A Call to Biblical Womanhood - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Here is an excerpt from a wonderful writing on womanhood by Nancy Leigh DeMoss:

Due to the modern feminist revolution, the value of women has come to be equated with their roles in the community and in the marketplace. Relatively little value is assigned to women’s roles in the home.

Today, no bouquets are handed out to women for being reverent and temperate or modest and chaste or gentle and quiet. Women are rarely applauded for loving their husbands and children, for keeping a well-ordered home, for caring for elderly parents, for providing hospitality, or for carrying out acts of kindness, service, and mercy. In other words, little attention is paid to the kinds of accomplishment that the Word of God says women should aspire to (1 Timothy 5:10; Titus 2:3-5).

The feminist revolution was supposed to bring women greater fulfillment and freedom. But I can’t help feeling a sense of sadness over what has been forfeited in the midst of the upheaval—namely, the beauty, the wonder, and the treasure of the distinctive makeup of women.

It should come as no surprise that the secular world is confused about the calling of women. What I find more distressing is the extent to which feminism has taken hold within the evangelical world.

The Feminist Revolution Comes to the Church

As prominent Christian speakers, authors, and leaders promote an agenda that encourages women to define their worth in the workplace, in society, or at church, we see modern feminism at work within evangelicalism. These same leaders minimize women’s roles in the home as daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. They don’t seem to see women as bearers and nurturers of life, as caregivers, as those privileged to shape the character of the next generation.

We see the fruit of this revolution in women who are sinking in a quagmire of divorce and remarriage and wayward children. We see it in women who are exhausted from trying to juggle the demands of one or more jobs, function as single parents, and remain active at church. We see it in women who are disoriented and confused, who lack a sense of purpose for their lives, and who are perpetually shrouded in woundedness, self-doubt, resentment, and guilt.

Yes, the feminist revolution has come to the church. And when I add up all the gains and losses, there is no question in my mind that women have been the losers.

As have their husbands and their children and grandchildren. As has the church. As has our lost, unbelieving culture.