April 4, 2013
Jesus started with the outliers.
In this excellent post, blogger and author Rachel Held Evans tells of being drawn into a Twitter exchange with someone who argued that God has “hardwired” men and women to fulfill gender stereotypes, with men universally designated and naturally equipped to be the strong protectors of women, and women designed by God to be weaker and in need of protection. Evans countered by asking about situations where a man might be in a position of weakness and need help and protection from a woman—for example, a situation in which a man is confined to a wheelchair. Her Twitter challenger retorted, “Yes, but that’s an unusual circumstance. We can’t base our theology on outliers.” At that point, Evans came up with an absolutely brilliant insight and response. See what she said— and the further thoughts arising from that truth, which she shares with her readers.
