"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat or a prostitute." ~Rebecca West,
The femminist in me dies a slow & painful death....
The other day an acquaintance of mine posted a link on facebook to this article about wives honoring their husbands. Just skimming the title,I thought I would like it, particularly since she has such a strong & Godly union with her husband and I respect her views on most things. It...kinda made me gag. So did Michelle Duggar's helpful little 'Tips for how to be a submissive wife' which I read this morning. Now, it's not that I don't understand these biblical principals. Once I started going to a baptist church I sat through plenty of sermons on honoring one's husband, that God won't give you someone you can't submit to, men need to be respected while women need to be loved- Any preacher worth his black suit will tell you this is NOT about the guy controlling or oppressing his wife. Wife gets to have an opinion, she is a valued partner, she is to be treasured and loved. (But, she still has to hold up her end of the bargain)
I remember talking to my (Episcopalian) priest's wife about these passages. She said that before getting married, she was reading the verses about a wife submitting to her husand. Afterwards, she slammed the Bible shut and threw it across the room, enraged. It does NOT really say that?! I asked her Oh...but it does, she told me. Look it up. (Eph 5:22/ 1Peter 3:1) This was right around the time when I was really getting into the NT and Paul's missionary trips. I wanted to know what he had to say on the subject of women missionaries. Having read so much of his work already, I was expecting a lot of encouragment for us gals. Something along the lines of "...and you women are to do likewise and go out preaching the gospel..." Instead, I found this:
34 Women[f] should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.[g]
Are you freaking kidding me?! I was a lector in the church....that meant I had been sinning this whole time- and didn't even KNOW it! Yeah, that screwed with my head for a while. Didn't like Paul so much anymore after that.
Then in college I was hearing a lot about Proverbs 31 Ministries on the radio, which was geared the spiritual development of Godly women/wives. Once I got back to my dorm I looked this up, glad to finally have an answer to my question about what a Godly wife looks like...
Ok so here it is! Are ya ready!! One of my life's missions, one of my greatest responsibilities as a married lady will be....(drumroll please)....
to gather WOOL & FLAX....I'm also supposed to organize my servants (ooh I like that part!) and dress my family in warmly, in red outfits (great for all the chilly Texas weather we have!) and wear purple clothes all the time (I can start a new fashion trend!) I laughed so hard I cried.
I can see some characteristics we might be going for here....chica's gotta work hard, plan ahead, be mindful of the needs of her family. But other than that???? I'm stuck.
Is femminism diametrically opposed to the Christian doctrine and world view? The only slight bit of evidence I can come up with to the contrary is that Jesus himself spent time with women, included them in his ministry, and valued them as friends. This seems to have been counter-cultural for his day, as women were basically treated like property, with all authority going to males. Then again, who came up with that system?? Yeah. He (and in an earlier passage by Paul) seem really big on equal-opportunity loving of thy neighbor, and specifically instruct us not to show favoritism because of gender, age, social class, or any other silly distinction we like to come up with so we can pick on each other. But the rest of the Bible is def not so femminist-friendly.... just sayin.
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