Deborah: The Female Judge

Those in the church who say that God is against women leading men must do so in spite of the fact that the Bible itself clearly describes women as holding legitimate positions of authority over men.  One such example is Deborah, prophetess and judge of Israel (Judges 4:4-5).  God himself is said to have raised up the judges (Judges 2:16-19), so readers cannot rightly claim that Deborah, being a woman, was in moral error simply by presiding over Israel.  The judges were non-monarchical leaders who presided over the Israelites, sometimes leading them to military victories.  They were not called kings or queens, but they did lead on behalf of God:


Judges 2:16, 18--"Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved Israel out of the hands of these raiders . . . Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived . . ."


Judges 2 and 4 alone absolutely demolish the idea that Yahweh is against women leading men.  If it is sinful for a woman to lead a man, and if God cannot sin (James 1:13), then God could not have raised up a female judge!  Thus the fact that he did means that female leadership over men is not sinful.  Some complementarians might say that God only settled for Deborah because no men were willing to accept the role of leadership meant for them.  But where the hell does the text say this?  It does not!  What it does say is that God raised up judges and that Deborah was a judge.

Oh, how I love observing how insecure complementarian men can be when they meet a female leader who is competent, qualified, and in authority over them--especially if it bruises egos that have been shaped by stereotypes that so many blindly believe in!  When fallacious minds encounter things that disprove their false assumptions, the result is always cognitive dissonance, a refusal to adapt to reality, or a right change of mind.  Since complementarianism wouldn't exist without fallacious minds embracing it, the complementarian response to reason and Scripture usually isn't a right change of mind, unfortunately.

God does not condemn female leaders.  No one is qualified for leadership simply by being a man, and no one is disqualified from leadership simply by being a woman.  Sound logicians realize that denial of this involves fallacies--non sequiturs, begging the question, circular reasoning, appeals to tradition, etc.  It doesn't follow at all from having a certain body that one is or isn't capable of competent, skillful leadership; instead it follows from one's personality traits or experiences.

Logic, people.  It is very fucking helpful.