Brittany Processes a Good Message

The Original Message:

Church was really great yesterday.  They are starting a new series on family and yesterday's message was sort of an overview of what's to come for the next several weeks.  Even though it was just an overview, I found it very interesting and really want to share what was said.

The preacher said that when we say "old-fashioned family values" (insert image of Andy Griffith and June Cleaver), it's really incorrect to look at it as old-fashioned because in the days of the Greek Thinkers and Mighty Romans, this idea that women and children should be treated with equally and with respect, was a revolutionary idea.  The idea that a man should love his wife and children and show patience and kindness was very modern.  Men were used to treating their family members like cattle, so getting used to it was difficult. In fact, women were treated so badly that all a man had to do to divorce her was to say three times "I divorce thee."  Boom.  She had to move out.  But also, this idea that family could be harmonious was hard to imagine because people are imperfect and have been since the very beginning.  (Look at the very first family.....Adam chose a woman over God, then Cain kills Abel, etc.)

The preacher talked about  society today and how we kind of wipe away any distinctions between women and men and their roles.  We do things like denounce old-fashioned views like marriage and he warned us about that.  He pointed out that in societies that do not follow these "old-fashioned" ideas, women and children are the ones to suffer.  He said that just because this idea is difficult to execute, we shouldn't become brokenhearted and say "Well, that didn't work, so we don't need it.  We will do it our own way." We are still supposed to strive for the ideal circumstances.  He said that women should fight to be treated well, as God commands men to treat them. When men do not love their wives as Jesus loved the church and women do not submit themselves to their husbands, women and children are the ones who suffer.  So if you think about it, God is a feminist's biggest supporter.  He told men to treat women well, and if you look at other countries that do not embrace God's blueprint of how a family should operate, the women and children are the ones who are suffering.  He gave the example of divorce.....women and children are the ones to fall below the poverty line. So then I asked myself "What if you can't have the ideal, or if it gets screwed up?"  Right when I thought this, the preacher said "Jesus died for your sins".  He said that God knows how hard his vision is and that things happen beyond your control.  He forgave you before you even screwed up.  He wants us to strive for these "old-fashioned" but modern views, but if we fail, he loves us still and wants us to keep pushing forward, in the direction of his vision.

Brittany thinks about what was said, and then has some thoughts of her own......(unedited)

I always had a problem with that "submit yourselves to your husbands" verse because it sounds so scary, like a girl saying "yes, sir" to a barbarian who she is forced to cook for and have sex with.  I never realized that this verse is assuming that you are submitting yourself to a man who loves God so much that he will treat you like gold.  Maybe I didn't realize that guys who cherish women, so much so that a woman would find submission comfortable, even existed?   A man who loves you as God loves the church will not be harsh with you and your children, but he will love you and protect you.  Who wouldn't submit to someone who cherishes and protects them?  Marriage simply doesn't work without the man treating his family well.  It seems that it starts with them, which is really where the whole "Man of the House" thing comes from.  He isn't supposed to be the boss because he is a man, but because he is a man who loves his family as God loved the church.  It isn't said in a caveman way and I hate when men interpret it that way.  Husbands and wives are supposed to be one flesh because they respect and love each other.  It isn't a pass for the man to walk in and toss his wife around and scream at her about dinner not being ready.  And also, wives should respect and love a man who cherishes them.  We have responsibility too.  A man can't be a man unless she allows him to.  It goes both ways. Hence the reason a marriage is a PARTNERSHIP and UNION.

Brittany has some more thoughts.  She is really pumped up and agreeing with herself and this whole equality thing......God definitely has this right.

You know, personally, I don't WANT to be a man.  I want to be treated equally and with respect for the sex I was BORN as.  What does all of that "equality and respect" mean if I have to behave as a man does?  Why can't I have it as a girl?  Why do I have to say stubbornly "I don't need you"  to a man?  I shouldn't say anything at all except "Don't treat me like that!  DAMN straight  I am a girl, so respect me as such!"  I am different than a guy and that's a good thing.  I am smaller, I DO cry more, and I have a tenderness to my heart that makes me different and I shouldn't have to completely forfeit my feminine qualities just to get respect and equality.  I like to nurture and listen and love and I shouldn't have to forfeit those qualities either.  I feel like saying "Oh, so I can only appear as smart as you if I act like you?"   Um, how about I am as smart as you because I have a brain too.  I think that men should treat us well and that we should feel free to nurture and love them.  The problem is that we keep nurturing broken men. (The Bad Boy)  We keep getting treated like crap by men who are not men.  This is partially our fault for taking care of broken people.  I don't mind men opening a door or pickle jar for me....this doesn't mean that they are smarter or more important than me and it's stupid to demand respect by rejecting trivial things like their arm strength.  Damn right, be polite to me and hold that door.  Bow down to someone who wants to nurture you.  Just kidding.  Sort of.  But seriously, why knock a guy for being polite?  Oh yeah.  I just remembered.  Maybe we assume that they just want to get into our pants.  But should we assume that?  We are in charge of our own pants, so if we just don't make it that easy, then we just had someone open a door for us for free. I really think that the feminists maybe went about this all wrong.  Why burn our bras?  We need them, so it was a stupid metaphor.  We should have burned something of theirs, not ours.  Why didn't we say "Yes.  We wear bras, and we are still just as smart and important as you are!"  Why don't we say things like "Yes, I paint my nails, I curl my hair, and like to cry to Beaches no matter how many times I watch it......and I could still be President of the United States" rather than be like "Don't be polite to me!  I can do it myself!"

Then Brittany ponders....

If we want all of that, we should probably stop saying that we don't need men at all.  Maybe we should stop making them feel like useless losers.  We got even.  They know how crappy it feels by now, right?  Maybe if we all treated each other with respect and dignity starting now, we would be all good.  Maybe we are all equal.  Maybe men are good for some things, women are good for others, and together we can get along and fit like a puzzle. Hmmmm....wouldn't that be a nice way to live?


Then Brittany realizes......

That's what God just said.