Dorothy Sayers, Are Women Human?:
"Perhaps it is no wonder that women were the first at the Cradle and the last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man – there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them as “The women, God help us?” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words or deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature."
Some women have wondered why/how I stay Christian among so much sexism. This is why: I run past it all, straight into the arms of Jesus.
Again, I would love your comments!
4 comments:
This is a wonderful quote! Thank you for posting it!
I have a degree in medieval history, which is when the sexism in the church really started. It's amazing to compare what we think the Bible says to what it actually says!
That's a wonderful perspective on the life & ministry of Jesus. She was so influential -- most notably in the life of CS Lewis.
Galations 3: 28 says There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. I firmly believe that my worth as a human is not tied up in my nationality, my sex or my status in life. God love me for me and it is because of Jesus Christ that I can have a relationship with my Creator. However. I do believe that God has created specific roles – some based on position (pastors, deacons, leaders) and some based on gifts (teachers, prophecy, healing) and some based on sex (fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, pastors, deacons). I don’t believe that one role is more important than another or should be valued more than another. (as in the illustration of all being a part of the body of Christ) I take my role as a wife and mother seriously – as do you. It is a role designed for a woman. It is something that we should celebrate, cherish and take seriously. My husband cannot fulfill my role – and as such, I cannot fulfill his. I do believe that the husband is the head of the family. (Ephesians 5:22-33) And with that comes a great responsibility to love their wives as Christ loves the church. The excerpt that you shared in this post does a great job of describing how Jesus loves us and is a great example of how husbands should love and treat their wives (how we should all treat each other really). Men can and sometimes do take advantage and abuse that – as you have learned. But I think as women we need to be careful that, in backlash, we don’t take advantage and overstep our roles either. It’s all too easy to cause division and point fingers at “men” and cry for the same “power” that they have abused. (btw I’m not pointing fingers – just making a general observation) For example, the role of pastors. The examples and descriptions I read in the Bible are for pastors to be men. Can a woman become a pastor? Yes. Can she be as educated in Scriptures and eloquent in speaking? Yes. But I am reminded of what Paul said “All things are permissible but not all things are beneficial.” I believe that God had a reason for designing that role for a man. It doesn’t make me any less of a woman to allow that role to remain masculine.
I think the bottom line is to love each other in Christ and to not cause division. I hope that you read this as my opinion only, not an argument, or who’s right or wrong. I know that this topic is one that we probably don’t see eye to eye. I appreciate your opinion and I enjoy reading your perspective. Sometimes I disagree, sometimes I am enlightened but in the very end what I see is that you love your Savior, adore your husband, cherish your children and value your friends.
~Andrea
Thank you for your comment and your kind words, Andrea.
I completely understand your perspective on the issue. In fact, I shared it for a long time before I did my senior thesis in college (Go APU!) on women's roles and the Bible.
As to divisiveness, this argument is difficult for me in two ways:
1. Most of us agree that racism is not a "salvation issue," but most of us are convicted to confront it (hopefully with God's love in our tone and words) when we see it. Why would sexism be any different?
2. Comments like Mark Driscoll's in the last post, literally berating and mocking women, seem to be divisive already. So confronting it with a less vitriolic tone seems to me appropriate and not adding to the hate.
Thank you for your thoughts! I'm thinking I might do a little series on this stuff.
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