The Bible is a loaded gun.
Given proper respect, it offers provision, defends the innocent, and protects the poor. Still, like any other firearm, it is dangerous. A hardened or misguided heart might misuse it to take life, to divide, to judge, and to oppress. A soldier armed with such a weapon might defend sacred ground or be tempted to stake a claim by force—with the threat of a loaded gun creating a hierarchy of intimidation and granting false authority.
Manipulating the words of truth is easy. Those who are willing to stand firm in ignorance, eliminate context, disregard the relevance of the story, ignore any cultural framework, and cut or paste without regard to order can effortlessly twist the word of God to advance almost any agenda. Many are willing to speak loudly without taking time to reconcile their message with the heart of God. This spray of misfired messages carries substantial causalities as the best lies often contain strategically placed bits of the truth. The deceiver has penetrated the innermost circle of disciples—and kneels patiently at the steps of the altar, disguised as a child of the light.
I recognize I am not exempt from the innate desire to advance my own agenda. To speak and mislead puts me at risk for the gravest of judgements. However, to see oppression and ignore it, puts me at even higher risk. Furthermore, God does not require my feeble mind to attempt to offer His defense. To do so acknowledges my arrogance and endangers my heart as it walks too near the ledge of polarization. I, with my glaring lack of credentials, tread lightly here.
I am a mother and a wife who spent years standing on both sides of feminism and found myself content in neither… but I keep trying to put the entire struggle out of my mind, continually committing to taking care of my family and learning to hold the joy in the moment.
Holding onto joy is easy to do on a day like today. It is early in the morning; the sun is just rising and the humidity in the air has settled in the valleys as it often does in Missouri. I am driving home from my early workout through the twisting shoulder-less roads meandering and rolling through the hills. The trees dressed in their new spring leaves frame the highway while the sun filters and falls through it all. It is a peaceful morning, and I consider myself blessed to start my day in such a way. The radio scans through stations, and I stop it on a sermon that catches my ear. I keep listening, glancing at the clock. I know I'll make it home before my family wakes up, so I am pleased with myself.
Then the words begin to tighten my chest and pull the air out of my lungs as my grip on the steering wheel gets tighter and tighter. The sermon continues to drain the air from the car and my heart beats faster while my eyes fill with tears. Anger wells up inside me as I struggle to suppress it. When I arrive home, I sit in the driveway and try to regain control of myself before I have breakfast with my family. As I finally make my way inside, I fight the urge to kick over the bins lining the outside of our garage.
There are few platforms left where concerns of discrimination are so unashamedly disregarded and limited airways that would broadcast such a message. Nevertheless, sometimes the pulpit forgets to Whom it is supposed to submit, ignoring any checks and balances which would have certainly steered it in the direction of mercy and love.
"What is wrong with the world today? What is wrong with our country? What has gone awry in politics?" This morning's sermon held all the answers. The core problem—Women. Women and their struggle for power and a voice have broken the whole intended order of creation. Let us all remember she is responsible for the fall of man. Her desire to control her husband is the original curse. He is to be her master. Instead, these women have 'infiltrated' politics and even the ranks of the church thereby jeopardizing all of society and threatening the Kingdom.
Thankfully, not all pulpits broadcast such a message, and slowly less are held hostage to gender stereotypes and cultural customs. Half of me wants to walk away from this nonsense and go on about my day. But my broken heart understands that not only do messages such as these hurt women, but the twisted and projected laws of false religion also unjustly represent God. Ignorance speaks with the loudest voice.
So, here I will speak softly, even in my anger and my hurt, as I plead my case. Not many pulpits would see fit to share their mic with a woman, though I am blessed to know a few, so I will bring my case before an altogether different judge.
* * * * * * *
The Bible offers little description on the pre-fall and so-called intended order of creation. The curtain rises on a stage already set, with only a few lines of text alluding to a type of perfect that humanity could scarcely tolerate and quickly challenged. The rest of the text describes the suffering of man as we continue to walk east of Eden.
