day no. 14,691: complementarianism and compliments

The Biblical, complementarian position on gender roles and distinctions is often accused of being chauvinistic. It receives these 40 lashes from those without who see the whole thing as a toxic masculinity cesspool as well as from those within who see a gradation between old guard, patriarchy and new guard, progress with the former being out of the touch the latter being up n' coming and enlightened. I understand why those without cast the first stone, complementarianism undermines everything they hold dear by insisting that meaningful distinction and design undergird everything we encounter. I do not understand, however, the backlash that is often received from those who claim Christ, but consider those still reading their Bibles to be ass backwards – for nothing is less progressive than going backwards and flipping the pages back to Genesis 2 and 3.

There is a brand of Christian that holds complementarianism in derision and another that holds it blushingly and apologetically as though they were only holding it for now... for someone else... until they get back, but not a moment longer. Instead of providing an apology for the Bible's position, they provide apologies for the Bible's positions by the way they shrug their shoulders. Regardless, a Bible-believing complementarian should consider it a compliment to be criticized as a "chauvinist, by either of these brands.

"Chauvinism" is a choice term. Decades of women's studies majors have pre-loaded it with all the appeal of a plastic straw in the ocean. It is not cool. It is a word that no one wants to be and thus can be used to manipulate people to change their behavior. If you label what they do or think as "chauvinistic," you successfully maneuver them off that position or activity. No one can in clean conscience remain a chauvinist any more than they can tolerate being a "racist." If something is called chauvinistic or racist, whatever it is, even if it isn't at all, we know one thing… it must stop… NOW!

But knowing all of that, those on the more liberal (read: generous) end of the Christian spectrum feel the freedom to connect the conservative, historical, Christian, biblical position with the term "chauvinism" and accuse their exegesis of thinking only with its other head. However, if someone who is in Camp Chauvinist lobs back that grenade before it explodes, they're accused of friendly fire and promoting disunity as though the problem of divisions in the brotherhood were unilaterally the responsibility of the bigger, older brother's punching back.