Conditions

I am completly amazed with the conditions of women in the Old Testament. Having read the stories more than once I am sad with how common they have become to me. It is hard for me to realize that these were real people who really had to live through these hard times and struggle through these things. It only opened my eyes wider to listen to the list of horrible things done to women during these times. They were not even their own property, they could not make decisions for themsleves or for their children. Everything was left up to the man of the house who could do as he pleased with all his posessions including his wife,children,money,animals, and property. It amazes me that people can be clumped into a catagory filled with things like money, animals, and property possesions. It makes me think that they had no value at all to their husbands. This is such a different concept than what we see in our culture today. Women have rights and are able to make their own decisions everyday many times over. Men listen to the voices of their wives and consider their opinions when making decisions as well. Most decisions are made as a partnership the husband and his wife unlike the Old Testament times when the husband was making all the decisions based his beliefs alone.
After realizing that these struggles were made by real people I then think of those few women mentioned in the bible that stood up to the cultural powers of the time. They went against all the norms and mores in order to do what they needed to for themselves, their families and their people. I often ask myself the question that if I had been in their posisition would I have been strong enough to stand up tall in a world full of male dominance? Would I have enough faith that God would bring me through what he had planned for me in my life? These are questions I will never be able to answer, but it makes me see the blessings that are present in my life everyday. That I am able to have a voice and able to recieve an education things that weren't allowed for women who lived a hundred years ago. I am so thankful to have the privedleges I do today and that I am free to speak the truth in love to all those around me.

Old Testament

Honestly I've thought for a long part of my life I have wanted to be a girl. Let me explain. Walk in to downtown Seattle's H&M store and look at the store map. There you will see 4 floors full of clothing options women could choose. On that map you will also see one floor that lists men's clothing, which is also shared with little boys clothes. Men get about 5/8th of a floor to shop through. Women get 4 floors. I've been quite jealous of that my whole life, leading to my desire to be a girl. Besides that, they also get to watch 'chick flicks' whenever they want, drink nonfat lattes without being looked at oddly by the barista and are free to spend a day in a craft store without being made fun of.
As you might have noticed however, those are all material activities that don't penetrate the heart life any better than a dollar store steak knife. Learning how women were oppressed throughout history was an interesting as well as depressing experience. I use the word interesting to point out that the time in human history was when God (as from what I can tell reading in Scripture) was so close to humanity that He at times would literally talk to them (I could have my understanding of Scripture wrong, but I'm referring to times when God would meet the Founding Fathers and Scripture says they had conversations). But during that time, women were oppressed. God's creation wasn't fully loving one another. How that must of broke God's heart, yet God didn't punish the men, why I don't know.
Perhaps because it stems back to the Fall and the lengthy process of redemption that humanity had to go through. Whatever God's reasoning, there were still sights of love throughout the Old Testament, which was encouraging to learn. I'm still left pondering why certain women were treated with a bit more respect than others (why for instance does Esther elevate to a respected Queen status in Scripture, but little mention of other Queens?). Reading through Luke I noticed so many times when Jesus referred to loving women and respecting them as people, as equals.
I can't wait until we can start applying what we have learned throughout the Old Testament and Scripture into our modern day life. There are so many questions that I am curious about what Jesus would say about our culture now and what each of us would say.

Women in the OT

If you looked at the many things about women we did, you might think oh wow! Terrible! Sarah was right, I'm glad I live in this day and age where women get more respect and are more than property. But what I wonder was did God really want us to be property back then? But then again if it was such a big deal to God, maybe the laws would be different?

Another thing we talked about is the standout women who fought for their rights. Pretty much all of them used their "feminine charm" and bodies to do so. While it was awesome they had the courage to do that, I feel that the methods were not that great. True they had courage, but does it always have to be beauty that speaks to people or can it not be heart? I do admire Abigail, because she just had a heart for the Lord. She was probably the only one (possibly) besides Vashti who didn't use her body or sex to show great favor in God's eyes, and to be an standout.

Are we still property? I feel like society makes us either feel like or not feel like property. I see both in the media. But will we ever fully get rights? I hope we reflect more on this soon!