Out of the very limited text we have on Eden, much is written on the sin of Eve. She was the first to consume the fruit, the first to misunderstand, the first to be deceived. She took into herself a very dangerous seed and shared it with the one she loved most. I will not negate the gravity of Eve's sin. On the contrary, I will own it. I am Eve, as we all are. And I suspect, I am equally as easy to deceive. With the best of intentions, I too take into myself a poison that spreads like a virus unstoppable through the ranks.
However, let us talk now of the sin of Adam. Look closer at the character of Adam - notice a man who left his companion vulnerable to deception, who stood quietly by while she was tempted by the serpent, who offered her no council while she consumed the fruit, and who took sin into himself remarkably easy, offering little resistance. Furthermore, Adam, when questioned by God about his defiance and lack of judgment, felt it necessary to point the finger of accusation not towards his own imperfect heart, but at his wife and boldly at the Creator Himself.
The sermon this morning spoke of the power struggle between men and women. Obviously, there is a power struggle; of course, I agree—evidence we are still east of Eden. And what was once united in perfect unashamed love, now stands in opposition. Adam and Eve both sinned, and they were and are both equally punished. Read the rest of the Bible, and come to understand the phrase, ‘like a woman giving birth’ is not used as gender-specific. Likewise, our struggle against 'thorns and thistles' applies on a personal, national, and universal level all simultaneously and is also not the least bit related to gender. New life is now born of suffering, which we shall struggle to carry and deliver. In any case, the war of the sexes started as we were expelled from the garden, so why should we be content to camp there? We were already standing east of perfect.
We cannot draw many context clues from the short descriptions of Eden. However, it is implied that even amid perfection, Adam was lonely, and God was not content to leave him that way. The story of the creation of Eve is remarkable. Of all the bones and flesh at His disposal to create Eve, the story tells us the Lord chooses a rib from Adam's side. Interesting that He did not choose a bone from the heel of his foot, or perhaps the tip of his thumb, nor his tailbone… no instead, the Lord chooses a part in Adam’s side, a part of the very construct that protects man’s breath and his heart. Without this piece of his side, Adam has a weak spot, as it is now man who stands with a hole in him. With Eve, he is not only not lonely; he is whole. When they are operating as one, she is standing at his side, protecting his heart, while he would naturally have his arm falling gently around her. And all was excellent in every way.
However, the preacher from this morning’s sermon did not speak of Eden. Yet, he did quote Paul, as many often do, when they attempt to establish a hierarchy of social order. Although there are a few patronizing instructions for females among Paul’s writings, the prevailing themes of love and unity run throughout his work. It is insulting to the author and overall ignorant to discredit the underlying message of the entirety of Paul’s writings by removing cultural context and focusing on a few select passages.
“I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony among you so there will not be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”
-1 Corinthians 2:10
The Bible offers no letter by Paul’s hand which ever wavered from this mission. It is the writings of this man who also preached, “let love be your highest goal…” of whom we now use to bring segregation and division. As we strain for a gnat, we are in danger of missing the message altogether.
The writings of Paul offer instruction for Christian marriage. The most often quoted, or partially quoted of these passages is in Ephesians 5. The quote we so often hear is, “Wives submit to your husband.” I pray that any man led to quote this text has the courage to read aloud the entire passage.
“And further, you will submit to one and another out of reverence for Christ. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.
And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word.”
- Ephesians 5:21-26
We should reflect on how Christ loved the 'church'. He offers ‘her’ a love which forgives an unfaithful heart, overlooks transgressions, and hurls itself in front of death—a love which protects and does not possess. With this love he rescues ‘her’ so she can be free. Paul continues…
“In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife. No one hates his own body but loving cares for it, just as Christ cares for his body, which is the church.”
- Ephesians 5:28-30
And then goes on to close with this…
“So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
- Ephesians 5:33
There are as many instructions for males in spirit-guided relationships as there are for females, yet the male call to action is so often marginalized. Point toward a man who loves his wife as he loves himself, who cares for her so deeply he would overlook her imperfections, and run headfirst into death to spare her—next to him undoubtedly stands a wife, who out of intense respect for her husband would joyfully submit to his authority.
