A Worldly Perspective on Women in The Church
by Monica Jones
Recently, I saw a post that a young man wrote pertaining to women in the church. His perspective was that women in church look the part, but they are the main ones who are having sex outside of marriage. Honestly, I found myself getting offended. Although, I’m aware that this does happen, I also know that this doesn’t represent every woman, including myself.
There is a difference between a “church girl” and a woman of God. The difference is maturity. We must each make an intentional decision to live for God. We can’t just live for Him on Sunday, but we must live for Him every single day. However, for many, it will depend on how much devotion and dedication they’re willing to embrace to no longer do the things that will cause them to be a willing participant in fornication.
Those who are on the outside looking into what happens in churches have a distorted view of the church and the people who attend. They may personally know women who proclaim salvation, but they give into fornication. Fornication is wrong, not just for the Christian, but for those who aren’t saved yet. However, we are not to judge those who are outside of the church, but to use righteous judgment on those who say they are of God.
When a person who isn’t a Christian sees this type of inappropriate behavior, most assume that everyone in the church does this. Often, it’s because they aren’t around people who truly live a life of purity for Christ. They believe that every woman in the church is a hypocrite. Due to this fallacy, many of them want no part of attending church. This isn’t about gender, because there have been scandals that have involved men as well.
There must be boundaries that are established to safeguard oneself from fornication. Depending how prone the person is to fornication, he or she may not need to date or have anyone over his or her house to avoid this pitfall. They may need to check their spiritual diet and review the amount of time they are studying God’s Word and being in His presence. They may also need to take account of what they are listening to and watching. Conversations, music, and different forms of media plant seeds into our minds, even when we aren’t aware. We must be cognizant of what we are ingesting other than food.
The reality is there is nothing that can be done about some people’s perception regarding women in the church. However, one should make a decision to live according to the precepts and statues of the Word of God. We are called to be a light. People are constantly observing what we do or don’t do. In contrast, we must not allow ourselves to emulate what others do because it seems as if they aren’t being caught. From the post that I read , there are those who are aware of what those particular people are doing. We must decide not to be one of those people.
Edited by Vanessa Hunter