Category: General (Page 1 of 3)

Brief Articles on Women Teaching Men

September 28, 2026 / Joseph Ginder

I liked these three articles by Shaun Groves a lot. They get the necessary background for understanding out there without a lot of undue verbiage. They are written for those who are open to considering women teaching and who care what scripture has to say about it. That’s me and people at the church of which I am a part. So I will post links to these articles for the benefit of referring others to them easily from my blog. Here they are:

1. What does 1 Timothy 2 say about women teaching men in church today?

2. What does 1 Corinthians 14 say about women teaching men in church today?

3. What do 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 say about women teaching men in church today?

I appreciated these a lot for being really helpful as they summarize what is written up in far more scholarly manner (and for some less approachably) elsewhere.

While I’m at it, I might as well include a link to Margaret Fell‘s essay written in the 17th century, most likely while she was imprisoned for allowing Quaker meetings in her home and refusing to take an oath. It is entitled, after the manner of the time, Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Allowed of by the Scriptures, All such as speak by the Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus. And how Women were the first that Preached the Tidings of the Resurrection of Jesus, and were sent by Christ’s own Command, before he Ascended to the Father, John 20.17.

The photo for this article is clipped from the file 1666 Fell Womens Speaking Justified.jpg, usage according to CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Evaluating Government Policies and Laws

July 21, 2025 / Joseph Ginder

A few weeks ago I was speaking about how we should evaluate laws and policies of our government. As a Christian, we might well evaluate laws according to Christian ethics and purposes. Do they privilege a powerful few at the expense of many? And so on. There is much room for exposing laws and policies to a Christian critique. However, such a critique may well be compelling only to Christians.

And so I proposed another approach to evaluating government law and policy on a basis that is not specifically Christian. I don’t mean to abandon Christian ethics or the teaching of Jesus – not at all. Neither do I intend to imply that Christians should not evaluate policies using Christian teaching as their standard. Rather, I intend only to say that there are ways to evaluate government policies or laws that a wide majority of our fellow citizens might find compelling even if they follow another faith or do not have religious belief at all. Often these more widely acceptable approaches to evaluating policy are sufficient.

The first level at which one might evaluate is at the level of the intended purpose of policies – is the purpose or intended effect of the law just and right? Is the policy or law having the intended impact in our society? Why does the particular policy exist and is it achieving its stated purpose? Does it even have a stated purpose?

A second level is at a very practical level. How is a law enforced? How is the policy implemented? Is the implementation done fairly without cruelty or brutality? Are the accused given a fair hearing to respond? Is whatever legal process may be involved open and transparent so abuses cannot easily be hidden? Is enforcement bringing increased peace and order and well-being to society? Or, is the action of implementing the policy disrupting normal life and harming the community?

I suppose some might say this second level of evaluation involves Christian ethics. That is, the idea that we should avoid cruelty and brutality, which is certainly a Christian teaching. On the other hand, I think most of our fellow citizens would agree that this is desirable even if they are not Christian; it is a teaching of other faiths and philosophies and likely to be held in common by most others.

In any case, it seems we are putting into practice policies that fail on both of these levels of evaluation. One has to ask why – and why so many tolerate or even advocate for bad government.

Resources for Studying Immigration

June 21, 2025 / Joseph Ginder

In a talk I recorded for Long Beach Friends Church on June 22, 2025, I mentioned that there were some really good resources to understand migration issues. This sort article is written to provide links to those resources. I used these resources in preparing that message.

For a long-term historical survey of migration contextualizing present-day migration, far and away the best research is included in a book by one of the world’s leading scholars of migration, Hein de Hass. It is entitled How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics. I highly, highly recommend it. It is well-written and covers a great deal of ground. I found some of the things I believed about immigration were simply not true. This is not a partisan book. (I don’t get anything if you use that link above to purchase from Amazon. Purchase where you will.)

Evangelical Immigration Table is a Christian organization that connects followers of Jesus with the world of American immigration in a way that strives to honor Jesus’ teaching.

USAFacts is a non-partisan organization to present statistics about immigration in the United States. Steve Balmer seems to be the primary driver of this organization. They present the unspun statistics about immigration to the United States.

Pew Research has a short article on unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.

Featured image for this post is from Heitordp, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quaker Testimonies

June 5, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

I often read Johan Mauer’s fifth day commentaries on CanYouBelieve.me. Recently his writing included an excerpt listing “Quaker Testimonies” taken from the developing Faith and Practice of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting. I found it refreshingly…. er, Quaker?

