(Continued from part 1, part 2 and part 3.)

If I said, “We evangelicals better think long and hard about our continued infatuation with and endorsement of … Sarah Palin,” what might be the reactions?

1) Yeah, that woman’s a nutty conservative, doesn’t care for the poor, is surely racist, etc.

2) Have you bought into compromising Christianity? We need to save America from liberalism.

Well, I haven’t said that yet. Actually it was Todd Friel, host of Wretched Radio, who said it. But regarding this issue, I’m about to start agreeing with him.

Fighting feminism

Sometimes Friel seems to forget that feminism is not the only threat to Christians. Yes, feminism gets a lot more press; it is more prevalent than other wrongs. Yet the other extreme is out there: chauvinism, often called “patriarchy,” an un-Biblical and God-slandering notion that daughters belong to fathers (who are like “high priests” of their own homes), that working outside the home automatically makes a woman a feminist, and other things.¹

Thus I would not simply criticize Palin for having any kind of job outside her home. Scripture does not directly forbid this, so why should I?

But if a church elder/overseer is called to keep his family well-cared for, and such a person must be a man, how much more should a woman who professes to know Christ want to avoid going out to be a leader if her home is a mess? (And when Friel talked about this, a certain news story hadn’t even yet broken.)

I feel sorry for the Palins. My reaction is similar to my thoughts last year, when all manner of Christians were ready to support a certain beauty pageant contestant who’d given a close-to-Biblical answer to a gay-marriage question. Given her raunchy behavior, shouldn’t the Church want to love this young woman, and correct her, helping her grow closer to the Jesus she professes to know? No — instead, Christians used this person. It’s like we care more for popularity and getting in the press than loving and teaching those who claim to be our own.

Sarah Palin and her family are not characters in an evening drama. They are not larger-than-life figures who can “handle it” because they’re somehow different. Flaws and positive attributes and all, they are real people. They need real help, from a real and active church. They need to be loved, taken in and taught. And yes, I wonder if Sarah’s children need their mom.

What they do not need is to be placed on pedestals and asked to lead us. That doesn’t love them. It doesn’t respect the God who places such value on being glorified in a Christian family.

Meanwhile, do other wives and mothers who want to glorify Christ feel pressure to Do, do, do, more, more, more? Does getting into politics, being the latest greatest Articulate Conservative Spokeswoman Running for Office, sound more appealing and worthy of acclaim than simply staying home and taking care of your family, loving your husband, and mostly loving the Lord?

It certainly is not wrong to seek high office. But when those who are — or who can — are rising to the top and doing all these Big Things in America, what might other women be feeling like?

Do other women’s sacrifices mean nothing? Is God more pleased with the women who plan to Save the Country? Is it well-just-okay to stay at home and work full-time to help your husband educate and raise your children, while the Big People go out and do the Really Big Things?

Faithful things

I’ll close with another quote from Friel, the second-to-last in this Do, do, do series.

Friel had talked about how pastors are under many pressures from Christians. Sometimes, without even knowing it, Christians may imply their pastor isn’t doing enough, or needs to have more attenders, better sermons, bigger buildings, and all that. Then Friel went on to say that Christian women are under some very similar pressures.

Number Two group would have to be stay-at-home moms. Has to be — stay-at-home moms. Shellacked for, “ohhhh, living at home and letting that oppressive man control you.” You know what? Staying at home, and doing that with your kids — that’s plenty big, ‘cause that’s the faithful thing. And I gotta tell you — that is the hard thing.

I really felt bad for those women who thought that they to go leave their babies at home, in the care of somebody else, so that they could go rescue society.

And by the way, what a slap in the face of every single man in this country. You mean, there’s no men who’ve already raised their kids who couldn’t do this?

Sorry, I can’t help but throw this in. We evangelicals better think long and hard about our continued infatuation and endorsement of — sorry, you can send us emails if you like — Sarah Palin. Her kids need her. “Well, they seem to be doing all right.” Uhhh, have you read the papers? Are you kidding me?

… Aren’t we the stay-at-home-mom people? Aren’t we the ones who say, “Well done, madam! You did the faithful thing. … You did the big thing.” One family at a time.

… God is smart, and He says to each and every one of us: “You do not have to do the big thing. You need to do the hard thing, which is the faithful thing.”

Tomorrow: The true Big/Hard Things and Radical Lives often seem so small.