Open M Open Heart, Open Mind and Open Door

This openness to the world leaves a giant hole in people’s hearts, and I like to call it “the God sized hole.” The only one that is able to fill that hole and sense of identity is Christ Himself. God shows us that we are to depend on Jesus to show us our true identity, thus leading us towards a life of fulfillment and significance. God had a better plan for us all along, he wanted for us to live out our purpose on this world, while living in community with everyone while glorifying God with the way we live out our purpose.

I also noticed, in the book of Deuteronomy where it was talking about the place of women in an Israelite society. I found it to be very patriarchal indeed! No wonder the Hebrew Israelites were all walking around hating women and trying to manipulate women into some kind of box where she has no voice, to be seen and not heard, never have any say in operations of the Temple.

As early as the beginning of the Christian Church women had some important but very defined roles within the church. There were roles women could not play, of course, but that does not mean they did not have value to the Christian movement. Unfortunately, there have also been a lot of things overlooked that have been done by women, especially in the New Testament. There have also been arguments that the Christian Church is a "man's church" because men wrote the books of the bible and women did not have much say, apparently, in what happened during that time and how it was recorded. Even though not everyone was certain of the way women were treated in Christianity and whether they were accepted and applauded the way they should have and could have been, there were still many mentions of women doing great things. Scholars have begun to look into what women did during Old Testament and New Testament times, in an effort to have a better understanding of Christianity and the role women played in it in the past.

In a world that does not know the Gospel anymore, we must indulge in it, and love our fellow community though they may not share similar values, but find balancing in still remaining in our own values. Though many of times we find ourselves in opposition of the majority of the world, we must exude Christ love onto others as He does to us unconditionally. The author addresses ways in which we are able to live out our faith and still find a place within our community though they may not share similar values.

However, though Stott acknowledges the reality of female oppression he also argues that our response to the abuse to complementarianism is not too go to the other extreme but to rather determine what a faithful and biblical understanding of complementarianism is. Stott argues that Christianity from the days of the Old Testament has challenged the cultural view of women in which it has existed. With books like Esther and Ruth and heroes of Israel being women and men, the old testament unashamedly saw the equality of women. We also see the affirmation of women in Jesus ministry on earth and in Galatians 3:24 which speaks boldly to the equality of both male and female.

First, a woman’s position in the church as a teacher has many standards set by God. The Lord sets some standards of who a woman is to teach in the church. Gilbert Bilezikian in his book Beyond Sex Roles, states, “According to the Epistle, women were

Christian views, attitudes and beliefs about gender have always varied with some ideas evolving with society and others set in tradition, never to change. While some see gender difference as a feminist issue, others see it as a role requirement set by God. Of course, there are extremists on both sides of this argument, as well as inter-lapping beliefs, but gender issues are still debated by Biblical scholars often and passionately. Not exclusive to denomination, gender equality is a subject that can be examined in many ways, but the focus of this paper will be on two types of theologies, Complementarian and Egalitarian. While both theologies rely on Bible scripture to gain and prove their

The Holy Bible is full of advice on every issue known to humanity. This advice varies in topics from society's functions to foreign policy and even gender roles. Today's western culture is very confused when it comes to gender roles, swinging over the last over 50 years from a male-dominated society to a large portion of the feminist society fighting for female dominance and the disappearance of chivalry. Society is always searching for answers from science and philosophy but constantly fails to look in the right places. The Bible is the foundation of truth and it requires the ultimate amount of attention if any community plans to be successful for any length of time. The education of modern society on what the Bible says about gender roles is necessary to achieve mutual understanding of beliefs.

We start out with the use of the male dominated language in the Bible. Much of the development of Christianity has been primarily mostly by men, so our understanding of Christianity and the Bible may come from a more masculine perspective. Mainly men today translated the vast majority of Bibles available. To be honest, I never really gave this topic much thought as an adult before because I just assumed the obvious, that God is a male. All my life, from my parents, extended family, friends and church, this is what I have always been taught and exposed to. This just comes to show that the Bible just enforces the picture in our minds of a male figure since the beginning of time and in turn, we teach our future generations the same. Japinga states that,

Gender roles, and the mere existence of a gender binary, has been a recent topic of conversation for many churches, theologians, and individual believers. As the cultural pressure to remove gender-specific limitations builds, many of those aforementioned have turned to scripture for answers. Seldom are women’s roles in the Old Testament characterized by decision making or personal merits. Rather, a woman’s capacity to produce an heir for their husband complements his dominance and responsible faithfulness and allows God’s plan to be fulfilled through their combined efforts. In the New Testament, through the transformative power of Christ, prominent women became less of an anomaly, but were still held to a different set of standards and expectations than men and were usually still praised according to their actions and their faith. The Pauline epistles, written in the context in which the Church still exists today: the age to come, provide a basis for today’s understanding of women’s roles in marriage and in church leadership. Although there are many instances of women fulfilling God’s plans and proving their worth among the community of Christians, the biblically normative role of women is to avoid authoritative church leadership positions and remain submissive in situations of teaching and interpreting the Word.

The core responsibility of a family depends on both the man and the woman. This also varies depending on the family. In my opinion, I would expect both genders o take equal responsibility. The feminine gender is mostly associated with the child care activities and the house chores while the Masculine gender is associated with the providing for the family and helping the feminine gender. In as much as there will be

This course has had a great impact on my walk with Christ as well as my witness for Christ. I pastor a church and teach two classes and for me I thought that I was doing plenty. However this course has helped rekindle my passion for sharing Jesus Christ with people through personal evangelism. This paper will demonstrate what I have learned throughout this course.

Upon losing the election to become the 45th president of the United States, Hillary Clinton gave a concession speech and told “all the little girls who are watching this...never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and to achieve your own dreams” (Clinton). While Candidate Hillary Clinton said these girls are “deserving of every chance,” our society may prove otherwise. Although women today are no longer denied basic rights such as voting, our patriarchal society still sets up barriers, which limit a woman’s ability to be considered equal to a man. Here, “equal” would be defined as being perceived in the same light for equal opportunities and outcomes. Similarly, Christian women today are not limited in the same ways they were in early Christianity; however, the Bible still presents women in subalternate roles, compared to men. In American society today, there are double standards in the way men and women are perceived that date back to “traditional” Biblical expectations of women being subservient to men.

Gender gives you power; males are considered more powerful in comparison to women as a result of their physical makeup. People also mistake what the Bible conveys about the male and female relationships. In the Bible, God states that men should be the head of the house and are responsible for anyone in his household; while women should take care and bring up the children and support the man. God intended this to be a balance of power between soft and strong. The Bible states in Ephesians 5:23-33 “Wives be subject to your husband.. Husbands love your wives.. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as they love their own bodies..He who loves his own wife loves himself;..” However, countless people misinterpret this description-because they

Mindfulness is “a practice of learning to focus attention on moment-by-moment experience with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance” (Marchand, 2012). Although the origin of mindfulness resides in the principles and wisdoms of Buddhism, recent research has demonstrated the beneficial effects in a multiple of clinical settings, including major depressive disorder and episodes. Previous research has substantiated that MBCT has broad-spectrum antidepressant and antianxiety effects (Marchand, 2012), and mindfulness-based approaches have been efficaciously applied to manage a wide range of stress-related and health problems (Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010). As mindfulness has rapidly gained attention by clinicians, doctors, and other