Yeah, Women Again...

Molly, at Adventures in Mercy, is still tackling women in the church. Today she's stepped back from whether women should be in the ministry to the roll of women as human beings. I suspect that most of my readers are with me on this, (as Molly seems to be) but I find it jarringly difficult to comprehend that there are people who believe that the chief, best (perhaps only) roles that God has for women in society, in the church, are mother and wife.

If nothing else, this point of view effectively denies the usefulness (for lack of a better word) of all unmarried, childless women, not only in the church, but in the world. I am not a wife. I am not a mother. I do not live under any form of male headship, unless you count the pastor of my church whom I have met only once. Does all this mean that I am not fulfilling God's will for my life? Should I drop my plans to pursue higher education in order to concentrate my efforts on finding a man to marry?

Obviously, I've already answered this question in my own life. I refuse to be thought of as a walking womb. Mother and wife are both difficult, honorable callings, but they are not the only calling available to women. I am willing to say that it's not even the best calling for many women. I am even willing to put my neck on the block and say that there are some women who should never bear children. None of this makes them less godly.

For the record, I think Paul would back me up on this one. See 1 Cor. 7...