If the first week of college is any indication what kind of life I’m going to have over the next several years, then I’m going to need a lot of comfort food and compassion. I’m taking 13 credits this term and have found that it’s plenty of homework, every. single. day.
Yes, I cried when I got overwhelmed from my first math assignment and writing assignment. I seriously thought about quitting. In a moment of desperation, I called the academic advising office of the school and asked when the last day to quit school was before I was financially responsible for the bill. Okay, these are true confessions here, so please don’t hate me. 
This was a major life adjustment for me to go to college, and really, all I’ve known for most of my adult years was keeping children on task with their work, and I wasn’t even good at that. After all the drama of the first real day of college subsided, my daughter and son — seasoned college students themselves — guided me through the regimen of my homework assignments. I’m forever grateful to them.
Despite my tenuous beginnings, it was such joy to actually grasp some math concepts that had eluded me all these years out of high school. My teenage years were riddled with struggles and physical difficulties with my diabetes. Academics were secondary to my own survival needs. Being in a college classroom as an adult has been liberating for me. I’m learning because I want to learn, not because I have to.
This idea of liberation reminds me of the writing assignment I have to complete. I read Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” from his autobiography Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and it opened my eyes to the joys of liberation of thought. His account of his life as a slave is truly inspiring and reveals a society that we can’t imagine in our 21st century mindset. However, in some societal circles in 2010, I’m finding slavery still exists for some who weren’t born into the right gender.
As I was thinking about Frederick Douglass’ journey of liberation, my thoughts turned to my blog stats. Not a week goes by that someone has landed on my blog from a search phrased something like the following:
~ husband as prophet & priest
~ husband prophet priest king
~ bob lepine and what women should know ab
~ wives prophets husbands kings
~ father husband prophet
~ husband as prophet priest and king
~ prophet priest king [I wonder what they were looking for]
And if those weren’t indicative enough, here are some very troubling entries here:
~ subordination of the son piper
~ eternal subordination of the son
It seems to me, that even though our Western society has made great strides in recognizing the inalienable, God-given right of each individual to realize their value in society and be counted as an equal person and citizen, the Church of Jesus and certain ones within the Christianized societies still are wrestling with the inalienable right to full and spiritual personhood for women. The entries on the subordination of the Son (Jesus) are amazing, since the Bible states, “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3)
We need to know, my fellow believers in Jesus, that He is God, and is not subordinated to the Father. This argument was dealt with in the early church at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. Arius’ heresy was taking root and the people during that time would sing songs with the words, “There was a time when the Son was not”! The false teaching needed to be addressed and corrected, and that’s what was accomplished at the First Council of Nicaea.
In some circles, such as the homeschool movement among evangelical Christians, the idea of a spiritual priesthood of men because of their gender is gaining strength. “Families must be saved!” they use in their battle cries and “Men need to take their position back as the ‘head’ of their home and family!” are frequently heard in many homeschool conferences. The presupposition in these Christian sects or cultures is that women were never meant to have leadership in A.) the home, B.) with their children C.) the church congregations and D.) and secular society or government. For a woman to take a leadership position is for her to be falling into to temptation of “usurping” male dominance and neglecting her “role” as a woman.
These assertions about women and their identity as people made in the image of God, or Imago Dei, are based on presuppositions of what the Bible informs us. Often a careful reading and studying of the biblical texts will reveal a God who seeks to free His people, and this reading and studying does especially well with a thorough saturation of prayer over it.
I’m grateful for those that have gone before, like Frederick Douglass, who have opened our society’s collective eyes to the true personhood of each and every person God has created in His image. I’m praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ to come to the realization of our shared eternal inheritance in Jesus, and the great freedoms He’s given us to share with others.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ~ Galatians 3:28
Tags: blog stats, emancipation of slaves, eternal subordination of the Son Jesus, Frederick Douglass, Galatians 3:28
