The High Road

  “Women should learn quietly and submissively.” 1Timothy 2:11

  I learned some very crucial historical context for these verses in 1Timothy. It is one of the most hotly contested sections of the Bible because it has continued to prevent women from having leadership roles in the church (Complimentarianism). Anabaptists believe that men and women are equally capable of leading (Egalitarianism.) In fact, they welcome female insight and input as we come together to explore and understand God’s Word.

  What I love the most is even before the rest of the teaching started, we were reminded to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of doctrine. If they believe Jesus is the Son of God, that through Him salvation is possible, and that the Bible is the Word of God, they are our brothers and sisters.

  This was a time when women were welcomed into the learning circle; a gift of the New Covenant under Jesus Christ. Prior to that, only men were taught to read and write. It is because of a lack of knowledge women were being misguided and led away from truth. Not knowing any better, they fell prey to those who would see the early church fall apart. Through misguided albeit (I feel) good intentions, they would share these false teachings with others.

  This is why Timothy addresses the women, encouraging them to learn. These verses were never meant to be used as a tool to oppress us. God doesn’t work that way. At all.

  There was so much more explained in this fourth installment of the series, “Her Story”. It is available on The Meeting House website (www.themeetinghouse.com) and is well worth checking out. I had many an “aha!” moment.

  I’ve learned a lot over the last month. Mostly it’s about forgiveness.

  It isn’t meant to be a burden. Yet how many of us have heard someone say when we struggle with past hurts, “You just haven’t forgiven enough.” (Remind me, Lord, to be kind to them in their misunderstanding. In my ignorance, I have said it as well.)

  It can be hard when someone slathers guilt and shame over everything. We often do it to ourselves! What’s the passage? Let your yes be yes and your no be no. “I forgive!” means you, we, have.

  I think, too, this simpler way of looking at forgiveness grants us permission to revisit memories. (Smile. It’s hard to avoid sometimes.) Forgiveness is an evolutionary process. 

   It isn’t about forgetting. God may be able to forgive and forget our sin because He sees us through Jesus. I am not God although I am trying to learn how to see others through the eyes of Jesus. I think the issue is not so much about what we remember or even the feelings tied to those memories. It’s what we do with them.

  It’s about choosing to take the high road, God’s road. We do have the choice to replace "I can't forgive" with "I want to forgive". 

  I have to admit this is a lovely metaphor for how the brain works. Emotional events create new neural pathways/roadways. Similar events reinforce the lessons learned be they good, bad or indifferent. There is always some common connection when different events of the past come to mind. This is the biggest lesson I learned and finally came to understand. There's a big difference.

  Each time I have ended up in the midst of these storms, while the memories are the same, the emotional charge, the common pathway (or lesson) uniting them, has always been different.

  When the devil has a merry old time tromping around our heads, we don’t have to join him. We don’t have to agree with a single poisonous thing he says about ourselves and others. (In my case, men but God has helped me there tremendously over the last month, too.) 

  The last thing the enemy of our soul wants to see are his sinuous footpaths crumbling. God’s road makes sure that happens.

  His road is called Freedom.