The official lobbying office of the 7.9 million-member United Methodist Church recently joined with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Center for Transgender Equality in co-signing a letter of support  for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).   This legislation, supported by the United Methodist General Board on Church and Society, places those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender into a specially protected status.

In his recent book Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? Wayne Grudem traces out the historical connection in mainline denominations between the rejection of biblical authority, women's ordination and the resulting downgrade that finally leads to a full embrace of theological liberalism.

One example Grudem cites is the United Methodist Church. The UMC officially sanctioned the ordination of women in 1956, the same year the northern branch of the Presbyterian Church USA approved female ordination.

Fast-forward to the 21^st century, Grudem writes, and you find large contingents within the UMC, PCUSA and other denominations-all of which approved the ordination of women between 1956 and 1976-now endorsing homosexual conduct and fomenting for homosexual ordination. The downgrade toward liberalism, in each case, followed a rejection of biblical inerrancy and the ordination of women, Grudem argues. The recent activities of the United Methodist Church are consistent with his observations, and highlight the importance of pastors and local churches standing firm on a biblical foundation.

It should be pointed out that the UMC lobby organization took the action without the consent of the church membership and its actions directly contradict the United Methodist Book of Discipline, which declares that homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture.

Sadly, the denomination continues to be deeply divided over the issue and has, like other mainline denominations, witnessed a considerable exodus of members in the past decade. This past summer, the division became even more pronounced when the UMC appointed a transgender pastor for a church in Baltimore.

While there are no doubt many devoted believers within the UMC who stringently oppose the denomination's drift from historic Christianity, the lobby office's actions are a tragic reminder of the devastatingly high cost of selling biblical authority on the cheap.  As Jesus told listeners in His Sermon on the Mount, when a house is built on something other than His Word, the foundation will crumble and the superstructure will fall.

Is it a universal truism that women tend to be chatterboxes, while most men are strong and silent?  Has God created women in such a way that they talk, talk, talk, and has our Creator endowed men with the gift of virtual silence? A recent study by one psychology professor shows that this stereotype, approached from either a sociological or biblical angle, is a myth on par with the notion that all females are bad drivers.

Science Daily  reports that Matthias R. Mehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, and other researchers set out to test this myth. Specifically, Mehl and his team sought to challenge the findings of a recent book in which a noted neuropsychiatrist asserted that women outtalk men by a 3-1 ratio, positing that a woman uses about 20,000 words a day, while a man uses only about 7,000.

In a series of studies conducted over six years, Mehl and the others recorded the conversations of nearly 400 U.S. and Mexican male and female university students.

To catch all of this chit-chat, they developed an electronically-activated recorder (with the fortuitous acronym EAR) that digitally, and unobtrusively, logged the daily conversations of those who wore the device.

The results found no statistical differences between the genders: women in the study spoke a daily average of 16,000 words during their waking hours, versus an average of 15,500 words for men.  Yes, you read that correctly. Men can talk with the best of women.

While God has created inherent differences between men and women, stereotyping is not helpful in the current evangelical gender debate.  Complementarians are often characterized as "traditionalists" as if our primary convictions are grounded in keeping things the way they have always been or the way we think they should be.  Appealing to stereotypes or even unconsciously relying on them should never replace our reliance on biblical truth.

The complementarian view is not based on such fatuous sayings as "real men don't eat quiche" or "women lack prowess in operating motor vehicles," but on biblical patterns, admonishments, and role expectations for men and women. 

In the end, it does not matter who talks more, who drives better, or who consumes greater quantities of a certain unsweetened breakfast custard, but who will submit themselves to God's Word and embrace the beauty of God's distinct design of the genders. This great truth from God's Word trumps our myths, no matter how many words you use to describe it.

[Let me introduce you to Bryan Lilly, a young complementarian who has a heart for God’s glory and a newly-minted bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources. His story speaks for itself and is recounted below from his blog.  —  David Kotter]

One of the hardest things about growing in my Christian life has been my role as a man. Though I will not entertain debate over this point (this is not the type of post to warrant that), let me start out by saying that I am a complimentarian when it comes to gender roles in the church. I see males and females as being equal in worth, but differing in roles and functions according to the order of God's creation. This has nothing to do with inferiority or superiority but a recognition that we have been created both similarly and differently depending on context. That aside, let me share a bit of my struggle with masculinity.

First of all, I have never had a familial role model to look up to in order to see how things are supposed to be done. My mother was a single parent. My dad had left her while she was pregnant with me, and I have never met nor seen him. I was raised by my mom and my grandmother, both of whom worked full-time while I was growing up. In middle school, I was a latch-key kid, coming home from school, letting myself in, and starting on homework (read: watching TV) until they got home and fixed dinner. I have fought hard battles all throughout my life on issues of worth and value (I speak in human terms) and love. I've fought a long battle of feeling like no one can love me because of the rejection I've felt due to my dad leaving (as if it is my fault!). My girlfriend, who has the unfortunate burden of dealing with me when I slip into this mindset, can affirm that this battle is both long and hard. I expect people to give up on me. A history of self-fulfilling prophecy has only cemented those feelings. There is not a day that goes by that I don't question my masculinity. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean that I have issues of questioning gender and other such pop-psychological ideas of any sort. What I mean is that I struggle with my man-ness. I struggle with ideas and fears at failing in my manhood: of being the protector, the leader, the strong yet sensitive one. I've never seen it in action to know whether I'm doing it or not.

In God's grace, he has sent me incredibly masculine men through the church that have shown me what it means. Pastor Smith ("Smitty"), and Pastor Hawkins have been irreplaceable in my life as role-models, both as theologians, counselors, loving husbands, and incredible fathers. I can never repay what I owe them for their continuous pouring into me over the years. But twenty-three years is a long time of doubt and fear to break down anytime soon. Cracks have certainly been formed, but the wall is thick. So thick it would take a monumental work of a sovereign God to break through. Funny that that's exactly what He has been doing. He's probably the best at it too, since he did not only foreknow my situation, but specifically designed it and caused it for His glory. I would rather trust a God who is sovereign over every aspect of the situation than to put my hope in a God who only allowed it to happen via the work of some outside force. The God who only allows it to happen is an impotent God, and one whom I can't trust to get me out of it.

I am currently reading the first chapter of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, called "A Vision of Biblical Complementarity: Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible." In this chapter, John Piper sets to give a brief, non exhaustive definition of masculinity and femininity. His working definition of masculinity is as follows:

"AT THE HEART OF MATURE MASCULINITY IS A SENSE OF BENEVOLENT RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD, PROVIDE FOR AND PROTECT WOMAN IN WAYS APPROPRIATE TO A MAN'S DIFFERING RELATIONSHIPS."

Piper then goes into explaining what his definition means phrase by phrase. My heart fastened onto what he says about "mature masculinity." I will quote his explanation for the inclusion of this phrase in whole:

"A man might say, ‘I am a man and I do not feel this sense of responsibility that you say makes me masculine.' He may feel strong and sexually competent and forceful and rational. But we would say to him that if he does not feel this sense of benevolent responsibility toward women to lead, provide, and protect, his masculinity is immature. It is incomplete and perhaps distorted. ‘Mature' means that a man's sense of responsibility is in the process of growing out of its sinful distortions and limitations, and finding its true nature as a form of love, not a form of self-assertion." (pg 36, emphasis mine)

Amen, and amen. This is exactly what I have seen in the lives of Pastor Smith and Pastor Hawkins, as well as many, many others whom God has thought to graciously bring into my life. They have exhibited the renewing of masculinity, a masculinity that "is in the process of growing out of its sinful distortions and limitations" and finds "its true nature as a form of love." This is what I yearn for, what I pursue. To be a leader in my future family and my church that exhibits a self-sacrificial attitude and leadership that has its basis on a deep love for the people around me. To say it another way, to love people as Christ loved.

I'm not there yet. I never will be this side of glory. But I'm getting there.

Every day that the inward man is being renewed, and the outer man is passing away, every moment of God's sanctifying Spirit renewing me leads me closer to my goal. To be like Jesus.

