Patriarchy and feminism receive so much opposition because both terms have been seriously perverted in modern thinking. Both are Biblical principles that have been twisted to benefit the unique personal point of view of those opposed to God and His purposes. God always has our best interests at heart, even though often, He doesn't clue us in on what's happening. His plan is for us to trust Him and see how He is working things out for His glory and our good.
As I mentioned before patriarchy [and feminism (Bible based)] is a template or pattern of God's relationship with mankind and vice versa. God's enemy and ours, Satan, has perverted these principles to further his own purposes. He began his devious plot in the garden of Eden, when he approached Eve and tempted her to listen to his authority, rather than the authority of her husband (who was placed in that position by God). She had the ability and the right to choose and experience the consequences of that choice. Please notice that Satan did not tempt Adam, but subverted God's program and skipped over the authority figure and initiated rebellion to God's template (mode of operation). Satan has been doing this very effectively since that time. Adam's failure was in listening to the voice of his wife rather than the command of God. He failed as the leader of his family.
That God placed Adam and Eve in respective positions regarding authority (I Corinthians 11), does not make either the man or the woman superior to the other. God's secondary purpose in having distinct organization is for order, efficiency, safety, mental and physical health. His primary purpose is to show us how to have a happy, productive relationship with Him. Patriarchy has been perverted in the minds of the world and therefore most Christians, to assume that this organization makes men abusive masters and women, abject slaves.
Feminism has been perverted in our world today to assume that women are not only equal to men (which they are), but superior (which they are not) and do not need men to be complete and fulfilled. Furthermore feminism today assumes that if women ruled the world, there would be no war, strife and famine. Feminism as the world portrays it, is the perversion that Satan initiated in Eden. It also eliminates God, most people are not aware of the ramifications of modern feminism carried to its ultimate conclusion.
Feminism in the Biblical sense, is altogether different. When God created the first woman, she was the ultimate of His creative work, saving the best for last and then He rested. No jokes about having her do all the work from there on out, please. Adam was formed from the dust of the ground, she was not, she was formed from Adam, man once refined. It has never been part of God's program that women be regarded as slaves or property. That a wife would be in submission to her husbands leadership is no more demeaning to her than it is for all of us to be in submission to our Lords leadership. [See the template at work?] The idea of being demeaned is the result of Satan's perversion of God's program. What God did institute is a program or organization that works extremely well when both men and women fit into their respective roles according to His design. Again, this is not respecting value, but organization and portrayal of God's plan.
All marital problems that exist today have their source in the failure of one or both parties to fulfill their role as God designed. Guys, I am afraid that we as men have the larger responsibility in the failure in marriage. We fail when we do not take the position of leadership for our families, leading them in the way that God leads us. When we lead by poll rather than Biblical policy, we repeat the failure of Adam in the garden.
As to the ability of women to be persons of great self-worth, relative independence, accomplishment, and skill, etc., I only need to refer you to many examples in Scripture; Sarah, Ruth, Deborah, Priscilla, Mary and Martha, etc., but primarily the Proverbs 31 woman. She was strong, motivated, industrious and a free thinker that operated in the structure that God created. To borrow a phrase from the U.S. Army, "Be All That You Can Be". For men and women alike that is a good goal, only we must operate within the frame work of our Lord's design.
4 comments:
Amen and amen!
How true that our problems come from our going either "to the left or to the right" of that which God ordained for us!
There is a role for the man, and there is a role for the woman. We can only be truly happy, if we are fulfilling the role for us. Why? Because that is what we were made for. A square peg will never feel well in a round hole!
So am I to understand that slavery should be accepted as polgamy should be accepted today? After all slavery was not condemnd in the bible, and just like the many men of God that had multiple wives, also had slaves. Slavery/Polgamy tradition or Truth?
Polygamy is practiced for various reason by different
groups. The oldest reason had to do with men marrying women from other
clans or villages. Women might never see their families again, particularly much loved sisters, cousins, and friends, by marrying in Polygamy, these relatives
and friend could be together for the rest of their lives.
Families are always happiest when retaining bonds between women is the
pricipal reason. There are
also childcare, educational, and monetary
advantages.
In African or Afro-American the high cost of rent is moving
women to accept their husbands mistresses and half brothers and sisters
into the family, because
certainly one and many times two women are not enough workers to create
a stable home for the children and companion-ship for the wife who stays home.
For the father there is
the advantage of having
all his children and their mothers living together in a more traditional situation.
By traditional, I mean that I think polygamy is replacing the traditional
extended family. Freud was
wrong about the value of
having unmarried or ill Aunts, Uncles and
Grandparents helping to pass on traditional values
in return for needed help.
In the chart you have now
I would replace Patriarchy
with variable. Though slavery is not condemned in the Bible, I think this is largely due to the
inescapable presence of Roman law. If Jesus had
condemned it, he might not
have lived long enough for th Atonement to occur.
International law is not likely to support chattel
slavery, as occurred in the Balkans. There are many more people who want
to practice Polygamy than
do so today. I remember my last polygamous relatives and friends of
my Grandmother, one was paraplegic best friend and the other a paternal cousin.
Physical care would have
been almost impossible
without the values of polygamy. He built a house next door and married another woman who had seven children.
He loved her, but since she could not have sex or children they got a civil
divorce. He provided for her, took her on family outings and built her a green house so she could sell the plants.
Kathleen
Sorry for missing words and letters, I can't focus on the screen.
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