Pistol Packin' Mama

While traveling with my family to attend a heterosexual wedding in Missouri I found out that Aimee and Carl kicked the hornet’s nest. 

 

I was surprised by all the hubbub. It hardly seems controversial to suggest that the Bible does not in fact explicitly forbid women from serving in law enforcement. Such dogmatic prohibitions are typically reserved for sects who rely on divinely given revelations outside the Bible.

 

And what are we to make of the handwringing over whether or not it is appropriate for a woman to offer directions to a man? The whole thing seems rather, I don’t know, weird. 

 

Now, Christians of good will who happily embrace the Bible’s clear teachings about gender roles in the home and church can agree to disagree on whether or not a woman should ever don riot gear. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I do not like the idea of women serving in combat. But I also confess that I do not stand with a clear biblical prohibition in hand. I think it is a bad idea to send women into combat. It doesn’t seem right. Not to me. Not at all. But I also admit to having a different opinion about women serving in law enforcement. That seems to be quite different. Why? I’m not really sure. It just seems different. 

 

Do you see what I just did there? I stated a rather strongly felt opinion of which I, unfortunately, do not have a series of biblical texts to support. I believe I am right. I just can’t bind the consciences of my brothers and sisters. I cannot demand that they concur with my application of complementarianism or else be cast away into the depths of egalitarian compromise. 

 

I hope we are not witnessing a trend wherein the only two options are Rachel-Held Evans and Jim Bob Duggar. I hope there are more than two camps – one ruled over by egalitarian Amazons on the one side and on the other a pastor who has written that the conjugal union within marriage is akin to the husband conquering and colonizing his wife. Surely someone who has written such troubling things would not be taken seriously within complementarian circles. Surely not.