Bunch of Pillows

Continuing to discuss the Creation stories in Genesis, we again explore what really happen when Sin entered the world. I can't help but imagine how God intended the world to be before Sin came into existence. This mindset is what guides my thinking as we discuss women, men, and God. 
God created humans so that He could have a relationship with it. During this perfect time of creation, God took His creation and ripped a rib out of it to create another creation, a creation that could share a relationship with His first creation. I'm fairly convinced that God created all of this so relationships could happen. From what I can gather, God knew that in order to have a perfect relationship His first creation needed a second creation to be in relationship with. Great, so now we have God and his two creations, which were made to all have a perfect relationship with each other. Perfect.
Then Sin started, which led to blaming and role creation. It made humanity aware of nakedness (not a good thing I might add. Spend a few days at a nude beach and, once you get comfortable, you will understand how amazing it feels to be physically naked and unashamed with others) and caused them to literally hide from God. I learned from a small age that hiding from God isn't good, partly because it's impossible (I still try however, I just don't go to a full extent as I did when I was little. No more getting all the pillows in the house, putting them in a pile, then burying myself in them, hoping the goose filled fabric would hide me from The Almighty). 
Then this whole idea of gender roles entered human thought. On this topic I can't even really write about. I can't deny that men and women are made different. It's scientifically and common sense-ly proven that men and women are different. I don't think though that God intended this to be a bad thing however, I think it was suppose to be an amazing, divine concept of a perfect relationship. The Created just messed it up. 
Now I'm left with the question of what should we do with these gender differences? Maybe God didn't want it to be like this, but there is a lot God didn't want that happened because of Sin. That doesn't mean we just give up though, that's not what God has done. Instead we have strived to be in perfect relation with our Creator again, yet we continue to fail, but continue to strive. If we are striving for perfect relationship, what then are we to do with the difference in gender? Ignore or point out? Work with or set strict guidelines? I don't know.

Challenges.

Each week in class we have had great discussions but I believe that this weeks session was the best. Everyone was involved and participated by sharing their own opinions on how to interpret Genesis chapter three. My mind is always running after class and it compels me to begin deep conversations with my friends and people I look up to in order to find out what I truly believe myself. I am so thankful that we are recieving the privedlege to be challenged in this way in order to figure out where we stand on controversial subjects such as women in the church.

I find it very interesting still that from the same book can come so many different views. That two people can read the same passage and feel that it means different things. This comes from the lenses that we wear when reading the passages but who's to say that the lens you are wearing is the correct lens to be worn? How can someone say to another that their lens is better than the other persons who believes they interpreted something completely different? This is my present struggle; how can there be so much argument over this topic along with so many others when it would only take a new pair of glasses to understand another persons view and where they are coming from. I believe it is important to understand the other side of the conversation before telling someone they are wrong in what they believe, so my goal is to put down my own glasses the rest of this semsester in order to be open to the views of others in this class.

Complimentarian Vs. Egalitarian

In class on Monday we compared the Complimentarian and Egalitarian views of Genesis 3. It seemed that the Complimentarian view was portrayed as the wrong way to asses the meaning of this passage and the Egalitarian view as the right way. I’m not sure I am completely ready to look at it this way. I think it depends on your definition of the two ways of analyzing this passage and in what light they are expressed. Arguments made for the Complementarian view are, the serpent went to Eve because she was weaker, God addresses Adam and not Eve in questioning, and Adam blames Eve possibly as a result of having a different nature. The Egalitarian view points out that Adam does not lead when he has the opportunity, Adam does not try to assume ownership of Eve, and they both had the same rule to not eat the forbidden fruit. My main problem with the Egalitarian argument is that “Adam does not lead when he has the opportunity,” which therefore means that he is obviously not the leader in the relationship and that Adam and Eve embody the same roles equally. I think it is possible that Adam’s lack of leadership was an aspect of the fall. We can all agree that he did not stand up for what he knew was right. I feel that just because Adam did not assume the leadership role in this example does not mean that it was not his responsibility. If the dynamic between man and woman was that he was supposed to be the leader in the relationship (not in an oppressive “I am better than you” way, but in a difference in the roles of men and women) then by Adam not assuming that position, humanity fell. This is exactly what happened. Eve sinned by taking the fruit that she knew was forbidden by God and Adam sinned by not leading his wife out of temptation but by taking part in this act against God with her.

Pot Roast and other pertinent things...

I really enjoyed class tonight, especially the story about the girl and her dad having the same conversation every year about gender roles. We've spent two weeks talking about our lenses, what we bring to the class, our presumptions and opinions, what life was intended to be, what God thinks and on and on. We've done a thorough, albeit quick, study but tonight I felt like what we were discussing came alive in the little anecdote.

I think I've been resistant to discussions or opinions in class because I didn't feel like the way gender roles were intended would affect how I relate to God. But as I listened to discussion unfold tonight and especially the story, the discussions from the past two weeks connect to who I am and they matter. I haven't figured quite how and when they matter, but they do. They matter because I need to have conversations like that girl did with her dad. And they matter because if Satan attacked relationships first because they are the most important thing, then it is important. I need to know where my personal relationship with a sovereign God and many broken people fits into the bigger picture.