This is Part Two. You can read Part One here, “‘Biblical’ Patriarchy: here’s how you replaced God.”
What did God say was the root problem of the Old Covenant people who were oppressing those under them?
You have left Me.
(He said this in many places, such as Isaiah 1:4 and Jeremiah 1:16; 2:12-13, 17, 19; 5:3, 7, 19; 8:5, 17:13; 19:4; 22:9.)
What did God say was the solution?
Return to Me.
(He said this in many places, such as Isaiah 55:7 and Jeremiah 3:22; 4:1; 18:11; 35:15; 36:3; and 36:7.)
I asked my visitor, the daughter of patriarchy, how many people who had left the movement were still following Jesus. I said still, even though it sounded like many of these families may never have really followed Him. After all, I think the word for believing “the only way [for a woman] to know God’s will for your life is through a husband or father” would be . . . “heresy” . . . or “cult.”
My new friend told me it was only ten percent. So after we parted and I got to a quiet place, I wept.
I wept for the young people, those in the ninety percent, who think what they’re leaving is Christianity, when in many cases it isn’t Christianity at all, but only a twisted, misshapen copy, a hollow echo of it.
I wept for the many parents who, if as young adults in the 1980s and 1990s could have foreseen what they would become, what they would fall prey to, might have turned away in horror.
The horror of it
“Be appalled at this, O heavens! Be utterly horrified and dumbfounded,” says the LORD. “My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me—the spring of living water—and they dug their own cisterns—cracked cisterns that hold no water.”
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Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by me). I’m praying it will be helpful.
Springs of living water! May all who are thirsty, come and drink what He has to offer.
I thought of this old blog post of mine after reading part 1.
http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2013/11/vision-forum-and-friends-turn-your-eyes.htm
Sorry – broken link up there!
http://watchtheshepherd.blogspot.com/2013/11/vision-forum-and-friends-turn-your-eyes.html
That’s a good one. Thank you for linking it.
Patriarchy is the leaven of the Pharisees that Jesus specifically warned us all about. Let’s see, He said something like…BEWARE. Pretty strong word. The spirit of Rome is not only responsible for giving rise to the Popish system, it is also always at work in every local church striving to effect the very same power and control structure in order to bring us into bondage. In patriarchal systems, papacies are formed. A false priesthood is established that meddles in and controls even the most intimate and personal parts of our lives (like marriage and family). God’s instruction to us in regard to dealing with it? Be done with it. Come out of it. And be free.
This is wonderful. Thank you
Thank you for your encouragement, Sam. It means a lot.
Very well said. A while back I was yet again grieving over my sin and I came across Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ I know that this is talking about unbelievers, and how they wanted the power of Christ, without the Person, but as I examined myself I prayed “Lord, help me to want you!” I thought what would these people look like today? What kind of power would I want? As I looked at my life I wanted the power over sin, I wanted to finally be good, not that desiring righteousness is wrong, but I was convicted that I was pursuing only righteousness, and not Christ. Thank you for reminding me that it is the Holy Spirit that changes people, He is my righteousness, satisfaction, and my friend.
Thank you for this beautiful comment! That is the problem for so many, “I was pursuing only righteousness, and not Christ.” The fact is that He is a PERSON that we can actually get to know! We can get to know Him through His creation and through His true people, but the Bible is the ultimate revelation of Him–we read it to *get to know Him.*
I do have an encouraging thought. The very fact that you’re praying “Lord help me to want you” is an indication that you DO want Him. I talked more about asking for help on this blog post here: https://heresthejoy.com/2015/02/help-lord/
That Bible verse about rebellion being as the sin of witchcraft was used against King Saul. Patriarch. Authority figure. Later, when David ran from Saul to save his own life you won’t find Samuel using that sermon against him. The supporters of the Patriarchy would have it the other way around.
That’s a very good point, and one I hadn’t thought of before. Thank you!
Christ has the prior claim on one’s life, because Covenant children belonged to Him from before the foundation of the world, long before they were entrusted to the parents who were to raise them to follow Him. Parents and children do not belong to one another, really. All people belong to God alone.
Thank you Rebecca! You’ve hit on the thing that grieves me most with all of the abusive “Christian” families we see. We see the children walking away from the faith altogether, because they were given a false version of Him. How I pray they come to know the true and living God, who is love.
Oh yes, that is so much the prayer of my heart as well.
i have done lots of research on patriarchy/complementarianism vs. egalitarianism. I have read many blogs that espouse each “system” and why they believe their view to be the proper translation of God’s word. Here is what I have found.
The pat/comp blogs—
1– claim they have the exact truth of what god meant man to be and woman to be and what their roles are to be in life
2– they extrapolate to much detail what those roles are to the point of minutia and micromanaging. .and seem to put many more rules and requirements on women than on men
3—many of them use only the english surface translation though there are some who make their case and points by using the greek word meanings.
4— if you disagree with them they say you are going against God, even saying a person is sinning if they do not follow pat/comp.
5—they use their beliefs to make rules that would have every christian family look and live like a family from 1950’s white america (honey, I’m home) –they do not realize that black/Mexican women have had to work in the homes of others for years as maids and cooks and that women in 3rd world countries live in little more than 1 room shacks and their life revolves around working outside the home in fields and going to market.
6— will block you if you disagree with them, thus not allowing for normal discussion of why or why not their views might be what god actually meant.
on the other hand egal blogs
1-present their case by telling what certain key words the ancient languages mean, many of them having been educated in those languages AND the culture of the time that scripture was written trying to give a view of what life was like at the time that scripture was penned. .
2- they do not say you are sinning if you do not believe what they write -they simply present their evidence
3- will not block you if you present a different opinion
here is what one blog wrote to me after i told them why i did not believe in pat/comp teachings. They accused me of slurring them because i disagreed —————-“(Mr. X has sought to faithfully study and teach God’s principles from His Word. “Patriarchy” is normally a slur to speak ill of the male-led order God set up in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. “Legalism” is normally a slur for those that have standards stricter than we feel is necessary. Some of that may feel like micromanagement, but it is straight out of the Bible. Those that long to see the Kingdom of God come, and His will done, on earth as they read it in Scripture are drawn to Mr. X—- Others find him very offensive. But . . . he will never change.”
[…] [Emily and I didn’t know each other in those days. But here she is describing exactly what I wrote about in that same year, 2017. That the families who followed a patriarchal cult-like leader were replacing the springs of living w….] […]
—case in point about following scripture in a legalist way….if we truly were to do that then none of us would own dogs, since all those many verses in the bible are all negative about dogs. dirty, filthy, scavengers, keeps company with whores. –yet they are the most beloved of pets in modern society…. why? — i call it redemption. so if god can redeem the lowly dog from how it is described in scripture, why not the lowly woman, who after all “caused” the entire fall of man?
[…] PART TWO is here: “To those in ‘Biblical’ Patriarchy: return to God” […]