A bit of my feminist side must be coming to the fore here, all because of three episodes in the past 24 hours. All have to do with strong, heroic Christian women who are taking a stand, regardless of the cost. My question is: Where are all the gutsy men of faith? Why does it always seem that women are doing our work for us?
I thank God for strong, vibrant women of faith. But I bewail the fact that often there are so few male counterparts to this. Often in the churches today it is the women who are showing up for the prayer meetings, getting involved in the various causes, while men seem to be asleep.
So many Christian men seem far more interested in watching Top Gear than they are in sharing their faith, getting involved in intercessory prayer groups, or getting involved in some of the battles over faith and family. If the culture at large has emasculated our males, that is showing up big time in our churches today.
Where are men with backbone, with guts, with balls, if I can put it that way? Where are the male role models of today? Why are we leaving all the hard work up to our sisters? When will we join them on the frontlines, and show as much zeal, passion and commitment as they have?
I am not alone in these concerns. Many church leaders have noted how it is often the women who get most involved, show up for most prayer meetings, contribute to most church activities, and so on. So many Christian men are sidetracked by all sorts of useless things, be it sport, or making money, or being engaged in various trivial pursuits.
So what were these three events that have motivated me to write this? The first is my daily reading. I am in the book of Judges right now, and have just finished reading about the mighty Deborah (Judges 4-5). She was a prophetess who had a mighty victory over Jabin, a Canaanite king, and Sisera, the commander of his army.
Of interest is Judges 4:8-9: “Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.’ ‘Certainly I will go with you,’ said Deborah. ‘But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.”
And then we read in vv. 17-24 about another brave woman, Jael. What she did to Sisera would be the envy of any Rambo, Terminator, or Jedi Master. Both women showed resolute courage, commitment and dedication. Yet they were surrounded by wimpish men.
Because of these women God’s enemies were defeated. But back in those days that was a matter of great shame. Consider what we read in Judges 9:54: “Hurriedly [Abimelech] called to his armor-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can’t say, “A woman killed him”’.”
It seems like cowardly men are not new in God’s service. And please read of the victorious Song of Deborah in Judges 5. Many other women of valour and courage can be found in Scripture. They put many of us men to shame.
The two other episodes involving fearless women are these. The sister of Kevin Rudd, Loree, is single-handedly taking on her own Labor Party on their acceptance of same-sex marriage. She is doing what countless Labor men should be doing, but do not have the guts to do.
Here is how one press account tells the story: “Loree Rudd is lobbying federal MPs and threatening to quit Labor if the party backs gay marriage at its national conference in December, The Australian reports. The devout Christian recently wrote to every federal MP voicing her opposition to same-sex marriage. Four state ALP conferences have endorsed changes to legalise same-sex marriage under federal law. NSW Labor last week refused to back the proposal and referred the issue to the national conference, The Australian said.
“Ms Rudd, who said she’d embarked on her campaign without her brother’s knowledge, told the paper there was a worldwide gay movement that ‘fed propaganda’ in pursuit of change. ‘I call them the global gay Gestapo: it is the lobbying movement that is brainwashing people, particularly the young in the community that this (homosexuality) is an optional extra in life,’ she said.”
Wow, another Deborah. Another Jael. A woman with backbone and conviction who is willing to tell it like it is. And all around her gutless men are saying nothing, or in fact have caved in to the homosexual agenda. She alone is willing to stand up to the homosexual thugs who are bent on intimidating into silence everyone who dares to oppose their agenda.
What a wonderful, brave and godly woman. We could use another thousand of her. And we could certainly use even a dozen men who acted like men, shrugged off their effeminacy and PC shackles, and started to take a stand for what is right and what is true, regardless of how costly it may be.
If only we could just get a few Christian men off their TV addiction and other time-wasting pursuits, and show some zeal and spine like brave Loree has, we could start turning things around for the Kingdom. Real transformation could take place if our Christian men stopped playing games and started taking their faith seriously for a change.
My final example is someone many of you know. Any fan of MasterChef knows all about Kate Bracks, one of the seven finalists left in the TV cooking competition. What I did not know until today is that she is a committed Christian and a gutsy one at that.
She is willing to stand up for principle, even though it may well cost her winning the title. She would rather be right with God than right with man. This is how today’s press is reporting the story: “Here’s one for Dicko and his Can Of Worms: Should a Christian show respect to the Dalai Lama by calling him ‘Your Holiness’ even if they don’t believe in Buddhism?
“That was the religious test facing MasterChef mum Kate Bracks, who refused to acknowledge the religious leader by his formal title in an episode screening on Sunday. The 36-year-old Christian from Orange was the only contestant who felt ‘uncomfortable’ with the protocol, addressing him only as ‘Dala’. His appearance created an emotion-charged challenge for the other five competitors, who all spoke of his ‘energy’, ‘aura’ and ‘amazing spirit’.
“But Bracks said she did not ‘see the Dalai as a holy man’. ‘My belief is that God is the only one that is perfectly holy,’ she said. ‘So in terms of everybody calling him Your Holiness, that was probably the only aspect of the challenge I was uncomfortable with. I just called him Dalai Lama’.”
Wow, another Christian woman with guts and conviction. There is hope yet for the West. Here is a woman willing to stand up for her Christian principles even though it is unpopular to do so, and it will very well cost her the chance of going all the way in this competition.
I admire a woman like that – greatly. And if you continue reading the press account which I link to below, you can contrast her stance with that of other spineless Christian leaders who prefer to be PC instead of TC (True to Christ). So I am greatly encouraged by these two modern day Deborahs.
God is not finished with Australia yet. But if we could only get some Christian men to take their faith seriously, to stop wasting time and come out swinging as these two brave warriors have. Just imagine how much further the Kingdom could be advanced if Christian men started acting like real disciples of Christ, instead of spineless jellyfish.
I say three cheers to Loree, to Kate, to Deborah, and to Jael. Thanks be to God for raising up brave women to fight the good fight. But when will their lives start shaming our gutless men into some action?
http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudds-sister-offends-gay-marriage-lobby-20110714-1hf46.html
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/a-dalai-lama-dilemma-in-masterchef-recipe/story-e6frf96o-1226095176780
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