I mean that in contrast to the drift of many Friends groups toward generic American evangelicalism, abandoning testimonies historically valued by Friends. I’m not advocating a stance that ignores the times in which we live in favor of some idealized past. (Frankly, our past has never been ideal!)

However, these are testimonies that faithfully represent Jesus’ character and teachings that Friends have tried to seriously pursue and embody. They remain Jesus’ teaching and character; they are not obsolete! If we are to follow Him, we try to live these testimonies in an age of 21st century technology and in the face of an often violent global society where living and worshipping in these ways remains relevant and necessary as the life to which Jesus calls.

But let me get to the testimonies! You can read the whole commentary by Johan here. The testimony portion that I want to highlight (by quoting) follows.

We understand the Quaker testimonies as a call:

to live simply and sustainably;

to seek nonviolent responses to conflict, and refuse participation in war and preparation for war;

to speak the truth and keep our promises;

to make common decisions based on our community’s practice of prayer and discernment rather than majority rule or force of personality;

to regard each other—and all people—with a commitment to equality and equity, rejecting all false distinctions based on social, cultural, or economic status;

in the wider world, to support, advocate, and initiate efforts toward peace, justice, care of Creation, and relief of suffering in ways that are consistent with these testimonies;

in all things, to put Love first.

As we set forth these values and commitments, we acknowledge that they are to some extent aspirational, not an inventory of our successes as of today.

Transformation… to become more like Jesus….

March 13, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

Our great fear should not be that people leave our church but that they would stay in our church and remain unchanged.
– Jim Cymbala

Cicero, on history…

March 7, 2024 / Joseph Ginder

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

On Adversaries

April 12, 2022 / Joseph Ginder

“Loving, forgiving, and doing good to our adversaries is our duty. Yet we must do this without giving up and without being cowardly. We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the Gospel. We shall do so without fear, but also without pride and without hate.”
-from a sermon preached by André Trocmé the sunday after France fell to the German attack in World War II

2021 Advent Resources

November 28, 2021 / Joseph Ginder

I mentioned in a Zoom worship time that there are many Advent resources that you may find helpful during this Advent season. This is the list of links to resources that I promised. I may update the list from time to time…. So let me know if you find errors or things that should be added.

Regent College Advent Resource Guide: Called to this Time

Regent College Advent Resource Newsletter

Regent College Audio lectures and chapel talks on Advent, some free.

Spotify playlist for the Advent Collection album from The Brilliance

Amy Orr-Ewing’s Mary’s Voice in Advent series – starts December 1 – Youtube version

CCDA Advent Begins in the Dark

CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) Spotify Advent Playlist

CCDA Advent for Weary Souls

Renovare Advent Devotional

Waiting Together: An Advent Prayer Companion by Richella Parham (weekly prayers to pray three times daily through Advent)

Wonder: An Advent Devotional from Dwell (daily devotions through Advent with scripture readings)

BIOLA‘s Center for Christianity Culture and the Arts: on Facebook, Advent 2021 page – There are resources online and a daily Advent devotional that you can subscribe to.

Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes Du Mez

July 19, 2021 / Joseph Ginder

Jesus and John Wayne is the eye-catching title of a book by Kristen Kobes Du Mez. The subtitle is even more provocative: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. It’s a fine historical account written for a general audience detailing exactly what the subtitle says, with extensive documentation of sources. I lived through much of it what she is writing about. It is troubling, indeed, and helpfully contextualizes much that is troubling in the church today.

To learn more about the author, one can find a set of four interviews Skye Jethani did with Kristen Kobes Du Mez on The Holy Post podcast. These interviews summarize some of the points covered in the book:

Lastly, Jim Lyon did a really fine, more personal, interview with the author on the All That to Say podcast. He interviews Kristen Kobes Du Mez about her background and faith in a very wholesome and helpful manner. I found this interview quite helpful.

This is a book that many are talking about, and rightfully so. Kristen Kobes Du Mez will take some heat for this work – just like her Lord did, when He told the truth.

On the Cost of War: A Demonstration of Extreme Love and Loyalty at Great Cost

June 21, 2021 / Joseph Ginder

A recent trilogy of Rough Translation podcasts tells an amazing story of two people who make great sacrifices. I was struck by the display of the often unseen cost of war and violence and by the great display of love demonstrated by one who joined in with the sacrifice of a hurting veteran for whom she grew to care a great deal. There are many dimensions to the story and its implications; I’m still processing. The humanity, vulnerability, loyalty, love, sacrifice…

Here are links to the three podcast episodes that tell this story. They are worth your time. Beware if you are squeamish; the first episode tells the story of terrible injury and suffering in war.