Customer Reviews

Different by Design: Discovering God's Will for Today's Man and Woman (MacArthur Study Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Biblical Argument - period. This book does not present the opinion of any man, but instead takes an in-depth look at GOD's Word through the Scriptures. As a truth-seeking, Christ-honoring believer, there is nothing more authoritative and influential than that. This book, by the power of the Scripture included within it, changed my life in incalculable and eternal ways. Praise God!

Thanks John for a great book about the roles of men and women from God's perspective. This book is (of course) absolutely biblical in its treatment of this subject.

Today's selfish and feminist culture will no doubt have problems with it, but as we know from God's Word, that is to be expected. For a true believer, God's Word and its exposition is liberating, but to the world, it is a "rock of offense".

This book will greatly help any couple who is thinking of getting married, or who has been married for some time, and wants to be more biblical in their roles together. But don't take my word for it, read it for yourself.

This book taught me so so so much about men vs. women. I was shocked to learn what I learned... such great, deep theology and I have loved all I have read from MacArthur, Jr. Hope this book blesses you as much as it has blessed me!

I'd heard great things about this book and was lead to believe that, although complimentarian, it presented a good view of Biblical equality. Alas, it doesn't. MacAurthur is yet another person frightened of the feminist movement and warning of the damage that he thinks it will do to Christianity.

I used to think that most complimentarians had a personal case against women and simply didn't think highly of them. I've lately been proven wrong and discovered that, if there is any fear of truly Christian complimentarians, it is simply that men and women lose their identity and the lines become blurred between the sexes. While I appreciate this fear, particularly in our current liberal culture which embraces all manner of sexual perversion, I still find myself exasperated by people such as MacAurthur who let their fear affect their interpretation of women.

Anyone with an open mind should, in my opinion, be willing to acknowledge that the feminist movement has some earnest and even good goals. When MacAurthur opened the book with insults of the entire movement, however, I knew I wasn't in good territory and certainly not in the presence of a very open mind. The real clincher for me, however, came with this sentence: "Feminism began in the Garden of Eden when Eve, who we could call the first feminist, stepped out from under Adam's authority and led the world into sin." Okay, several problems with this offensive statement: firstly, Eve was not under Adam's authority to begin with. One of my pet peeves with complimentarians like MacAurthur is that they attempt to cover their butts by claiming that not only was male-only authority ordained by God, but that Eve sinned because she wouldn't submit to Adam. Wrong, pal. When Satan tempted Eve, he pulled out all the stops: God lied to her, she'd be all powerful, she was missing out on something good, etc etc. At no time did Satan say anything about how she'd be freed from her husband's authority. Why? Because he had none over her! This was not an issue for Eve! It was God's authority, not man's, that Eve was under and rebelled against. It was God's command, not Adam's, that the forbidden fruit not be eaten. For MacAurthur to attempt to turn the issue of Eve's sin into a big bad feminist story proves to me that he operates under a personal motive. The fact that he implies that it was a feministic sin which was responsible for the downfall of humankind is all the more outrageous.

The second problem with this example was MacAurthur's rather blatant attempt to blame it all on Eve. She single-handedly led the human race into sin? Correct if I'm wrong, but wasn't Adam involved? In fact, the Bible later on mentions the first sin and only names Adam as the one responsible! Of course Eve was responsible too, but this proves that God wasn't letting Adam off the hook.

MacAurthur, like all of his ilk, tries to claim his belief in female equality. Unfortunately, also like all of his ilk, his view of equality proves to either be false or blatantly see-through. He even borrows a ridiculous quote from an equally ridiculous book whose author claims that leadership is male. Leadership isn't solely male, MacAurthur; just ask Deborah, Esther, Huldah, and Miriam to name a few. The quote he borrowed stated that men and women may be built of the same material, but they're not interchangeable. Of course they're not, but what has this to do with leadership? If you truly believe that men and women are equal with equal gifts, then you will have no problem with women leading. On the other hand, when authors like this try to put a stopper on women leading, their earnest claims that they believe in equality anyway become as meaningless as hot air.

If you are looking for true Biblical equality, look elsewhere. This book, to me, is not a Biblical study so much as yet another case against feminism. Or, rather, equality.

Unless you are a creationist, and accept that we were created by a supernatural being 6000 years ago, even the $4 for this book is too much. All the assumptions and conclusions the author states, are based on some words from "God". The author thinks he knows what God thinks and wants. The nonesense in this book is at least good for a laugh, but you should wait till the price drops to $0.