Let’s give a warm welcome to David McKay, the newest member of the Complegalitarian blogging staff. I have had many good email exchanges with David over the past years. David is a music teacher and a keen student of the Bible. He is a complementarian, so I am glad to welcome him to this blog so that we can hear from the complementarian side of the gender debates. David and his wife Joan lives in Bathurst, Australia.
David, please feel free to add more about yourself if you wish.
Thanks for the welcome, Wayne.
My wife Joan and I have been married for 35 years and during that time we have lived in three Australian states and seven towns and have been involved in a variety of churches, including Anglican, Baptist, Churches of Christ, Uniting Church and independent evangelical.
I had a brief period in the ministry, eighteen years high school teaching and now nine years teaching piano in Western New South Wales.
We have attended both complementarian and egalitarian churches. I am not entirely happy with those terms, by the way, but can’t suggest better ones to replace them with.
I spent a few years trying egalitarianism, but came to the conclusion that it was not the natural reading of the Bible, but rather a reading into the Bible of some of our contemporary attitudes.
I hope I can be of some use here in articulating my views on the way God wants men and women to relate to one another.
Welcome, David. It’s great to have you on the team!
Welcome, David! I’m so glad you are with us!
Well this should be interesting as I have studied both sides and have mostly come to the conclusion that non-egals are (often) reading into the Bible some of their traditional attitudes.
Ain’t exegesis fun?
I continue to study both sides and have learned from both sides.
P.S. It is certainly possible to be egal for reasons outside the Bible, such as giving into culture. I think this would be a bad reason to be egal.
Welcome David. I look forward to dialoguing with you.
Blessings in Christ.
I am not entirely happy with those terms, by the way, but can’t suggest better ones to replace them with.
Me neither, David! And welcome.
I have come to the conclusion that complementarianism, at least as articulated by those who go by that moniker or have defined it, involves a reading into the Bible of cultural (secular) concepts — even if worldly ones from within the church! — as well as a misreading of the text, although I am undecided on the matter of women in certain high positions of church leadership. I also believe that some of the definitions of egalitarianism that I have seen don’t pass biblical muster either.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say!
(btw, I’m a musician & teacher also — I teach brass)
David,
Thanks for coming on board. Your experience in both kinds of churches puts you in the same category as Marilyn and makes you uniquely qualified to reflect on these questions.
Welcome to the Complegalitarian blog, David! I, too, share your take on the reading of scripture when it comes to the gender issue. I ride that dividing line, however, with as much conviction as anyone on either side, so if there’s ever a wild card in the lot of us, you can usually suspect me!
I look forward to your future posts. Enjoy!
FWIIW, I have attend a non-egal, a half egal (it was church egal but not marriage egal) and a full egal church during my time. I used to be a non-egal as that was what I was taught, and then I was challenged to study both sides. When I did that, I became egal; but am still studying.