I am in tears. This is perhaps my favorite piece you've ever written. One of my favorite things about my partner is how many female friends he has. I noted it right away when we met! It sat so well with me that he -- shocker -- valued women as just people. Equals. And prefers their company over men haha. It's such a nice reprieve from the bullshit we grew up with that always made women a sexual object, so men could never be alone with one. Lest her modest clothing tempt him! Anyway. Thank you. I love this Jesus more and more.
Thank you so much for your share about Jesus likes women…reading this was very healing for me, having experienced many men in the past shutting me down and making me small. This really touched my heart❤️🩹
This is wonderful. As a man I have always frankly felt that women - on the whole and with plenty of exceptions - tend to just be better, more interesting, and more well-rounded people. Some of my best friends over the years have been women, with or without any sexual or romantic involvement (Harry - from When Harry Met Sally - be damned). Some of my best friends are also men... but too many men do seem to have been brought up with the "threat of femininity" hanging over them, wielded like a sword by fathers and mentors who grew up the same way.
It's the same old, tired use of The Other to instill fear... and let's face it, what instills more insecurity and fear than being faced with people who are at least your equals, if not better, in ways that you can see and which you rely on and take for granted, but who are rightfully angry? And particularly when you cannot even acknowledge them or their very justified anger without further threat and diminishing to yourself by those and the culture that shaped you? That requires a huge, heaping dose of "get over yourself and all the toxic voices who got you here," which is NOT easy work.
And who has the time or mental energy to do more work in the world as it stands now? The powers that be are working hard to exhaust, divide, and impoverish us to better control us, so doing any personal work to improve yourself is just another extra mountain to climb. It's far easier to just listen to the hateful voices that are so prevalent now.
All that said, the older I get and the more I see of the world, the more I resonate with the song "The Women Are Smarter." Sure, there are terrible, terrible women in the world, and men can be wonderful and reasonable people - I know many. But too many men wield their brute strength and [usually un-earned] overconfidence like weapons to get what they want. We all know what kind of men those are - and sadly they are the sociopaths running things right now. They are the ones who should be deeply shamed and cast out. It remains to be seen how that can be done to people without shame and with ALL the resources, and who refuse to follow norms or any of the contracts of a civilized society, even legal ones.
Some of the MAGA faithful and many politicians and billionaires aside, most of us are just people out here trying to survive our daily lives, deal with the situations and neuroses which we have been dealt, and find a modicum of love and joy and comfort. We have to push back on all of this damned Otherism that They are using to keep us divided through lies and misdirection, and if those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus would actually get on board with those teachings and start doing the work, our world would change very quickly.
Jesus has the advantage of knowing what women are made of. Men don't really see women. Bring up your sons to be like Christ, no more problem. Really enjoyed the post 🙂
I LOVE this article about how Jesus is holding women in high regard. No wonder men having domineering for so many centuries, the world is one fucking mess. Rachel Held Evans' "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" shows this quote "Women are not the problem. They are the solution." Amen! Thank you, Brian, for this wonderful, wonderful article!
"Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
This line is hard for me to understand. Perhaps it's just too rough of a translation into our modern language? Why couldn't it be translated more into something like "Mary is not doing anything wrong, don't worry about her in a room with me" etc etc
Beautiful. That first image reminded me of the tv show “Mrs Davis” and the beautiful relationship between Jesus and the main character (it is a very silly show with lots of magical realism, but for someone who took religion way too seriously for a long time it was perfect).
I am in tears. This is perhaps my favorite piece you've ever written. One of my favorite things about my partner is how many female friends he has. I noted it right away when we met! It sat so well with me that he -- shocker -- valued women as just people. Equals. And prefers their company over men haha. It's such a nice reprieve from the bullshit we grew up with that always made women a sexual object, so men could never be alone with one. Lest her modest clothing tempt him! Anyway. Thank you. I love this Jesus more and more.
Thank you so much for your share about Jesus likes women…reading this was very healing for me, having experienced many men in the past shutting me down and making me small. This really touched my heart❤️🩹
This is seriously a beautiful post. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you
This is wonderful. As a man I have always frankly felt that women - on the whole and with plenty of exceptions - tend to just be better, more interesting, and more well-rounded people. Some of my best friends over the years have been women, with or without any sexual or romantic involvement (Harry - from When Harry Met Sally - be damned). Some of my best friends are also men... but too many men do seem to have been brought up with the "threat of femininity" hanging over them, wielded like a sword by fathers and mentors who grew up the same way.
It's the same old, tired use of The Other to instill fear... and let's face it, what instills more insecurity and fear than being faced with people who are at least your equals, if not better, in ways that you can see and which you rely on and take for granted, but who are rightfully angry? And particularly when you cannot even acknowledge them or their very justified anger without further threat and diminishing to yourself by those and the culture that shaped you? That requires a huge, heaping dose of "get over yourself and all the toxic voices who got you here," which is NOT easy work.
And who has the time or mental energy to do more work in the world as it stands now? The powers that be are working hard to exhaust, divide, and impoverish us to better control us, so doing any personal work to improve yourself is just another extra mountain to climb. It's far easier to just listen to the hateful voices that are so prevalent now.
All that said, the older I get and the more I see of the world, the more I resonate with the song "The Women Are Smarter." Sure, there are terrible, terrible women in the world, and men can be wonderful and reasonable people - I know many. But too many men wield their brute strength and [usually un-earned] overconfidence like weapons to get what they want. We all know what kind of men those are - and sadly they are the sociopaths running things right now. They are the ones who should be deeply shamed and cast out. It remains to be seen how that can be done to people without shame and with ALL the resources, and who refuse to follow norms or any of the contracts of a civilized society, even legal ones.
Some of the MAGA faithful and many politicians and billionaires aside, most of us are just people out here trying to survive our daily lives, deal with the situations and neuroses which we have been dealt, and find a modicum of love and joy and comfort. We have to push back on all of this damned Otherism that They are using to keep us divided through lies and misdirection, and if those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus would actually get on board with those teachings and start doing the work, our world would change very quickly.
Thank you for your work in calling this out.
This resonates so deeply with me, thank you. 💛
Jesus has the advantage of knowing what women are made of. Men don't really see women. Bring up your sons to be like Christ, no more problem. Really enjoyed the post 🙂
Wow! This is so empowering. Thank you for sharing.
Jesus just loved.
Bless you for this 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I LOVE this article about how Jesus is holding women in high regard. No wonder men having domineering for so many centuries, the world is one fucking mess. Rachel Held Evans' "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" shows this quote "Women are not the problem. They are the solution." Amen! Thank you, Brian, for this wonderful, wonderful article!
"Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
This line is hard for me to understand. Perhaps it's just too rough of a translation into our modern language? Why couldn't it be translated more into something like "Mary is not doing anything wrong, don't worry about her in a room with me" etc etc
Beautiful. That first image reminded me of the tv show “Mrs Davis” and the beautiful relationship between Jesus and the main character (it is a very silly show with lots of magical realism, but for someone who took religion way too seriously for a long time it was perfect).