by Kelly Pelton

There's no debating hardened hearts of hardened men
when high regard for every human being is lacking;
no common ground exists with one who limits women
in God's name while using selective scriptural backing.

In many churches, deep-seated prejudice maintains
that God has created a social order favoring men
in status, privilege, power, prestige; this gender hierarchy
is said to protect orthodoxy. Be mindful, guarded, then,

when people justify blatant injustice, subordinating
any people group for the greater good. A system is willing
to marginalize one or some, but Jesus never was,
His Spirit teaching love to all people He's filling.

Debate is futile with one who defends unequal praxis,
the unequal treatment of those he labels equals; his actions
reveal a bankruptcy within, of failing to dearly value
each soul that God has made. People aren't distractions;

they are the point of Jesus' life, death, resurrection,
individuals of His priesthood unrestricted,
free to edify the whole assembly with their gifts, 
our Savior through His sons and daughters fully depicted.