Hi everyone, today as I was going through my daily devotional introduced by Christian authors I came across this writer who speaks a lot about how God doesn’t leave anyone behind. All His creations are important to Him.
And then this author brought me to read the book of Luke (which was, believe it or not, one of the first books I approached before I was even a believer) and came across this block of verses.
Luke 10:38-39
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
When I was reading the book of Luke, I didn’t detect anything unusual as we are living in the 21st century, education is already starting to have wide availability for girls as much for boys; but the author reminded me in his book Jesus and Women: Mary, Mary that at that time, it was not common at all for a woman to sit so close to a Jewish teacher to listen the word of God.
By the way, during the first century, the word of God was education to the Jewish people.
And during the first century lifestyle the Jewish women’s main task were on family oriented tasks like house chores and work (like gleaning the fields in the book of Ruth); and even in the book of Esther she was only taught by her uncle and not in the synagogue in BC.
So for Jesus to (kindly) correct Martha that Mary chose the right decision to learn from the Son of Man (God the Son), wasn’t that a way saying He is disagreeing the status quo back then and entitled even females to have equal rights to education?
Wouldn’t that make him one of the first Feminist in the world history of the first century?
So is there any reason for feminist activist (who embraced non religion) to reject the idea that Christianity faith is anti a lot of human rights?
At least this is what the mainstream media is kind of painting it, that conservatism especially in faith (Christianity particularly these days) are somewhat intolerant.
Maybe some man made “refined” Christianity have imposed a lot of “lifestyle sanctions” that Jesus Himself first resolved.
Because what I know some of the Christian faith followers still applies the age old concept of Women are not Leaders, Women should not be in the same church settings as men, and Women are somehow treated slightly lower than men; but the Apostle Paul himself also stated in 1 Corinthians (and other of his epistles) about the Women’s unique abilities and their roles in the House of God.
So, God, to me, is not a woman hater. He is a feminist! (in the correct definition, not the recent skewed facts widely emotionally expressed by unusual individuals)
It seems to me that God was always trying to bring equality to people in the Bible. It sometimes doesn't look like it to us as moderns, but a lot of the laws in the Old Testament about women were actually groundbreaking laws protecting women's rights. The problem is, people were so backward and violent back in those days that God was forced to make changes a little at a time.
It's not until Jesus comes on the scene that we learn God's true heart. Jesus loves everyone. Lots of Jesus' original followers were women, and they traveled with Him and supported Him. (Luke 8)
Paul also thought Jesus was teaching equality.
I think all the stuff about women being in leadership and separated etc. is nothing more than people taking Paul's letters as prescription for all Christianity and not pastoral letters addressing specific communities dealing with real issues in their lives. If you think about Paul's letters as responses to issues the churches were having, then you can leave some room for things going on in the background we don't know about. It also allows you to consider that there were cultural considerations that would have had an impact on Paul's prescriptions that just aren't applicable to us today.
Thanks for the addition information @garthfreeman , but interestingly to say about what you mentioned in your statement:
I agree. Secular humanism claims all "progress" for itself and blames everything on religion, especially Christianity. But if you see what people did outside of where God revealed Himself to people, through Judaism and Christianity, their beliefs were confused and spiritually lost. Such as living women having to be burned to death with their husbands in India. And on the treatment of women, I'm amazed after all I'd heard before reading the Bible at how equally women are regarded. It was comforting to me as a woman myself. They can be just as faithful - or if they choose to be, just as faithless - as the men. And a faithful woman is as praised as a faithful man. In the world outside of Israel, though, women were chattel. I remember reading that one of the famous Greek philosophers said something like that a mistress was for having conversations with because a wife wasn't, she was more of a slave and inferior. I believe when you really study things without prejudice, then of course God is perfectly just and treats women equally to men. God bless.
Totally agree @doule . A lot of people tend to take verses out of context to either justify their selfish ill will, or to criticise the Gospel and the faith of born again believers, also for their selfish ill benefit to justify what they think best.
I just wish those who are brainwashed will read things in context and stop blaming faith for almost everything.
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting! Truly appreciated! upvoted your reply!
You're welcome! Thanks for your reply. I upvoted it. It's very hard to listen to unbelievers but it's like God's Word says. People who aren't believers don't understand it, and they've been taken captive by Satan to do his will and aren't listening to God and are hostile to everything about Him. We, though, can see they're getting God all wrong.
Yes, and those who have eyes to see and those who have ears to hear, let them be known to the wisdom of God. :)
It is hard, I totally agree. I have to ask God to keep renewing my heart daily so that I can understand how He feels... the rejection and the betrayal of His heart from His own creation (mankind)... is sometimes so hard to swallow.
Man and woman have different roles. Woman's role is to care for the house and for the children and man's role is to provide resources. Actually the woman's role is more important. The man's role is to provide means to fulfill the woman's role.
A few decades ago, 90% of the jobs were laborious work reserved to men. Woman were actually protected from these kind of arduous work.
Feminism helped to mislead women to not carry God's will for them to build a family, have children and raise them and perverted it into just work for selfish goals. Actually, it is a political movement which aims to weaken the foundations of Family and Christianity itself as these entities represents a treat against the absolutism of the State. I would be offended if you called me a Feminist.
You could be right in that manner @deixadilson when Feminism has been distorted to that manner. When it was first introduced, what I understood is just to honour the hard work the women put into (from family caring to even holding up a job to help feed the family)
2,000 years ago (and even during the Old Testament) the women had to both work and cared for the family, while if you read properly at the old testament time (I didn't say it is right kind of lifestyle), the men did nothing but sat at the gates of the city.
(This can be read through the book of Ruth)
So, in many ways, you are totally right, and I totally agree with you, woman have more vital roles than a man; or more to say that both roles are equally important, just than the unfortunate twisted mankind society throughout centuries have been again and again distort this important fact set by God.
Wouldn't you agree?
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