Trad Christian Men, Stop Demeaning Our Sisters In Christ

When it comes to the differing worldviews of society, there seems to be a tendency for the pendulum of culture to swing from one extreme to the next. This is especially true if the worldview has no solid foundation. Specifically for America, our society is in the middle of this pendulum swing right now, and it is not good. For decades, radical feminism has plagued our society in many awful ways. From abortion, all the way to the sexual revolution, this ideology has brought much damage to our nation. It has even affected the Church as well. Over the decades, egalitarianism has creeped into churches. This has caused a feminization of our churches where the services are geared towards women and their feelings. As of recently, there seems to be a swing away from this stuff. While you may think this is good, the pendulum has unfortunately swung to the opposite extreme that is not any better. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to see some segments of the church moving away from feminism, but where it is going is not going to fix any of the core issues. This movement is called the Trad-Con Hyper-Patriarchal movement.

The trad movement claims to represent biblical values and views on manhood and womanhood. In some ways, there is some truth in what they are saying. However, at its core, this movement goes beyond what scripture says about men and women. They rightly see men as the leaders of families and churches, but they view women in very demeaning ways. They view women as inferior to men who basically need to be guided along through every aspect of their lives. Keep in mind, these are professing Christian men saying this stuff. Some even goes as far as to say that only men are image bearers of God and women are image bearers of men. When it comes to women and theology, they believe that women should not discuss or even learn theology. Basically they only follow their husbands and cannot study scripture on their own. There was one particular pastor who snatched a theology book out of wife’s hand because he wasn’t ready to learn about the topic of that book. See what I mean? They go way beyond the boundaries of scripture. In a lot of ways, these ideas are usually found within Islam. Andrew Tate likely has a lot to do with that. Those who have bought into this have now begun to demean and bash their sisters in Christ for not believing what they believe. Let me give you an example.

Within reformed Christianity, there are a lot of theologically sound and theologically knowledgeable women. One of these women is Allie Beth Stuckey. Allie is a reformed conservative Christian who hosts on a podcast on Blaze TV called Relatable. On her podcast, she discusses the news, politics, the culture and theology all from a biblical worldview. She is very sound in her doctrine and is very knowledgeable about the topics she discusses. Her podcast is actually one of the reasons why I am reformed today. My podcast that I do is actually modeled after her podcast as well as Ben Shapiro’s podcast. Many in reformed circles love her and support her. However, there seems to shift in how some view her. In a semi recent podcast, she discusses the role of women in churches. She correctly states that women cannot be pastors, or elders. At one point, she mentions although she is capable of delivering a more sound sermon better than a lot men in pulpits today, she states that she doesn’t want to be a pastor. Everything she said is true, but her comments on this podcast really offended the trad movement. Now, these people (a lot of them being men) attack her, call her a feminist. They call her a snake and even false convert all because she discusses theology. They even call her the next Beth Moore, which incredibly ridiculous. Their problem with her is that she discusses theology. They twist 1 Timothy 2:11-12 to mean that women cannot discuss theology at all. The same pastor who snatched that book out of his wife’s hand also said that women should not get better to discuss scripture. In fact, he said that it would be better for them to have a wine party than to discuss the Word of God. However, it gets even worse than this.

One of the most egregious things I have seen from these men, who call themselves Christian, is the way they view women with a past in sexual immorality. These women lived their lives deep in sin, but they eventually repented their sins and surrendered their lives to Christ. They are redeemed by God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They are now righteous before the sight of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). They are no longer condemned by God for their sin (Roman 8:1). They are now our sisters in Christ. However, these “trad men” still want to hold their past against them, saying they should be forbidden from marriage. Some even say that these women are just using Christ as a crutch to feel better about themselves. They still see these women as dirty, low value women who do not deserve their respect. These are your sisters, guys! This is not Christ-like in any sort of way. This is disgusting worldly sinful behavior. There is nothing biblical about treating women of God like this. These men should be ashamed of themselves.

