From Kimberly Roth at Jesus Manifesto:
I am a daughter of Eve.
I am a daughter of the woman who plucked fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because it seemed good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom (and was also kind enough to share with her husband).
I am a daughter of the curse.
I am a son of God.
Through faith, I have been clothed with Christ Jesus and am neither male nor female but Christ, Abraham’s seed, living in me through the Spirit.
I am a son of the promise.
<snip>
Why is it that women in vocational ministry seems to be Christianity’s final frontier?
Ok, God, we can accept those Gentile believers, and we can even give up our slaves… but you can not be serious about that female thing?! Surely you’re not going to let Eve off the hook that easily. Did Jesus put you up to this? Do you have any idea how long it took us to live down that whole Deborah thing (and don’t even get me started on her friend Jael…)?
There seems to be a lot of fear surrounding what would happen if women were released to run amok in ministry, at least down here in the Bible belt. Children would be abandoned, meals would go unprepared, men would be disrespected in their own homes and left to pick up their own dirty underwear. Chaos would ensue. Theology would be twisted beyond recognition. Salvation as we know it would cease. Sunday school is one thing, but the entire Body of Christ… that’s just too much to consider.
I grew up with this attitude. It took God a long time to convice me that yes God could call me into leadership positions, and that it was okay that I DID NOT want to be a traditional wife, and do not want to have children. God used women like Deborah and Jael who were not typical wives, and the Bible does not even mention if they have children. God also used women like Mary Magdalene and Lydia–single women who were not linked to men, other than Jesus. God also used Priscilla and Aquilla who worked side by side making tents and pastoring churches. It’s been a long, and at times hard, road. I know I need to write about it. I have said that I would. I guess I need to start writing. I always put off telling my story. I guess I don’t think it’s that important. But may be it is important. May be I need to tell my story, so I can tell other women’s stories. I know that is far past time for Eve and her daughters to be redeemed.
How do you feel about telling your story?
I read you intro and I think that God can use anybody and the women you have referenced from scriptures are good examples. I checked scriptures before I wrote this.
1. Deborah was Lappidoth’s wife Judges 4:4 and a mother Judges 5:7, Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose a MOTHER in Israel.
2. Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite. Heber was the patriarch of the Heberite clan and Jael being his wife was the matriarch of that clan (Judges, 4:11 &17, Numbers 26:45). (I like to add that I suspect that she was part of Israel’s Seal Team Six for she punched a hole through the tyrant Sisera’s head when he thought he had found a perfect hideaway far from where Barak (Obama!?) might find him).
3. As for Lydia, she was a mother for Acts 16:13-15 clearly states, One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.
And I suspect that one of the reasons she draws attention to the fact that she is a mother was to demonstrate that in serving the Lord as a prophetess, she never neglected her responsibilities as a mother. She was a woman in harmony with family and society and I love the fact that in her song she simply declares she stepped up when her community was in tatters and the Lord used her mightily. The fact that the Deborah’s husband Lappidoth is identified by name speaks to me of a man who is not threatened by her husbands gifting or ministry at the national level. And these descriptions resonate so well with the Proverbs 31 woman.
And that aspect of the Lord using the lowly in society, something the ignorant make of women whom the Lord has made equal, is cpatured in mary song in Luke 1:52-55 that it is the Lord who exalts those whom society sometimes considers less than equal
The daughters of Eve have been redeemed and your message is not affected by making Jael, or Debbie childless, for daughters of Eve are mothers as well as childless, wives as well as single, prophets and successful business persons. And when it comes to gifting the women you have identified demonstrate wisdom and discernment in equal measure as the men recorded in scripture that are so gifted.
Whitney thank you so much for stopping by. I’m sorry to be so long getting back to you. My in-laws were in town, and I haven’t been on the computer much.
I understand the difference of being single and childess in the Church. I’m married now, but we aren’t going to have any children, so that still makes me an odd duck. Godde just has not called me to be a mother, and My Hubby is perfectly happy being an uncle.
As a life-long single woman, with no children or big time career, I question my role in life. So I like finding writings such as yours; they keep a ‘Plain Jane’ like myself grounded. I like to see people questioning the traditions of man, because they aren’t always the traditions of Yahweh.
Thank you Sally and Kimberly. Kimberly, I’m glad you’re enjoying my blog.
Thank you, Shawna. Its a pleasure finding your blog!
love this
Thank you.
Preach it! The full stories are yearning to be told…