The Book of Isaiah

Chapter 1 V.1 Part 3.4

Paul & the Female Controversy 1

Now, considering that it’s been a good two weeks since I was posting on this subject, I’m going to go back a bit to come forward, and repeat a few poignant points. This section is revolving around the issue of Asherah and the reasons for the worship of her in the “high places,” as referenced in the reason that Isaiah had his prophesy for the four kings.

The truth of God…the freedom in God was not being given or shown to be for women. Why?

God told Eve she had to be submitted to her husband, but my point is this: All of this has eventually snowballed into the women’s movement we know of today and throughout history. The only reason that women were able to step out into extremism in this arena is because of the lack of balance in viewing this Genesis story, and the place or position of women by men who rule over all; and because men have done what Adam did, and acquiesced on some level-giving women the lead then turning and accusing women because of their own weakness.

While prideful men in the church wish to claim the fall as the result of an act of Eve’s in usurping her husband, what we do know is that the serpent’s intent was to cause just such a situation of accusation between males and females. The question in my mind is…at that stage of creation…when there was no “war between the sexes,” why would the woman want to usurp her husband? This is the theology of the church as a whole, laying the blame for the fall on Eve. What reason would she have? I don’t see any. They were completely free in the garden. She had just been given to him. It seems she didn’t even know she was to acquiesce to him. I mean think about it…everything was innocence in the garden. They didn’t even know they had a sinful nature until this situation occurred, and then…how would they even know how to deal with that side of their personage? They were babes! Babes learn through trial and error.

Perhaps that is the reason for the judgment God gave Eve…so that she could understand her role and truly come along side her husband as his helper, not his/the ruler of their relationship; and certainly not as a punishment for trying to “assert herself over her husband” as we’ve been led to believe for years. I think the actual punishment was pain in childbirth, and I’m sure the ladies would agree with me.

But look how often God had to teach the children of Israel, via discomfort/pain/defeat that He was the only one they were to follow. Look how often He had to cast judgment on them for their disobedience and idolatry. Because it’s the end result of a training exercise, and in order to advance to the next level of growth, one must “pass the test.” If one fails the testing/proving, then judgment occurs to teach us. Pain is one of the best teachers around.

I don’t think God intended women to be subjugated in everything, nor prohibited from utilizing God given gifts for ministry as a result, particularly because this “fall” was already in the plans of God.

Does this sound like God? “I have chosen you out from the nations…out of many, I chose you, because I love you. You are special to me and I am going to send you forth into the fields to the harvest. I have endowed you with exactly the gifts you need to do my will and walk in my way. My Son did great things…miracles on the earth, and just as He told His followers, ‘You shall do greater things than these.’ Arise and go forth! Oh wait a minute! You’re the wrong gender. I can’t use you in this manner. My bad!”

God never intended for His church to be divided by a battle between the sexes. In fact, He authorized female leaders even in the Old Testament. Deborah was one such leader, and she not only led the army to victory, but the nation. She was one of the Judges. Not only was she a leader and judge of the nation, but she was also married, and God was with her.

In addition, Ruth and the women were the ones gleaning in the fields. Jesus mentions a harvest, and scripture clearly shows women in the fields gleaning the harvest. I realize there were reapers, but the women were still a valued part of the harvesting process, right there in the field. It almost looks like they were (in bowling terms) picking up the spares, or the ones that missed it the first time around. But the point is, they were still there in the fields of harvest, and it doesn’t indicate that they were picking a separate type of grain or crop. It was exactly the same field of harvest…no distinctions.

Clearly, this is a foreshadowing of what is also supposed to be in the New Testament, as the Old Testament foreshadows the New. This is why I know that Paul was not biased against women as portrayed by some. He was addressing a particular problem in Ephesus and in Corinth because Ephesus was the capital of these pagan gods at that time, the Greek versions…and there were many of them; and Corinth was a center for the commercialization of pagan worship. He was addressing an extreme situation.

Now, to give you an idea of the extreme problems Paul was dealing with, I went to the library, and looked for books on Paul. One book I found, “Paul, The Mind of the Apostle,” by A. N. Wilson, gives the information that will be in the next post. I consulted three different books as sources of the information I found, which is part of the reason I haven’t posted on this for a bit…research. I will put this information out here and let you, the reader, formulate your own perceptions and opinions from it, but I definitely do not discourage your comments and discussion on the subject.