I won’t say that Barbie solves this universal problem or will make a clear-cut, biblical argument for or against complementarianism versus egalitarianism. But it provides enough striking examples to get conversations going–conversations I encourage you to have between the men and women in your life so you can learn from their experiences. I believe this conversation should start and end with empathy.
God puts us in deeper waters through many different aspects of our lives. Maybe it’s a new job that requires way more than you feel capable of, and you lose your bearings on who you are and what you can do. Maybe you lost a relationship that was a stabilizing force in your life, and you don’t know who you are without them. Maybe your life felt like it had a single direction that everything you were doing was working towards, but now you’re questioning if it’s all worth it.
I often joke that because of the number of sci-fi movies about artificial intelligence out there, we’ve already seen how this story ends – with robots taking over the world. So why mess around with it?
There are seven different Hebrew words that can be translated into “glory” in English and five Greek words – but I will not be diving into each of those definitions in this article.
Because our identity drives our actions. So, if you believe you are sinful and unworthy of love, you will act like you are sinful and unworthy of love. You will be driven to make poor choices because you feel like there is no way out and shut out the love from those around you since you believe you are not worthy of it.
It's no secret that younger generations are leaving the Church in droves –for all sorts of reasons. In her research, Sarah Margaret Vaughn cites spiritual wounds from exclusivity, inauthenticity, and dislike for the Church's involvement in politics, power, and money as the reason Millennials are leaving the Church. And if you are one of them but want to find a church community again, you may be asking, "How do I decide which church is right for me? How do I find a safe church?"
“Romanticize your life” is a phrase you’ll see in the captions everywhere. The posts feature young women drinking luscious matcha lattes, putting on facemasks, lighting candles in their bedrooms, or journaling in nature. The idea is to care for yourself so fully that you feel like the main character in a movie. The more you cherish and celebrate the little things in your life, the more you fall in love with it and yourself. You start to notice the good all-around you and make every day meaningful.
Since the creation of the world, we were designed for complete, total, uninhibited intimacy with God. The kind of intimacy that is described in Psalm 17:8: “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” This scripture in Hebrew could also be understood as “keep me as the little man of the eye,” meaning the tiny reflection you see of yourself when you stare directly into someone’s eyes. Talk about intimate. And we are designed to live with God like this all the time, every minute of every day.
There is a good reason the Church doesn’t talk about sex to singles very often. The Bible is clear that sex is an act exclusively meant for married people and talking about it too much to singles can cause unnecessary stumbling blocks or discontentment. But the Bible is also clear that sex is a beautiful, God-given gift.
In every one of your childhood delights, there was God, teaching you about himself. And the more we can reach into this deep well of delight, the more we can give to others. Not only do our childhood hobbies and dreams bring us joy, they often involve BIG visions of how we can help others, too. Like the Japanese principle of ikigai, your childhood dreams can be the key to not just what you love, what you are good at, and what you can be paid for–but what the world needs, too.