Though it was bold and packed with revolutionary ideas, Paul's writing is not free from the trenches of culture and tradition. Paul wrote to several church gatherings, some of whom had become so focused on the socialization and fashion of the whole assembly they were at risk of losing the message. (Picture a gathering of over the top and inappropriately dressed people distracted and missing the point…sound familiar?) Here he offers instructions for women in worship, but at one point seems to question himself before leaving us with this, "all I can say is we have no other custom than this…"
Paul was a rebel who challenged legalism and customs, but the evolution of moral law on a national level is a slow process. Not unlike the law of Moses, Paul’s teaching might have yielded to the hard-heartedness of man. (Paul also offers instructions for slaves and their masters…) Read all of Paul's work in its entirety, and the takeaway is this, "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians—you are all one in Christ Jesus."
While I have the most profound respect for Paul, and his writings, I understand he was simply a man on his journey. As merely a man, he was not immune, as none of us are, from the heavy influence of culture and tradition. Though I study Paul's teachings, I do ultimately submit to a more credible source—Christ.
While Jesus Christ never saw fit to author a book, He did lead us by example. If the role of women is intended to be only beneath men, and this hierarchy is important enough to build our faith upon, we should see the Messiah model this behavior and echo it in His preaching. Only the Bible offers us no such record.
The Beatitudes make no mention of gender. In place of a hierarchy of men and women, Jesus builds a ministry completely backward of anything a legalist might predict, a ministry that serves from the bottom up. The gospels introduce a Messiah who heals and loves equally and reveals the Kingdom of heaven to both men and women. Interesting to note, it was women who stayed past the end of the first act of the Crucifixion, watching from a distance as Christ was buried. And as the stone rolls away, it is the grieving spirit of women who are among the first to learn of the resurrection and see the risen Lord. They were given a life altering message to spread to the apostles… and yet in the beginning the words of these women were diminished as nonsense.
The gospels paint a picture of Christ who observes the spirit of the law without adhering to the letter of it. There we see Jesus, who is willing to defile himself in the eyes of the law in the name of mercy. Christ presents a compassion which has little concern for itself and disregards custom, which associates with prostitutes, which heals a hemorrhaging woman and calls her daughter, and which even takes the hand of a dead girl to restore her life. There we see Christ who was anointed multiple times, not inside the synagogues, not by members of government, nor wealthy respectable men, nor high priests, but by women.
Read the entire gospels and it is impossible to argue that Christ does not have a heart for women. However, Jesus Christ wastes no breath on the battle of the sexes. Though, He does allot substantial airspace to tearing down corrupt leadership, speaking against corporate religion, warning us against the destructive power of legalism, and teaching us to love.
Against ‘biblically supported’ demeaning arguments of women, I could prattle on in resistance longer than anyone would care to listen. For, unlike Christ, I am afraid I now waste considerable time venturing too close to the edge of polarization and I am at fault. I may well spend my entire life compiling a defense of women and fighting for a pulpit to file my complaint. But in the end, this is all just a meaningless distraction causing us to shift our gaze from the real work we have in front of us. I will undoubtedly have a platform to plead my case privately before the King of Kings, though I have my suspicions He may dismiss my defense for it is simply not relevant to the objective.
Forgive me this. Vile scribble. More chasing of the wind…
It is not my heart to bring division, though offering any type of defense for myself here most certainly will. Swab my heart for gunshot residue. Firing in self-defense is likely no excuse. Perhaps someday I will come to understand why we are all encouraged to ‘turn the other cheek.’
I believe it unlikely God will ever declare a victor in the war of the sexes. For I do not serve a God who requires me to take up arms against men, but one who would ask me to lay them down. So, as a woman who submits, in lieu of declaring war against males, I will have the strength to lay down my weapons along with my hurt and instead declare my heart for them.
I love men
and I respect them.
As I search for a way back into Eden, I want to find my place not standing against my brothers but standing at their side where I was always meant to be. And if I feel their arm falling gently around me in protection, I will be forever grateful for it. In exchange, I will work to help guard their hearts and together we will heed Paul’s warning, “to watch for those who might bring divisions...” and united we will walk forward to advance a Kingdom of love, a Kingdom of mercy, and a Kingdom of grace.
On earth, as it is in heaven.
