There but for the grace of God, go I.

We have got a lot of strong women at our church. They bear a lot of things. They endure pain through marriages and through kids that are disabled…Strong women are magnificent testimonies to Christ because, if they are complementarian, they are combining things the world can’t explain. They are combining a sweet, tender, kind, loving, submissive, feminine beauty with this massive steel in their backs and theology in their brains. ~ John Piper

Gotta love Piper! I think often of gender roles. For example, when given the opportunity to live full life spans, why do women outlive men? Why does it seem that men are more prone to violence and sex crimes? Is it because they are in power? Are women more prone to manipulation? Is that because they are not in power? Or is this state of affairs because men abuse the authority and strength that God has given them? And perhaps women are lusting for power that is not theirs (i.e. manipulation). Why aren't there more female pedophiles? Female gang members? I know that people pervert God's gifts, so I am trying to look at this through a Biblical rather than sociological perspective. For example, women's beauty is intended to allure and invite, and men's strength is meant to pursue and uphold--both in a relational context. Instead, women use their beauty to seduce, and men use their strength to subdue women--both devoid of relationship.

Crimes against humanity and against the individual sicken and horrify me, as they should. We live in an evil world. Just reading one section of the newspaper this morning left me drained, realizing our desperate need for God (articles about a foster care pedophile, rapists and murders, murderous drug cartels, and nuclear weapons build-up). Lately, I have begun thinking more often of occasions when perpetrators are also victims. In the Congo, the government's army (which used to be the "good guys") has begun to perpetrate the same horrific crimes against civilians as the resistance army. They kill men and brutally rape women of all ages. The Congo has been called the worst place in the world to be a woman. Yet, many of the soldiers live desperate lives. Here is a brief story about a young man in the Congo who was forced to be child solider at age 11. He has been in the army for ten years and is still younger than me! The author of the blog post is a young American woman about my age who works with rape victims. She writes of how she wants to hate this young man and others like him for their horrible crimes, but has come to realize that they are victims as well. Obviously, there is a vast difference between this young child who was literally tortured into becoming a soldier and the foster care parent who has been systematically molesting children for two decades. Yes, there is a level of personal responsibility involved in both cases, but we can see the difference without pulling theology or philosophy.

Last night, God reminded me of the story of Saul turned to Paul. Paul is my favorite author in the Bible. His incredible insights, ability with words, and deep love for people moves me. Yet, he was a murderer. He was so blinded by religiosity that he sought out Christians to kill them. It was interesting to me to realize last night that Paul does not write too much about his past. He concentrates on the present and the future, on God's redemption for all of mankind. However, he writes sentences such as: "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." 1 Timothy 1:15. People, we should not take this lightly! This is a man talking from deep personal experience about the complete depravity of man without God! I know that we all know "nice" people without God (and you may be one of my many lovely friends who thinks I'm a nut), but I often remind myself: there but for the grace of God go I. I shudder to think what I am capable of in different circumstances.

This blog has been on the heavy side of late, much more on the "musing" end of things. These are topics on which I have cogitated for several years and more so for the last year. Perhaps one reason why I am not yet working in my desired field is that I need to process through some of these things before I can spend even more hours a day trying to help the most desperate people in the world. I need to get my perspectives straight.

Thanks for "listening"! Hope you found something useful.