DeYoung, CBMW and women: in heaven as on earth
I will publicly eat my words, with a little horse radish to disguise the taste. I misjudged Kevin DeYoung rather seriously. I had at first suggested that since he was using this title – The Beauty of Differences – on Heaven and on Earth for the April 8, 2014 CBMW Conference, he would preach on the eternal subordination of women. But then, after reading somebody’s rough notes on his speech, I assumed that he had not referred to the eternal subordination of women and he was, in my view, absolved. Oh, silly me! What a mistake.
DeYoung’s talk is now online, and he does indeed believe that women are designed to have an “eager posture” to be “helpers” and “willing to be led” by men for eternity. What does it mean to have an “eager posture” towards men for eternity? What needs are men going to have for eternity and how burdensome could this become? Actually DeYoung proved himself to be something of a poet as he tied up his talk with these words,
The river of divine design is at our backsand the wind of the spirit is in our sailsthere is something nowand there will be something even in heavenjust as the Father, Son and Holy Spiritwill continue to be three distinct persons,so man and woman will be distinct personsin the world to comethese differences should not be eradicated but celebratednot confused but clarified,not shamefully embarrassed but happily embraced.
BLT 
Bunny costume? From what DeYoung said, I was thinking it was a dog costume. Who is it that has an “eager posture” towards a man if not a dog? It certainly sounds like women are meant to be the bright-eyed, tail-wagging eager ones ready to fetch and carry for men forever.
You are right. I just didn’t think I would look very good in a dog costume – but bringing the newspaper and slippers, wagging your tail, lying by the fireside, yeah that part is not so bad. Too bad these guys don’t seem to have much sense of humour. I actually think I could stand to be a cat for eternity.
DeYoung makes a fundamental logical error: that our distinctiveness as persons (as with the Trinity) depends completely on a hierarchy. These men also believe that there MUST be hierarchy in the Trinity or else the Persons would be indistinguishable; see the Henry Center debate on this topic from several years ago. They begin with the premise that differentiation cannot exist without hierarchy, and build their theology on that basis. Yet I would challenge him to show how one identical twin must rule over the other or else they’re really just one person.
Silly me. And here I thought “many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” in the kingdom of heaven! (Mat_19:30; Mat_20:16; Mar_9:35; Mar_10:31; Luk_13:30)
Apparently, Jesus and Kevin de Young are not talking of the same kingdom? In that case, I want to go to the one where Jesus is – not where Kevin is.
I read The Girls by Lori Lansens about Siamese twins conjoined at the head and it was about this very topic of distinction without hierarchy. Just a few months after the book was published, Siamese twins of that configuration were born in the hospital where my daughter was spending a few weeks, so I saw them.
Yes, we don’t any of us want DeYoung’s heaven!