Femininity is Back!

You know somehow someone from Vision Forum is going to find this post, come here, and chew you out, right? Just checking.

That's what makes it fun.

Josiah, after perising some of the Vision Forums materials, I have to say I don't see the evil that you are accusing them of. Misguided and kitchy they may be, but they seem to be a Christ confessing, covenant oriented group. My question is; why attack a group of people that is at least 'in your camp' when there are so many groups who are directly against Christ and his teachings? Maybe I am missing something.

b/c it's apparently worse to share his basic creed and get the details wrong than to hold an opposing creed. right?

Patrick, as far as I can tell the "Vision Forum" confesses Christ only insofar as it falls within the perview of patriarchalism, theonomy, and kitsch "Christian America"-ism.

In fact, here: http://www.visionforumministries.org/sections/home/mission.asp
we dont' see a single statement that actually deals with the Gospel in particular, or what we'd consider to be the "heart" of the Gospel. At best it emphasizes things tertiary to the Gospel, at worst it exchanges the Gospel for those things.

I think that all these new "visions" and "isms" and the rest are oh so comfortable to the Reformed & Presbyterian world because it is, as a whole, terrified of what Jesus means to them perosonall, at the deepest level.

All this other stuff is negotiable, debatable, and completely "surface" related.

Real masculinity isn't dressing yourself up in western clothes and teaching your kids about William Wallace & Daniel Boone. Real masculinity is brutally humble, honest, open, and raw but also sacrificially encouraging that in their fellow believers. This doens't seem to me to be the masculinity that the vision forum preaches.

I could go on and on, but I've gotta get back to work.

Vision Forum - they're mainly aimed towards the homeschooling movement if I remember correctly, right? While this is a generalization, most of the christian homeschoolers were historically exactly like Vision Forum - traditional, somewhat retreatist, and a bit obtuse on the exact nature of the kingdom. Not that it makes them bad people, nor are all homeschoolers like that (I have several friends who homeschool and they're not like this), but in many ways, VF just reflects their clientele.

Bob n' Co.: know that I am being purposely vitriolic. There's a ton of qualifications were I a wiser man I'd throw in there.

I do think though that there's something really really bad about folks dressed up in Christianity who trade it for something else. Once we go around and start defining sin and Christianity by things that aren't Christ & the Gospel, we end up scarily close to the Pharisees.

And the Vision Forum isn't simply emphasizing one or two things that we'd feel are extrabiblical or even un-Christian, it's a whole suite of things: women never being outside of the home, ever, whether as girls off in college or having jobs or married women having jobs. Women are more easily deceived than men. Women's primarily relationship to God is through their husbands and fathers. All sorts of other bizarre things that may or may not have one or two nuggest of truth to them, but by the time you put it all together into a movement, a system, or a "Vision" you end up with a glossed up ugly, ugly beast far far away from where you started.

Anyways, hope that makes sense. Trying to put together too many thoughts while working and getting interrupted a half dozen times.

vitriolic...very nice word. almost as nice as "bombastic"

and yes I know you're being purposefully so, I just wonder why. not specifically in this case, but generally. for effect? it just comes across as obnoxious as, say, Doug Wilson.

Bob, I know I know I know. Gotta cut it out. Got worked up. Gotta stop.

no, I'd hate for you or the rest of the world to all be as pansy as, well, me. by all means get worked up. just dont forget the love.