Tuesday, January 19, 2016

31 Days: Why Don't I Like This Woman God Created?

After looking up verses and reading what God says to women, it seems logical to me to admit that the ‘Woman of Yesterday’ is a lot closer to the woman God had in mind then the ‘Woman of Today’ is. Look at some of the words that are used - helper, gracious, dignified, submissive, pure, under authority, discrete… do they sound like the ‘Woman of Today’? It seems pretty obvious to me that the ‘Woman of Today’ is not who God created woman to be.

So, what is it that has made women rebel against the ‘Woman of Yesterday’ and, ultimately, against what God says to women? And it’s not just “out there”. If I’m honest, when I read that list of words I just gave above, I feel some rebellion rise up within me! Why? I’ve just seen clearly what God says to me as a woman and I say that I’m a Christian and I want to please my Creator; why then do I feel this rebellion inside?

Here’s my idea, see what you think of it. I think the reason I rebel is because, as a woman, I live primarily out of feelings. When I read that list of words, it does not feel good to me at all! That list of words feels vulnerable, less then, squashed, looked down on, a door mat, weak, helpless, not fair. It is really hard, especially for women, to accept something that doesn’t feel good. I’m not sure what we think we can do about it - discover some Greek definitions that will make the Bible say something different because surely God didn’t mean it that way? Come up with our own ideas because we think it will make us feel better? But we definitely do seem to have a problem with liking the woman God created. Could it be we need to just accept the facts and work on changing our feelings?

Back to the flip side. Why, as a general rule, aren’t men rebelling? Why don’t men rebel against the “women and children first” idea? Why do we still, for the most part, see men paying alimony and child support and for first dates? Why aren’t they rising up in rebellion and saying, “This doesn’t feel fair at all! If the women want to be equal, why should they go first and why should I pay the money??”

I think it’s a lot because men primarily live out of facts. They look at the facts and say, “I’m bigger and stronger; I make more money than most women.” For the most part, it doesn’t matter how it feels to them; facts are facts and that’s just the way it is. They might look at the irony of the words coming out of both sides of the women’s mouths and roll their eyes and laugh but it’s not making them try to change their world. They’re more apt to shrug and say, “They wanna be that way? Let them!”

But back to the women, where do we go from here?

2 comments:

Rosina said...

Hmmm, food for thought. I feel a little rebellious too, but I'm listening!:D

Bethany Eicher said...

Glad to know someone is with me...thanks for commenting! :)