| February 9th, 2001 - Independant Women It's not hard to see why many feminists and the everyday women would reject the Bible. The Bible has been used by self-seeking, arrogant men to justify all types of dominating and abusive behavior for hundreds of years. Much the same way slave owners justified the enslavement of our African American brothers with scriptures that seemed to promote such. I assure you, these are abuses of God's word and not representative of God's character at all. At long last, we live in a day and age where people are being freed from archaic oppressions of the past. Oh don't get me wrong. I know there's still much work to be done. I do not mean to minimize the magnitude of prejudice that still exists out there. What I am saying is that we are headed in a good direction as far as God is concerned because oppression of any type tends to be counter-productive to God's agenda. The truth of His word will flourish all the more in the light of liberty. Anyone who is at all familiar with the Bible will readily see that women were commended by God to lead armies to battle, to purchase land, run the bank account and run the household, represent their nations before Kings, the first ones to proclaim the news of Christ's resurrection, and to prophesy in the temple. It should also be pointed out however that God has appointed the man as the leader in the marital relationship, and in church government (there were no Apostle-ettes chosen by Jesus) but in the language of the Bible this means "servant-leadership" not lording over or bossing around but rather watching over, protecting, and covering for. The higher the position of leadership the higher the demands for humility and servant-hood. Leadership in the world means issuing orders and commands, but among Jesus's last words to his Apostles were the words which followed his washing of their feet, "Don't you know what I have just done for you? You call me Master and Lord: and rightly so; for this is who I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." If men were to be servants, protectors and respecters of women as fellow-heirs of heaven (instead of looking for her to serve his ego and pride) the women's rights organizations would never exist. Their entire reason for existence is the fear of being dominated over by self-centered, selfish and arrogant men. This is the type of leadership God calls men to act in; The kind that independant women will want to follow. |