"The Fool" <kands00@hotmail.com>

Re: Women and Men Equal

You've heard the phrase that God didn't make woman from the foot to be
under man, didn't make her from his head to be over man, but made her
from his side to be beside man. Well, that's the point of this post.
I think I've been adequately bothering the liberals lately, and this
post should equally rock the conservatives (being fair means I end up
losing all support I guess). The point of this post is that God made
woman equal to man.

That statment has already got the bile of many rising, but I believe it
cannot be seen otherwise, if you believe scripture. Wait, you say.
I'm USING scripture to say this? Yes. Consider..

After Adam and Eve ate the fruit in Eden, God went around telling the
punishment upon the serpent, upon man, and upon Eve. When he got to
Eve, He said..

"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

Did you notice it? The last part says that part of woman's punishment
would be that man would rule over them. What does this say for before
the punishment? It says that before her sin, she was EQUAL to man.
Otherwise, including that in the punishment would make no sense.

In fact, Paul backs this up to a degree. In 1 Timothy 2:12-14, Paul
says that women are under men because they were first deceived by
Satan. Thus, he also is saying they were equal at the start. However,
Paul starts this section by saying," I will therefore..." 1 Tim 2:8,
indicating a personal opinion, not the word of the Lord. Similarly, in
1 Cor 14:34-35 it also appears that he is saying women should be
subject. Yet, verse 36 shows that he is not saying that himself but
is, instead, rebuking that notion from others.

Consider this. If Adam and Eve received their punishment because of
sin, and through Christ we are freed from sin, why do we continue to
impose subjection to man (Eve's punishment for sin) upon women? If
women are free in Christ, why are they still being held by men to be
under the penalty of sin?

Now, that doesn't mean they are without subjection. What it means,
instead, is that women are subject to God equally with man. Both man
and woman report to God directly. Both will answer to God for their
responsibilities. Both will be co-heirs with Christ to rule upon
resurrection, if they stay subject to God. When a woman is subject to
man, she can blame man before God. If a woman is equal with man, she
must answer for herself, so it isn't a licenses to sin but a harsher
judgement.

I will stop here to let the words have their impact and allow for the
expected reaction to the words. However, keep in mind that I am just a
fool and could certainly be wrong.

Hello,

It is never 'foolish' to try to understand the Bible.

You make some interesting points, but let's look at the Bible a little
closer.

First of all, your reference that Eve must have been equal to Adam
before they both sinned. If that was to be the case, one would have
expected God to have created Eve directly from the "dust" (ground),
just as He created Adam. (Ge 2:7) But God created Eve FROM ADAM,
implying man to be the dominate one in the relationship.

Also, notice carefully the wording of when God was going to make Eve.
Ge 2:18,

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will
make a helper suitable for him."" (NIV)

Notice she was created "for him"; for the man, thus showing the man's
headship in that relationship. Many other popular translations also
use that phrase "for him".