A funny thing happened last week for Mother’s Day. The Gospel Coalition, a rather mainstream evangelical organization founded by the late Tim Keller and having entirely male leadership, published a Facebook post. And what was their message for Mother’s Day? Was it...
I’m often accused of swinging the pendulum to the other extreme. Note: this article appeared on my Substack last week, and I wanted it here to to preserve it on my website! Plus I added some good stuff to it! I remember a commenter writing about how her husband was...
Yesterday I had a message from a woman being summoned in to defend herself to a toxic elders' board. She had been going to a very hierarchical, controlling church and had realized it wasn't healthy and had decided to take her family and go elsewhere. The elders' board...
Thank you to Zondervan and the book To Heal or Harm for sponsoring this post.My husband Keith and I talk a lot behind the scenes about the theology of complementarianism. It really bothers him that so much of the theology and arguments holding complementarianism up...
So much Christian teaching is dedicated to keeping men in power over women. I don't think that's of Christ. I know it bears bad fruit (we've measured it!). And I believe that it is pushing women out of the church and making marriages worse. And so I'm always ecstatic...
Pastors should not be writing books until they've dealt with their trauma. And even then, they shouldn't write the book based on how they dealt with their trauma. They should write it based on peer reviewed research, because one person's experience may be the...
How did we get to the point where Scripture is so easily weaponized? Thank you to Zondervan for sponsoring this post. I mean, I suppose it always has been. That's one of the things Jesus railed against the religious leaders for, and that the prophets railed against...
How did people fall for Love & Respect? Emerson Eggerichs' 2004 best-selling marriage book is honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. It's badly researched. It messed up stats. It states bizarre opinions as if they are common sense. It gets the Bible...
It's impossible for Emerson Eggerichs' ideas in Love & Respect to work in practice. Because what he tells men to do and what he tells women to do are completely and utterly mutually exclusive. So something will have to give. And in Eggerichs' world, that's always...
Scripture can be used to abuse people. But it can also be used to heal! Today Dr. Steven Tracy takes us through some of the most weaponized verses in the Bible against abuse victims, and helps us see clearly how these verses have been misunderstood and misused. And...
What if keeping the peace seems safer--but it's actually riskier long-term?Sheila here! Those of you who read the blog regularly, and who follow me on social media, see a lot of my thoughts. But did you know that Rebecca writes the Friday emails that go out to our...
In January of 1994 I went to see Schindler's list in movie theatres. About two hours after watching it I had a miscarriage, losing my first pregnancy. I've always thought somehow the horror of that movie and the miscarriage were linked. One of the scenes that has...
A scholarly look at Ephesians 5 shows that egalitarianism was baked in. I'm going to do something different today. Recently a woman named Liana Cavanaugh sent me an essay that she wrote for a theology degree that she is taking. I was really impressed with the essay,...
Every now and then a book comes along that is just so succinct and clear about women. And Lydia Kaiser has written a gem of a book in Bible Truth about Women! It's out next month, and I read an early copy, and I'm so excited to share it with you in today's podcast,...
Too many have been taught horrible theology that sin levels. Believers are supposed to have a God who will comfort them when they are betrayed or abused or abandoned. But so much of our theology turns God into someone who doesn't care about our hurts, and is even mad...