Editor’s Note: This is one of the Top 15 2020 CBE Writing Contest winners. Enjoy!

Since before the advent of the “porn in your pocket” generation, churches have been vehemently opposed to the production, dissemination, and consumption of porn. The majority of church teaching holds that using porn violates commands against nonmarital sexual lust, encourages sexual activity outside of marriage, and catalyzes deviant sexual behaviors in society. The discussion more recently has also focused on the damaging effects of using porn on mental health.

Editor's note: This blog article is published in tandem with the spring issue of Mutuality magazine, "Making Peace With Paul," now available on our website! If you're interested in getting updates about new Mutuality content, sign up for a digital subscription or a print subscription to Mutuality. 

As president, I frequently hear from people in complementarian, male-run churches. Some find their experiences relatively positive; others share concerns for how Scripture, and specifically passages written by Paul, are mismanaged, especially from the pulpit.

Ask anyone—liberal or conservative, Baptist or Catholic, patriarchal or feminist—and they will probably tell you that the subordination of Christian women was codified by Paul. For exactly this reason, many of my more progressive colleagues in ministry resent Paul and consider him out-of-touch and bigoted.

The apostle Paul may be one of the most interesting, controversial, and yet beloved figures of the Bible. After his dramatic encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul shifted his entire life’s focus. Even though he persecuted followers of a seemingly failed Messiah, he later became a leader, church planter, and evangelist of that very same movement. His encounter with Jesus changed him. Despite Paul’s advanced training and knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures and faith, he awakened in that moment to something God was doing that he had missed all along the way.

It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.
(1 Timothy 3:1, NASV)

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
(1 Timothy 3:1, NKJV)

Paul taught that women were second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom. Or did he?

How Paul spoke of one specific woman, Phoebe, is telling. We know about her only through Paul’s eyes. What did he see?

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.

Editor’s Note: This is one of the Top 15 2020 CBE Writing Contest winners. Enjoy!        

I can remember quite vividly the first time I really wrestled with the “terror” passages about women in the Bible, specifically the New Testament ones like 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11, and all of the passages detailing the household codes. I was 18, it was my freshman year at a Christian university. The environment at this college was much different from what I was used to.  I’d grown up attending an evangelical church that was more egalitarian than not and located in a liberal college town.