Yesterday, I read a very insightful post on the "Council of Biblical Manhood & Womanhood" site. Though it speaks of the effects of culture on womanhood, it is important to note how many areas of life we allow culture to inform and impact. There are many preachers nowadays who are adjusting their message to fit within the cultural atmosphere in which they serve. Knowing that is the case, this brings one to consider...where then, does it stop? If the culture guides preaching (instead of preaching guiding the culture), then it will necessarily follow that the culture will guide even Christians understanding of manhood and womanhood, motives in parenting, contentment and usefulness in the unmarried state, and on and on. Today we have Christians who believe homosexuality is acceptable, that depression and ADD are merely uncontrolled mental illnesses that must be medicated, that women HAVE to work outside the home in order to feel fulfilled and complete, that children should be able to decide for themselves how they desire to live. I am thankful for a pastor who is most assuredly not guided by the culture we live in, though sadly, many cannot say the same of their own pastor.
Here is a clip from the CBMW's post:
Some of us do not remember a time when it was considered “progressive” for a woman to work outside of the home. In the wake of the feminist revolution women in full-time careers are normative now. For many young girls to grow up and be “just like mom” means to go to college, pick a career path, and climb the ladder of success. One of the interesting aspects of Time Magazine’s cover story last month were the stories of women who had been profiled in the initial cover story in 1972. One was a career woman who stayed that way, one was a woman who was a farmer’s wife who went to work when her kids grew up, and one was a homemaker who was still at home after all these years.
Intrigued by their stories, I went back and read the original stories of the women profiled in 1972. One of the recurring things I noticed with the women who chose to stay home with their families back then was that they would say "it's just what you do." Many of the women believed the husband was the "dominant" one because that is just how it is. And to this day, some of them still would prefer the husband to be the dominant one in the relationship, but would like to embrace some of the more “freeing” aspects of feminism’s effects. In their generation the norm was June Cleaver. The homemaker who is always there to greet her husband, bakes fresh cookies for her boys, and never forgets to wear her pearls. That is just the way it was. It was embedded in the culture, and feminism was simply a fringe movement.
But when it hit the suburban housewife it changed everything. The problem with making a cultural model normative is that it holds no lasting weight. It’s only bearing is the fact that it is tradition that defines you, not an external authority. When the feminist movement of the seventies became culturally relevant to every woman, it allowed for a complete shift of ideology. When culture defines womanhood and the family, a cultural shift takes the norm with it. The shift leftward gave us the new normal. And this is where we are today.
As Christians we are not shaken by the cultural revolutions. We know that God defines our personhood and our gender. If he, who is unchanging, defines us, then no matter what the culture does, his Word will still stand true. So many of the women who stayed home in the 60’s and 70’s, became slowly dissatisfied with their lives because they never had a real framework for why they were home in the first place. It was just what they did. And when all of their kids left home, and they were left with their husbands, they were unhappy with their lives because everyone on the outside looked like they were having a lot more fun.
As Christian women we have a tremendous calling to teach the next generation of women that we are not women by accident. We do not define our own personhood and gender. God does. So many young girls today believe in a norm, just like the women in 1972. Only now this norm is thinking that you have to go to college and seek a career to be successful in this world. Many of them have no framework for desiring children and a husband. It’s just not what you do anymore, until you have established your own career. I often wonder what they will be thinking 25 years from now when they have the career, but no family and no children. It is a vicious cycle when God is not in the center.
We do a great disservice to our younger sisters in Christ when we teach them womanhood in the context of “it’s just what you do.” We are not creating a new cultural norm in the training of the next generation. We are passing down a legacy. We are passing down a history and a story that was written for us by a good God when he created Adam and Eve male and female (Gen. 1:27).
The hope for the American woman is not better pay, more career opportunities, perceived equality, or even a well-kept home and family. It is in Jesus Christ alone and in his plan for his people. We don’t believe in womanhood because we just think men should be the “dominant” ones. We believe in womanhood because God said that is what we are. And that is what we must be and teach.
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