Women in Ministry, Part 1

This is the link to an article a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook.

(...yes, I'm still on Facebook, and yes, today I had too much time on my hands and was scrolling my news feed, which, again, yes, is something I'm making it a point to do less of...so I can spend more time on Snapchat... <3)

The article is linked here. Have a read.

The article addresses a woman's place in the church. What's interesting, is women in Islam are raising questions about their places within their religion.

Since I am not religious, my questions are not the same, but I am a firm follower of Jesus, and I believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, so for many years, I lived a very tormented and confused life.

 I thought it was God who was angry with me and out to get me. I thought it was God Who was disappointed with me for being female, and I was angry with Him for making me that way.

This could go in many directions. My story is quite involved, and the reason I'm still alive is Jesus, but for many years, I wrestled with God and completely mistrusted Him...and it was because of the church.

I am going to write about this subject more than once, and I'm going to simply share my story, because I know there is power in story, and it's less offensive than opinion. You have the right to your opinion. I have the right to mine, and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind...my goal in life is to change my own for the better every day, and to live and share from that place.

So right, then. I was depressed and very suicidal because the God who actually died to set me free from every curse, including the one that put husbands over wives in Genesis, was being modeled for me by pastors and authority figures as angry, vengeful, two-faced, oppressive, demanding, demeaning and tyrannical...just to name a few things...

But the Bible they claimed as inerrant says that God Himself says He is good, gives good gifts, is kind, merciful, patient, and LOVE, for Heaven's sake. (eg: Exodus 33:17-23, 34:5-9; James 1:17; 1John 4:7-5:4)

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with: "Our Father, Who art in Heaven..." (I'll write on that amazing gem another time...it's SO awesome!), and on down the line, He prayed: "...Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven..." (Matthew 6:9-13)

That posed a problem for me, or so I thought. If the church is modeling oppression of women by not allowing them to have places of leadership and equal say, and they are to be leading the charge for the world and are supposed to be advancing the rule and reign of God on the earth to make it look like God's kingdom, Heaven...then that's a problem, and I should probably not serve God.

And this posed another problem, because I'd had experiences of God that were not at all like what I read about in scripture through the lens of what I was being shown and taught in the church...

So if I committed suicide, did I really want to go to Heaven? And did I want to live? No.

The plot thickens and the story does get better, I promise...stay tuned...(because obviously I have chosen to live...and I'm in ministry school!!!)