women are invited into spaces where their physical gifts (like their singing voice, ability to play an instrument, or willingness to cook/clean/etc.) are desired as they serve the church. Some folks, like Jimothy, start to get uncomfortable when a woman starts talking between songs or is tapped to head up aContinue reading “Feb 10”

In the New Testament, we see women like Lydia, a wealthy merchant woman who helps fund Jesus’ ministry. Paul calls a woman, Junia, an apostle. He entrusts Phoebe to deliver and read one of his letters in which he describes her as a deacon and a benefactor. The easy thing to do is cry “feminism!”Continue reading “Feb 11”

It’s often true, especially in very conservative church environments, that men can move much more easily between the church and the world than women can. The church’s teachings and standards keep women tightly bound to the church community which makes the thought of leaving that much harder. While women are often discouraged from getting jobsContinue reading “Feb 12”

Our memory is often quite short sighted. We tend to accept as gospel truth the idea that women have never lead or taught in church, in the Bible, or in history. An examination of scripture and history provides quite a challenge to this notion. From the Old Testament and the New Testament through the earlyContinue reading “Feb 13”

There is a difference between “husbands” and “men” just as there is a difference between “wives” and “women.” In conversations of gender roles, this is often garbled. Often times, sermons are given about husbands and wives, and the teaching focuses on what the dynamics of the relationship ought to look like. However, the meaning oftenContinue reading “Feb 14”

This strip brings to mind one of my favorite quips, If the King James Version was good enough for Paul, then it’s good enough for me! Those who fret about the perpetual worsening of culture often have a very short memory and very little conception of the things which have happened in the distant andContinue reading “Feb 15”

Jimothy here is at least honest. Some ultra-complementarians (like John Piper) admit there are pieces of scripture where women are praised for doing things that don’t reckon with their theological picture of gender roles/design. At the end the day, or the beginning rather, preachers have to preach something. And something that’s black and white isContinue reading “Feb 16”

When we examine a church or a business or other institution where people are involved, we can take a look at it’s ideal (what is the aim, the vision for the people there?) and the structure implemented (how are things arranged, who is in charge, etc.?) We can examine forwards and backwards with these thingsContinue reading “Feb 17”

In many churches, women are discouraged from getting career jobs or investing in opportunities which would distract from what is seen as their true calling (motherhood in the home). And there is often an anti-education attitude which develops, perhaps unconsciously. When men are encouraged to follow the call God has placed on their lives byContinue reading “Feb 18”

It is an absurd notion that women should be kept from leading men in any area. Yet this is commonplace in many church communities and done under the guise of being God’s will. When faced with the reality that many other cultures see the family order playing out much differently, we are either forced toContinue reading “Feb 19”

The logic of being completely different and kept apart (while still being “equal”) was employed during the Jim Crow era to keep black children out of all white schools. Eventually, even white people realized how ridiculous this logic was and were forced to integrate. This same kind of logic is employed in churches where men’sContinue reading “Feb 20”

In order to keep women from any positions of authority of leadership it’s necessary to say that anytime a woman senses a call to these positions, she has heard wrong or that she didn’t hear from God. Conversely, when men demonstrate an ability to lead or if they sense they are gifted in leadership, theyContinue reading “Feb 21”

We can chuckle, but we must admire Jimothy for his honesty in the third frame. If he is so much as alone for a few minutes with a woman, he has no confidence his purity will survive the encounter. This is familiar talk given to young men in many churches. Consider the view of womenContinue reading “Feb 22”

Jimothy’s answer suggests a sharp divide between the culture and way of living inside the church and out there in the world. I think we do well to seriously consider the implications of such an understanding of the kingdom of God. If the kingdom and its ways are only applicable inside the walls of theContinue reading “Feb 23”

While single men are empowered and encouraged to build a career or get an education or start a business or get a job and move up the chain, single women are stuck in limbo. The ultimate (even if unspoken) goal is marriage, but while they wait for a man to approach them, they have toContinue reading “Feb 24”

“The best marketing scheme in history is men successfully getting away with calling women the “more emotional gender” … because they’ve successfully rebranded anger as not an emotion” – Claire Willett Jimothy here reiterates the old argument some folks like to level – women are too emotional to be trusted with leadership. I, like dearContinue reading “Feb 25”

So much of the reality we live in is culturally constructed. Simply, things are the way they are because we have decided to make them so. In Communication as Culture, James Carey says it this way. “Reality is not given, not humanly existent, independent of language and toward which language stands as a pale refraction.Continue reading “Feb 26”

When we don’t even consider hiring men for positions we’d prefer to fill with women because a man would find it demeaning, all we have to do is take a small step back to see how low of a view of women we have. Jimothy’s argument here is that a man would be insulted byContinue reading “Feb 27”

In the last strip on the month we see Jimothy touting an old argument which holds that since men were created first, they are more important than women. Beth shows how the logic doesn’t really hold up if you carry it through the rest of the creation narrative. The creation narrative of Genesis 1 hasContinue reading “Feb 28”

May 16th was our two year anniversary! We planned to take a road trip to southern California and sleep in our car for about four days. In the weeks leading up to leaving, we found and ordered what we thought we’d need (car tent, power supply, air mattress, cooler, gas stove, etc.) and then tookContinue reading “The Summer Trip”

In February, I published a comic strip. It was a satire project – this strip is what I imagine a conversation around gender roles might look like if the ideas we hold internally spoke to each other openly. In this piece I would like to look for answers to two questions: 1. Why write aContinue reading “After the Jester: 5 Ideas for Women & Men in Church”

In Genesis 32, Jacob has just left his uncle Laban’s house where tensions were very high. He heads out and goes to meet his brother, Esau, who may very well kill him and take everything he owns. After sending gifts as well as all his family, servants, and possessions to meet Esau across the river,Continue reading “In the Dirt With the Angel: 7 Reflections on turning 25.”

Introduction This post is part 1 in a 7 part series of reflections as I turn 25 years old. I’m convinced that to be human is to struggle and to struggle with God. This series serves to honor the difficult questions. I don’t know if everyone has questions their mind continually turns over while theyContinue reading “Diffuculty of Hell & Ease of the Spiel”

This post is part 2 in a 7 part series of reflections as I turn 25 years old. I’m convinced that to be human is to struggle and to struggle with God. This series serves to honor the difficult questions. I don’t know if everyone has questions their mind continually turns over while they walk theContinue reading “Tradition”

This post is part 3 in a 7 part series of reflections as I turn 25 years old. I’m convinced that to be human is to struggle and to struggle with God. This series serves to honor the difficult questions. I don’t know if everyone has questions their mind continually turns over while they walkContinue reading “Psyche, Spirit, Body”

This post is part 4 in a 7 part series of reflections as I turn 25 years old. I’m convinced that to be human is to struggle and to struggle with God. This series serves to honor the difficult questions. I don’t know if everyone has questions their mind continually turns over while they walkContinue reading “The Elements”

This post is part 5 in a 7 part series of reflections as I turn 25 years old. I’m convinced that to be human is to struggle and to struggle with God. This series serves to honor the difficult questions. I don’t know if everyone has questions their mind continually turns over while they walk theContinue reading “Man Therapy and Anti-Racism”