I found it curious that Dan's most recent post so closely mirrored the theme of my pastor's Father's Day message. Speaking on the loss of respect for Fatherhood, my brother and pastor went back to the beginning and outlined the roles God intended for Man, and the roles He ultimately felt obliged to establish. That is, I mean to say, what IS is not what God wanted or intended. What I found curious was that many of the verses Dan used in his post my pastor also used in his sermon, albeit with an altogether different conclusion. And one, I might add, that wasn't the least bit "sexist."

When I discovered Dan's post, Is the Bible Sexist? Is God?, the comment count was at 40 and I had no desire to wade through all them all. I wanted to offer my two-cents but didn't want to "clutter [Dan's] comments with points that may already have been dragged out and savaged by verbose men." As you may surmise, I chose instead to send Dan my own thoughts via email, adapted from the gist of my pastor's sermon.

What follows is what followed...


In light of Paul's admonition that women keep silent, it's more complicated than mere "sexism," which I believe is misnamed. Insisting that she no longer make autonomous decisions is not sexist, but the action [to my mind at least] of a just and loving God.

You have to go back to Genesis.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

--Genesis 1:26-27

God created Man male and female, but equally "Man." God did not put Adam over Eve, nor Eve over Adam. They were equal. A colloquialism that illustrates this: God didn't make Eve from Adam's heel so he could walk over her as he chose, but He made Eve from Adam's rib; taken from his side that they might walk as equals, side by side. That is until Eve chose to strike out on her own and make decisions independent of her husband Adam... and God.

God was forced to pronounce His judgment....

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

--Genesis 3:16

But why? Why did God put Adam, who was before the fall Eve's equal, over her after the fall?

"For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."

--I Timothy 2:13-15

I think it's interesting to note verse 15.... "Notwithstanding....."

She shall be saved in childbearing... perhaps because through childbearing a savior would come.

If they continue in faith.... because only through faith would they and their descendants one day be redeemed through Christ.

I won't debate salvation with you-- we've been down that road. I only offer a reason why women are deemed, in God's eyes, to be subject to their husbands... not inferior. But consider also, Jesus redeemed women just as equally and men. Women are not chattel, but the design is still "The Design"... Marriage places the husband at the head. And despite being the "head," he is just as subject to his wife through the express command of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."

--Ephesians 5:22-31

They are "One Flesh".... equal in the sight of God. Nonetheless she is subject to her husband.... but neither is she property. As "One Flesh" she is every bit as much his hand, and he is hers. They are equal.

"The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife."

--1 Corinthians 7:4

Perhaps the admonition for her to keep silent in church is because Eve was deceived... rather easily, I might add... but Adam was not. He loved his wife so much that he deliberately sacrificed himself that he might continue to love her and be with her. Much like what Jesus did for us.

----

There you have it.

Personally, I have a lot of trouble calling the Bible, let alone God, "sexist." If God is holy, then it is impossible for God to be "sexist," which is subjective-- and a very human term. Any word man can devise will fail in accurately describing a single attribute of God. That God put the text of the Bible into the hearts of men to pen and save for all posterity and the edification of Godly men and women only means God recognizes our limits and expresses His love and will to us in terms we can understand.

Overall I think my email response to Dan was incomplete; there was so much more I could have said.