Monday, May 7, 2012

Stuff and Nonsense

So, that post I was going to write about the Red Letter Christians interview with Mimi Haddad of CBE?  This is it.

I. Give. Up.

I have listened to the interview from start to finish. Twice.  I have transcribed most of it.  And I still can't make head or tail of it.  There is both entirely too much to say about it and nothing new to say at all.  Trying to have her cake and eat it too, she recounts boys not talking to her after she beat them at tennis, men who shunned her after she beat them at backgammon, a Lilly study showing men "are marrying women that are socially and culturally inferior to them." and a group of female residents at the Mayo Clinic who were moaning because their male classmates married nurses and therapists, not their classmates.  But she also claims, "I began to see that equality was valued in many places except the church."


So, which is it?  Are men constantly looking for women they can best at sport and games and feel smarter than -or- is equality valued in "many places" except the church?

I can't figure it out.

The interview goes downhill from there because they get into biblical interpretation and discussing certain passages.  Race differences are equated to the differences between the sexes are equated to differences in age.  Phillip's daughters are morphed into preachers, Paul found Christ on the road to Damascus . . .

Yes, she did say, "And you remember when he found Christ on the Damascus Road ..."

You heard it hear folks.  Paul found Christ.

Funny, I thought it was the other way around:

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)


It was at that point in the interview that my jaw hit the floor for the last time.


I found myself wondering, if they can't even get the neutral passages right ... If they can't even be honest about the passages that have nothing to do with the gender agenda, why even bother dealing with their treatment of the so-called disputed proof texts?


And I'm not.  I'm done, finished, finito, terminar, fertig.


They're looking more and more like Cretans (Titus 1:12)

6 comments:

David Talcott said...

Having not listened to the interview (and not planning on it), here's what jumps out at me from your description: here is a woman who obviously thinks she is hot stuff, a great catch, and better than most guys at most stuff. In other words, she would be really obnoxious to live with. She'd always be checking whether you're getting one-up on her, she'd always be competing with you, etc. Better to marry a woman who won't be doing that, and being someone with more income and education is one way to help ensure that.

Rather than whining about it, she could be helpful to other women if she would tell them about this. Instead of complaining about how the church/the world doesn't "value equality," she could try to make herself more attractive to potential mates. Men don't want dumb wives, but they do want ones who will respect them rather than compete with them. I've come to think that the culture that allows direct competition between men and women is toxic. We are instilling terrible ideas about relationships by doing that -- all in the lust for "equality."

What's funny is that Evangelicalism is one of the most de-masculinized places around. There are others, but the church is one of the worst...

Kamilla said...

Rumor has it she is married, at least according to her bio on CBEs website.

But that bio is the only mention I've ever seen. I've never heard her mention him, never seem pictures of him and never seen him mentioned anywhere else. It's almost like he's a State secret.

pentamom said...

Boy is that a mess. Men were mean to her because she beat them at things? Has she NEVER heard of "mean girls?" That's not just something someone made up. My sweet 14 year old daughter who never has a mean thing to say unless severely provoked into losing her temper got flipped off by a teammate for having the audacity to beat her in a cross country race, by running faster. A GIRL teammate.

The people who were petty and jealous over losing games or not being picked in the marriage lottery were selfish, envious human beings in those roles, more than they were "men" or "women." But you really just can't deal rationally with someone who sees every aspect of life through bifocals that have one lens set on feminist grievance and the other on self-styled earnest church gadfly. When the two conflict, it'll just be the choice that reflects most negatively on the church.

Steve Hutchens said...

Greetings, Kamilla. I don't know any man who would want to be with, much less marry, a woman who was bent on competing with him. A man wants in a wife someone who is his chief ally, consistently and reliably on his side. A wife who poses herself as his competitor is not.

This typically male attitude doesn't have much to do with her abilities. Healthy-minded men do not mind having wives who are better than they are at some things--not least because this can hardly be avoided! They are usually proud of their wives' abilities and accomplishments.

But a wife who is disposed to compete with him will find herself abandoned in one way or another because he hates what she does--either reducing him by beating him, or putting him in a position where, if he defeats her, he has abused her, and faces the peculiar wrath of a beaten woman--personal, vindictive, and inexhaustible.

A man can be a friend with another man who defeats him--in fact this very often happens--admiration for the victor and the desire to join him is part of his hard-wiring. It doesn't work this way with a defeated woman. No man in his right mind wants to compete with a woman not only because he is in danger of losing, but, even worse, of winning.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant posting Steve. This is so true. A little competition and push back is fine and normal. Trying to be Super Woman leads to exactly what you describe.

Even more deadly is that if she was interested in you in the first place it was probably because she admires you, that is, women tend to try to "marry up". So if she does rebel you are almost by default dumped into a role where you can win which as you described is awful.

Anonymous said...

Titus 3:2
Take 2