“So this becomes the easiest and the hardest thing to do in the middle of our story: simply listen to the words. Don’t carry your bad experiences into the story. Don’t listen to the world’s screams from the shadows of liberation. Rather than change, ignore, and explain away these words of St. Paul, we will calmly soak in the syllables of these words of God.”

– Cindy Koch, Woman: The Forgotten Story, pg. 63

Question:

Cindy’s book deals with women and their God-give roles in creation. What is it about the experiences that many women face in the church that drives them to want to change, ignore, or explain away St. Paul’s teachings for women? But, of course, men have the same problem when it comes to hearing God’s Word as being definitive for our lives. So, why is it so hard for us to simply listen to the Word of God? Is it possible to hear the Word without allowing our bad experiences to impact how we receive the Word?