Hat tip to Darwinian Arminian for finding this fradulently feminist article.
The article begins with an erroneous recounting of Stephen. “Stephen was appointed to serve the neglected women of the congregation, and he eventually became church history’s first martyr.”
He was appointed to settle disputes of preferential treatment between Gentile & Jewish believers. That put Stephen in a position of authority over women, to overrule their behavior as needed for Christian morality… an authority that did not extend to overruling their husbands, the latter being dead.
Stephen wasn’t martyred for his Church duties. He was falsely arrested for his quality apologetics (Acts 6:11) then executed for the speech he subsequently gave to the Sanhedrin. It’s absolutely not true that Stephen “got” to be murdered because he was noble enough to serve muh’Lady’s whims.
“Inspired by Stephen’s sermon [GQ: which never references women], I began to freshly reflect on the role women play throughout the Bible. Though the list could be much longer, here are 21 events.from Genesis to Revelation.in which women play key roles in redemptive history:”
1. A woman’s absence is the first thing declared “not good” in creation (Gen. 2:18).
The “not good” of woman’s absence contrasts the “good” of everything else God made (Gen. 1:31). Man cannot rule the earth without woman (Gen. 2:18). Even on the new earth, the last Adam will not reign without his bride (Rev. 22:5).
(Gen. 1:31) Adam’s (implicitly sexual) loneliness was the ‘not good’ part. He had God Himself for platonic companionship at that time.
(Gen. 2:18) Are we reading the same Bible?
(Rev. 22:5) Eric forgets the Thousand-Year Reign of Christ in Rev. 20, which will be held with only a very limited resurrection. Also, “the last Adam will not reign without his bride” is a much different statement than Eric’s implicit “the last Adam will not be able to reign without his bride”.
4. A woman is the first and only character in the Old Testament to confer a name on God (Gen. 16:13).
Given the significance of naming in the Old Testament, it’s notable that it is the abandoned servant woman, Hagar, who names God “the God of seeing..
Most of the reasons I’m skipping over are women who were the “first” at something, as if being first was some kind of achievement. It isn’t; being first is a substitute for being significant.
Elon Musk willing, one day I’ll be the first human in history to snort an entire candy bar up his nose in zero gravity. First!
5. Women act bravely at decisive moments to preserve the endangered line of the seed.often in the midst of vulnerability and oppression.
Tamar (Gen. 38), Hebrew midwives (Ex. 1:15.21), Rahab (Josh. 2), Ruth, Esther, and others step forward at key points to preserve the Redeemer’s line and move it toward fulfillment.
Esther… ah, my favorite Biblical example of a “holy woman”. Truth is, Mordecai was the hero. Esther 2:2: “But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.” Not a demonstration of courageous leadership.
Later, Esther planned to let the Jews be genocided rather than risk the king murdering his favorite sex toy for showing up unannounced. She’d never told the king she was a Jew herself so she expected to be spared. Mordecai then threatened Esther into giving a damn about her own people in Esther 4:12-14: When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: .Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
That’s the Biblical account of how a woman practices sacrifice. Thank God our Savior is a man!
And Ruth? A woman hunting for a good husband was such important behavior (for women) that God dedicated an entire book of the Bible to it. But convincing Boaz that she was a good pick was hardly an act of female empowerment.
6. Women are the first to believe that Jesus and his forerunner soon would be conceived (Luke 1:5.38).and the first to speak aloud of it.
Zechariah disbelieved and became mute. Joseph contemplated a quiet divorce. Elizabeth and Mary received the announcement in publicly expressed faith.
I love that moment when a Churchian allows himself to start being honest. “Joseph contemplated a quiet divorce.” Yes, because Joseph was a righteous man per Scripture and found out his supposedly virgin fiance was preggo. Excepting this one specific, unique, pivotal event in human history, during which God tasked an angel to explain the situation, Joseph’s behavior was appropriate per the Bible.
The Biblical precedent of Joseph is that if your fiance turns up pregnant and not possibly by you, ditch the bitch and find a woman who respects you enough to not stray… unless God Himself goes out of His way to vouch for her.
10. A woman is the first to expect and request a miraculous sign (John 2:1.11).
Jesus.s response to his mother indicates that Mary requested more than quick thinking.she expected and received a messianic sign.
The correct Biblical lesson here is, surprisingly, that nagging works on God. It’s hard to believe but confirmed in Luke 18:1-8.
Also, Jesus’ mother was a nag.
11. A woman is the first recorded Gentile to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and the first to go tell a community about him (John 4:4.42).
The Samaritan woman.likely abused and marginalized by her people.was the first recorded non-Israelite to identify Jesus as the Christ, immediately becoming the first missionary to go and proclaim him among a community.
The Samaritan woman.outed by Christ as a five-time adulteress.did not recognize Jesus as the Christ until He directly said so. No magic female intuition.
Why does Eric think she was abused and marginalized? Nothing in the account indicates that… unless you count Jesus asking for water. Abuuuse!
“Get your own damn water, patriarchy!”
“You’ve been a whore with these five other guys.”
“I see you are a prophet. Let’s talk about that instead.”
“I am God.”
“SHIT!”
13. No woman is ever recorded as acting against Jesus.
Jesus.s recorded enemies were all men.
Jesus’s recorded allies & disciples were all men, too, unless you count laundry & food services.
15. A woman is the final person Jesus directly ministered to before his death (John 19:26.27).
Jesus.s last act of ministry on earth was to provide care for a woman, probably widowed and soon to be bereaved of her eldest son.his own mother.
Heh, that’s one way to put it. I like this account because it shows Christ was so absent-minded that he forgot about his own mother. A less preoccupied man would have made arrangements before his execution instead of during.
This account and the account of Christ getting cold feet in Gethsemane are proof that Christ shared in our human frailties even though He also overcame them. It’s a great reassurance to me that God Himself can relate to my own forgetfulness and nervousness. But Eric is twisting it into Jesus’ last act being what man he can stick with the cost of caring for muh’Lady.
Eric concludes the article by encouraging men to follow Stephen’s “example” of championing women’s issues and the Biblical examples of calling out misogyny even though that isn’t what Stephen did and despite the Biblical accounts of women who did evil such as Eve, Sarah, Jael, Jezebel, Esther, Michal, the Samaritan at the Well, Euodia and Syntyche.
Eric Schumacher of Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Ames, Iowa lied about Scripture in order to justify the goddess cult of feminism and is therefore a false teacher of Christianity.
I am far from some Biblical scholar. I don’t speak Hebrew or Greek. But reading this list, I was even saying “no. that is incorrect” or “twisting Scripture just for empowerment of women is really a shameful tactic”
This was done as a PR thing for when the 503c exemption will be removed from most churches that don’t toe a PC-feminine outlook.
God help us! All will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ!