Grains of Sand

prisonplanet.com (Google Images) This is a little different from what I usually post on this blog but given that Jesus took steps during His ministry to show the value of women in His society, it seemed a good thing to share. Steve Jones is president of The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada , which I serve. This is this week's letter from his office. Dear pastors, missionaries, chaplains and friends,   Steve here… I wrote several months ago about Bill C-36 and the new “Prostitution Law” the government of Canada was proposing.   The Bill passed on December 6, 2014, and for the first time in Canadian history, buying sex is illegal in Canada.   We celebrate this legal milestone and the continued fight against exploitation — particularly against women in our nation.   This law represents a shift in law and policy in Canada. Now we will be penalizing the “pimps” and “johns” and not just the prostitu...

blog.longnow.org (Google Images) In many ways we have too many details when it comes to the story of Esther. If there ever was a series of events that could give rise to a spirit of feminism, this is it. Women subjugated, dehumanized, and brutalized, treated as chattels to be used, abused and then discarded at the whim of the male of the species. That women accepted this role in life without question is a perfect example of the depths to which the curse, placed upon them in Genesis 3:16, had brought them. Even Mordecai could be accused of using his own niece as a pawn to his political ambitions. Unlike Moses’ mother who hid her son in a basket to protect him from the pharaoh, Uncle Mordecai made no attempt to shield her from the slavers disguised as wife-seekers to King Xerxes. However, even man’s abhorrent behaviour is woven into God’s divine design. In the book named after Esther we learn about a plot to kill all the Jews, perpetrated by Haman, an intimate of the king. Mordecai p...

Aha, I thought, as I read this morning's assigned verses. I figured I could pass on this set of instructions. The verses come from 1 Peter 3:1-5 which, as most people know, like it or not, have to do with wives submitting to their husbands. Since I don't have a husband, I thought I'd just skip over the passage without a second look. Then I took the second look. Some people wave these verses under the noses of wives like rotten cheese in a strong wind, admonishing them to behave themselves appropriately in their spousal relationships. A blog is not the best place to discuss all the issues that are raised here—and there are lots of them. But what strikes me is what this particular passage is actually addressing, quite apart from any other references. Take a look. " Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence ...