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Right ....its hyper emotionalism rather than biblical. See where I am there was a conscious attempt to move away from Baptist ways , first by changing the names to anything but Baptist, and then changing the music, omitting doctrine, stopping the preaching of the hard issues etc. Even IFB churches began to change....the church I referred to with my brother is IFB.
A nation's wars, I think, are the biggest reason for the female/male imbalance in churches. The first church I remember had a female pastor. It began as a Sunday school during WWII. There were just no men, and the surviving men who returned from the war were content to leave things at the home front the way they were. She "pastored" for nearly 30 years, and in the 70's a man was made pastor who retired just last year.
I don't go to a church like that (a blessing living in the middle of nowhere AZ) but I like to keep my pulse on American Christiandom and it is a huge problem that needs to be called out and addressed. I wonder what is the gender makeup of your church? I ask because even the IFB church I went to in Colorado which committed none of the major feminization I've seen in other churches was still about 60% female to 40% male. So at your church do men out number women?
My 4xgreat granddad who was a confederate veteran married a 20 year old when he was in his seventies. They had kids. Simple reason for the marriage, the imbalance was still so bad 20 years after the war that he was the most eligible bachelor she could find. He was not rich. Simple supply and demand.
I have yet to meet a Godly woman who views God as needy.
Indeed, a healthy church rightly treats all members of the body with honor and dignity. Men who follow hard after God's righteousness will find that women walk with them in unity and fellowship. The function of the local church becomes one of loving each other as Christ demonstrated his love toward us. It is a beautiful thing to walk in unity and I am blessed to be in a church where the elderly to the infant are in fellowship and functioning in servanthood with one another.
Adhering to the plain command of scripture makes one insecure?
It sure seems to be. I see so many men in conservative (legalistic) churches who use the Bible as a whipping post to demand that the rest of the church bow to their particular beliefs. There is so much pride and self-centered behavior being passed on as biblical and pious when it is nothing more than a man being unwilling to lead by serving. Instead they want to lead by demanding and by belittling women.
Give me some exaples.
So being biblical is being a bully?!?
And what type of church do you belong to?
I believe that women are given the gift of teaching and evangelism for the edification of the body. I believe that women can be deacons in the church. I believe that women can preach from the pulpit as God has so gifted them.
There are at least 3 Baptist churches near me where the pastor demands complete allegiance to his will and treats women as though they are second class citizens. They tell the men to demand obedience from their wives to the point that abuse is evident in their church. I cringe at the thought of such a mysogynistic attitude.
Right. Men have a big responsibility to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
It's about 50/50. Lots of couples, lots of families.
Why? Because I have seen this topic come up over and over again on various message boards. The answer seems to be rather simple...if you see an issue, instead of talking about it, fussing about it, DO something about it. Whether it's confronting the pastor with the problem or shaking the dust off your feet and going elsewhere, it doesn't matter. Also, stop making generalities about "the whatever of Christianity" when the truth is, you're talking only about your little corner of the world. I mean, if I can find and be a member of a strong bible-preaching, bible-believing church smack in the middle of sin city, then you too can find a proper church.
No,not biblically.