Realizing that I am trying, by God's grace, to attain that ideal that Piper so wonderfully spoke of and thereby maturing in my masculinity brings great relief to my soul. Yet, as I said earlier, twenty-three years is a lot of stuff to work through. God says that He will be a Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68.5) and will be perfect where no earthly father can be. Praise God!

Healing began years ago, but I'm not there yet. Sanctification is a life-long process.

[I'm delighted to introduce you to Lydia Brownback, an author, editor and friend of CBMW.  She has written Fine China Is for Single Women Too and Legacy of Faith: From Women of the Bible to Women of Today, and we're looking forward to the forthcoming On-the-Go Devotional series.  Miss Brownback presently serves as associate editor at Crossway Books in Wheaton, Illinois.  Her complementarian passion to help single men and women live for the glory of God is evident in the following post that we have reproduced from her blog The Purple Cellar. —David Kotter]

Last week I posted ten among the top, a list of authors whose books are well worth collecting. In keeping, this week I want to name what I think is the absolute best resource on the topic of Christian singleness, bar none. It is John Piper's foreword to Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Few people know about it because it's buried within the larger volume. I hope that Piper's material will soon become a stand-alone publication. In the mean time, you will have to get hold of it by purchasing RBMW; but that's okay—it's an excellent investment. Here is the beginning of John Piper's foreword, which is called "For Single Men and Women (and the Rest of Us)":

We know you are there—almost sixty million of you in America. And we are listening. One of the most important things we have learned is that we do not know what it is like to be single in America today—at least not the way you know it. Margaret Clarkson made this very plain to us: "Because married people were all single once, they tend to think that they know all there is to know about singleness. I suggest that this is not so. . . . Singleness has a cumulative effect on the human spirit which is entirely different at 50 than at 30!" What I would like to do in this foreword is try to let single people do as much of the talking as possible—people like Jesus and the Apostle Paul and some contemporary men and women who serve in the single life.

Piper goes on and highlights eight important theses on singleness that we can find from tuning into Jesus and his contemporary single followers, eight things that offer more encouragement about being single, what to do with unwanted singleness, and how to find blessing in it than anything I have ever read. Whether you are single and love it or single and hate it—you will find this so helpful.

Curious as to what the debate over the Bible and gender is all about? Want to learn more about complementarianism? Want to know what Paul meant when he wrote "the women should keep silent in the churches?" Then look no further than the award-winning 1991 book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism.

Republished with an updated cover and a new preface in 2006 by Crossway Books, the work stands nearly two decades later as the monumental defense of traditional, biblical gender roles in the home and church. With its original release, RBMW was named Christianity Today's Book of the Year for 1993.

The work is edited by complementarian stalwarts John Piper and Wayne Grudem and includes essays by a renowned group of evangelical ministers and scholars, including Piper, Grudem, Elisabeth Elliott, Dorothy Patterson, Paige Patterson, John M. Frame, Vern S. Poythress, Thomas R. Schreiner, and D.A. Carson, among numerous others.

As CBMW leaders Ligon Duncan and Randy Stinson point out in the preface to the second edition, the work is perhaps more necessary today than it was at the time of its original release with egalitarianism and feminism holding sway in many churches, evangelical schools, and homes.

"While evangelical complementarians have delivered an impressive body of exegetical and theological argument . . . there has been a continuing erosion of commitment to the church's classic understanding of what the Bible teaches about male-female role relationships," they write.

"An increasing number of evangelical publishers (once bastions of conservatism regarding gender roles) are publishing books from a feminist perspective, and some of them now refuse to print anything that assumes or advances complementarianism. Likewise, well-regarded campus ministries have adopted and implemented functionally egalitarian patterns of ministry, and many evangelical faculties, even in the most conservative of institutions, promote egalitarianism."

RBMW is comprehensive in its treatment of the pertinent issues, ranging from the biblical meaning of headship to head coverings and an examination of gender issues in church history.

One of our goals at CBMW is to make solid Biblical resources like RBMW widely available to serve individual believers and local churches.  For this reason, the entire text of the book is available free in downloadable PDF format.  For those people who enjoy the pleasure of a tree-based, cover-bound, personal-note-scribbling book (like we are at CBMW) RBMW  is now the featured product at the CBMW webstore and available at a 35 percent discount.