Concerning the recent debacle about Southwestern Seminary offering a homemaking course, the website The View From Her had some interesting things to say. (I found this particular post from my friend Becky Vartabedian on her blog Flip the Pig.)

I think a lot of people have offered knee-jerk reactions to this story. The author of The View From Her is very concerned that this kind of course encourages women to not pursue other academic areas of study and yet if the author would have done a little more research she would have found out that homemaking is only a concentration of a larger Bachelor’s degree in humanities. Only 21 hours of 129 are devoted to the concentration. The other 108 hours are in those other more intellectually stimulating categories like history, philosophy and theology.

The author says “It is so singularly focused on keeping women in their place.” The homemaking course is not about keeping women “in their place” but about broadening their curriculum, bringing in more prospective students and responding to consumer demand. This may come as a shock to some - but there are women out there who actually just want to be housewives. Why shouldn’t these women have the opportunity to take classes that relate and will improve them in the areas in which they spend the majority of their lives? Furthermore if the Seminary had an agenda of keeping women in the home why do they offer multiple masters degrees in areas of missions, teaching and other things which take women from the home? In a recent news release the seminary responded to the question: “Do you believe all women should stay at home and take care of their children?” They were quoted as saying “We believe, as Baptists, that every person is free to do anything they want to do.”

The other item that the author rails on is the fact that the seminary is out to define the “role” of women while completely ignoring the man. That argument is a bit absurd and is like saying the reason the Iraq war is wrong is because we’ve been ignoring North Korea.

The only thing I can really see being concerned with is the fact that the course is only open to women. Why shouldn’t a man be able to take interior design and cooking classes? While this isn’t a big deal, I would assume the reasoning here is one based more on logistics and comfort of the majority of the class who most likely would be women.

I think this is another case of the media and other people making a mountain out of a molehill. We shouldn’t be so quick to make judgments, be offended, and whip out our favorite proof-texts.

I had that happen the other day going through Philippians. Philippians 1:29 to be exact. Let me quote the verse for you in the New Living Translation.

“For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.”

Read it again and meditate on it a bit.

When we think about salvation and what God has given to us through His Son Jesus Christ, you can’t do anything but stop and marvel in wonder about the glorious gift that it is. Too often I don’t give my salvation the proper awe and respect it deserves. God’s gift of grace to us cannot be explained in mere words nor could we ever express back to Him our thanks in a manner that He deserves. We have been saved from an eternity separated from God and even in our sinfullness God still wants us to be with Him! Incredible!

Now, here is the part of that verse that completely and utterly blows my mind…suffering is equated with salvation. Paul says that salvation is a privilege and that suffering is a privilege. What? Huh? Back up, what did you say? Suffering is a privilege.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t find it pleasurable to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. In fact I pretty much avoid it all costs. It’s not a lot of fun. But that is exactly where our thinking needs to change. I believe that Paul actually enjoyed suffering for Christ. I think that Paul found pleasure when he was in jail. I think Paul smiled to himself after being whipped. I think that Paul sang praises after he had been stoned and left for dead. Why? Because Paul understood what suffering meant. He understood that when he was suffering for something he had done for Christ, Christ was being glorified. And since Paul’s ultimate goal was to glorify Christ in all he did, he understood that his suffering meant glory, and that made him happy.

When you think of suffering in these terms it really doesn’t sound bad. We need to stop thinking of suffering as negative and think of it as positive. When I am made fun of or verbally abused because I just shared the gospel, I need to pump a fist in the air and get excited! And really, here in America what persecution do we really have to fear? Are we going to be beaten, thrown in jail, killed? Probably not - but how much more glory could we give God if those things could happen? You see, we in America have gotten lazy and fat and we are content to just do the “church thing” serve a little here and there, and make it through life without a lot of conflict and strife. But is that what we are called to do? Look at what Paul says about the subject again in 2 Corinthians 1:4-5.

“You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.”

If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of Jesus Freaks, a modern day Fox’s Book of Martyrs, and see if your thinking isn’t challenged by the testimonies of these revolutionaries.

We need to experience a revolution in this area of thinking. We need a complete 180 degree about face. We need to be asking God to let me “suffer” as John Leonard has “suffered” and not to allow me to just go through my normal pain-free day.