Women are image bearers of God just like men (Genesis 1:26-27). Men and women do have different roles in the Church. Men are given the role of leadership, and women are given the role of service and hospitality. However, this does not mean that women cannot discuss theology, especially with one another. In fact, God says that women should do so in Titus 2:3-4. If you are a follower of Christ, you are obligated to study His word and grow in knowledge of Him. For men, especially husbands who try to hold their wives back from doing this, they need to examine themselves. Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries recently said this in a recent podcast.

Women most definitely as image bearers of God, redeemed by the grace of God in Christ, are responsible to grow in that grace and knowledge. They don’t get a pass, and they’re not to grow only as far as their husbands allow them. In fact, I would say, and I have said, to men multiple times who are married to or considering marrying sharp, theologically, astute women, ‘Brother, you just need to get up earlier and stay up later. You don’t hold her back. You don’t rein her in.’

Tom Ascol in The Sword and The Trowel Episode: Should women be theologians?

Women of Christ must study God’s word. For men, if you feel the need to hold her back to keep her from getting ahead of you spiritually, you are the one who has the issue, not her. As Tom said, you need to step it up instead of holding her back.

Trad Christian men, stop demeaning our sisters in Christ. Demeaning and shaming them is not a virtue of Christ but a virtue of Satan. As followers of Christ, we are to love each other (John 13:34-35). If you claim to follow Christ but hate your brother or sister, you need to examine yourself (1 John 2:9). True followers of Christ will love their siblings in Christ and will show grace and kindness towards them. If someone has a dark past but has truly repented, then we should love them and show them the grace and kindness that God shows us. We are in the world but not of the world. The world would say to treat them like trash, but Christ says to love them. This is why this Trad movement is dangerous. It comes from the same deadly tree as feminism does. It is a movement of Satan, not a movement of God. Satan seeks to destroy the Church, and he will use any tool in his disposal. Satan is not a leftist. He will attack from the right as well. This is why we must look to the Word of God. Scripture is absolutely sufficient to solve any of these major issues (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Look to Christ and His word. Love God and love your brothers and sisters. May all glory be to Christ.

One comment

  1. I will offer some kind advice; delete this article.

    This “pendulum” that you mentioned hasn’t even come close to swinging back to the extreme side it was on 2k years ago when 1 Timothy 2:11-12 was written.
    “11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to
    teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”
    It’s not just referring to “inside the church,” rather outside as well. There’s no twisting there to get a clear meaning that a female theologian shouldn’t be teaching men, inside or outside the walls of the church. A woman theologian with a podcast is really no different from a preacher, and she’s definitely a teacher.

    The rest of the article seems to be an attempt at white-knighting, but it lacks the necessary gravitas, so it comes off a lot more “pick-me” like. Since you didn’t offer any examples, I’ll have to make assumptions on this next one; I’ve yet to see a repentant Christian woman bragging about her body count, so I’ll assume you’re judging these men because they’ve said they won’t settle for a ran-through woman when, eventually, they’re ready to “settle down”. These sorts of videos abound on social media. This is a perfectly acceptable opinion and preference to have. No, they shouldn’t shame them if they come into the faith from this sort of lifestyle, but neither is it their duty to marry them and deal with running into a different guy she’s been with every time they go somewhere. Our past has consequences, if you slept around it’s going to be harder to find a quality mate, especially for women. No one owes these women a ring.

    As for the preacher not letting his wife read a book before he reads it, while shouldn’t be belittling his wife, it is his place as the head of his family to protect her, even from herself. Many parents insist they read books before their child reads it, I suspect his reasoning towards his wife is much the same. Had she instead opened the Bible and read it, he would have had the entirely opposite reaction. Men have allowed women too much liberty, and it’s lead down a horribly destructive path, not just for the faith but for the world. Reigning that in will be harsh, but it needs to be done.

    The trad movement isn’t dangerous at all, unless you fear masculine men and feminine women. As for Mr. Tate, when Christians fail to provide manly role models, the world will not. Men need to man up and step up. Head the home (and society) with Biblical strength, love, kindness, and vigilance, but be the head that God commands us to be.

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