Hi Paula

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Jonathan Brink
Provoketive Magazine

You posted the following comment:
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Many excellent comments above. I'd just like to add some (generic) thoughts:

The question was asked, what is the point of gender then? Of course at the very least it's reproduction. But to ask beyond that is to mistake personality differences for gender differences. In other words, why not ask what is the point of personality? There are easily more differences among men and among women than between them, especially considering a wide variety of cultures through history. Isn't it possible that, in some cases, people were driven to homosexuality because they didn't act the way their society demanded for the body they were born in? The irony surely escapes those who insist upon strict gender roles.

The undeniable fact is that not all men are good leaders/protectors, and not all women are good mothers/nurturers. And whether two people share an intimate bond has more to do with how they "complement" each other than how well they play contrived "roles"-- as if one's flesh is not an intrinsic part of their identity and can be changed as an actor would play a different role in a different film. 

But we really need to ask ourselves: if we long ago gave up arguing about whether blacks should have the same "roles" as whites, why do we still argue about whether women should have the same "roles" as men? If the flesh is not what God values most or bases gifts upon, then the kind of flesh is irrelevant. And if the equality of blacks did not make whites less white, surely the equality of women does not make men less manly. To even ask the question "what about women in the church?" is to betray a flawed foundation; it need not be asked at all. 

Women are not to politely ask for a place at the adults' table but to "come boldly to the throne of grace", through the "curtain torn in two", and take the seats bought for us by the blood of the Lamb. "When one part of the Body suffers, the other parts suffer with it."