God and Women

[Dristann's Girl]

My thoughts. Discuss.

Women: A Portrayal of Blessings and Cursings in the Bible


Many people view the Bible as having a very low opinion of women; however, the Bible contains signs, even if they are subtler, that it does indeed hold women to be just as important as men. I have come to discover in my studies that women are used to represent a common theme in the Bible, that of blessings and cursings. But an even deeper variation of this theme is that women are used to represent sin versus redemption, the right path versus the wrong path, the way to salvation versus the way to damnation. As this is probably the most important topic overall in the Bible, this shows that women were indeed important to the writers of the Bible.

An article by Voula Papas found on the website of the Atheist Foundation of Australia states the very concept that I am arguing against, declaring that, “Any honest, thinking person reading through the Bible cannot ignore the blatant misogyny and barbarity towards women. The eminent 'men of God’ who wrote the bible were the product of patriarchal, tribal, violent, intolerant, monotheistic society.”

One of the specific things Papas argues is that because all the animals were created together as male and female, but because woman was created after man, that this shows that from the beginning, women were thought of as inferior in the Bible, but not so in my opinion. When God creates Eve, He says it is because it is not good for man to be alone and that man needs a helpmate, a companion. By waiting to create Eve, God shows her importance; He shows that man could not do it alone, that woman holds a very important position in being man’s companion. He waits to create Eve to show Adam just how important she is to be to him.

As one reads further into Genesis, Papas’ general statements of the inferiority of women are further shot down. In Genesis, chapter 3, the serpent convinces Eve to eat of the Tree, going against God’s one commandment. God first addresses her sin; she is the bringer of sin into the world, and so she must bring children into the world with pain and suffering. Also, because of her sin, all men are condemned to die, and, as mentioned later in the Bible, spend an eternity in damnation if they do not accept God as their god. According to Papas, these verses show the Bible’s inferior attitude towards women, stating that Adam is “exonerated from sin,” while Eve is punished. Not so; Adam IS punished, though Eve’s punishment may seem greater.

However, in the same breath, God grants to Eve one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon a woman in the Bible. Even though she brought sin into the world, even so, she will bring into the world a way of redemption, of saving people from that sin and the eternal death that that sin links them to. Verse fifteen says that while the serpent, who embodies Satan, shall bruise the heel of her seed, the seed’s heel shall bruise the serpent’s head. This is thought by many Christians to be the first prophecy of the coming of Christ. So Eve is granted the blessing of knowing that one of her descendants will be the Messiah and will overthrow Satan and all sin.

This pattern as seen in the story of Eve is very closely linked to the story in Proverbs about the wise woman and the strange, or sinful, woman.

Even as Eve is given an extremely huge and powerfully important blessing, even so, the concept of Wisdom is portrayed as a woman. Proverbs 8:22 tells us that Wisdom was created before the earth was, and so Wisdom was there at the very beginning of time with God, again showing that women obviously held some importance other than just child-bearing when the writings in the Bible were created.

In the last chapter of Proverbs, Wisdom is seen as the Wise Wife. This example is different from that of Wisdom because although the writer uses a woman to teach about humility, diligence, and other characteristics we are to take on, the writer says that not only will we win God’s favor and righteousness, but we will also be blessed while on the Earth, given praise by others. This interesting passage uses women not only to show the way to spiritual blessing, but material blessing as well, and how to live a fulfilled life while on Earth.

Again in Proverbs, as in Genesis, the woman is portrayed not only as the way to salvation, but also as the way to destruction, but even this narrative of the strange woman does not need to be seen as a way of looking down on women, but as a means of instruction, for the book of Proverbs provides clear warning as to what will happen to the person who follows the strange woman, who of course represents Folly or Foolishness. You could apply this view of the writers of the Bible using women as a way of teaching or instructing to the story of Eve as well. Eve’s story teaches readers that if they obey God, they will be blessed, and if they do not, there will be consequences, just as the story of the Wisdom and Folly teaches that being wise leads to reward while being Foolish leads to destruction. So even when women appear to be portrayed as bad people such as Folly, they are also good in the sense that they are teaching readers how to live, how to improve their lives, what not to do if they want to have a blessed life. Perhaps the writers could’ve meant it this way, could’ve considered it an honor for women not only to use them to teach man what to do, as with Wisdom, but what not to do, as with Folly. It is certainly not seen from the text itself that the writers of the Bible considered women only evil when you think about it this way, and also when you think about the balance. Papas does not consider this delicate balance in his own writings; he merely refers to verses quoting the strange or wicked woman and uses this poor argument to again declare how inferior the Bible views women; as you can see, a closer reading proves just the opposite.

It can also be said that the relationship between Wisdom and Folly, just as the relationship of the blessing and curse that Eve was faced with, balance each other out, so that you can’t really read the text and say that the writers of the Bible meant to portray women as only inferior and unimportant and sinful. If one looks at the coherent whole as one reads the texts, one begins to notice these patterns that women are used in throughout the Bible.
Chasmira1060
Golden Healer



Posts: 87
Join date: 2009-04-13

[Ultima22689]

I'm really interested in reading your post but could you please do me a favor and break it into 3-4 different paragraphs so it can be read easier? As is, it hurts my eyes, no offense or anything, just need to be able to read it easier.

[Sheeplauncher]

i second that

[Recusant]

Women: A Portrayal of Blessings and Cursings in the Bible

You make an interesting point with this essay/post, and what's more, your prose is not too bad.

 

...the Bible contains signs, even if they are subtler, that it does indeed hold women to be just as important as men.

True, perhaps.  However, these "subtle signs" are often lost on those who believe in the bible.  They're easily missed whereas the much less subtle misogyny evident throughout the bible is hard to miss.  Apparently, one needs to carefully read and think about the passages you mention to come to the conclusion that they place a high value on the contributions of women. (I'm not sure I agree with your conclusions regarding the significance of those passages, by the way.)  If the bible really was positive, or even neutral on the subject of women, I think this would be readily apparent rather than only evident in the subtle interpretation of some carefully chosen passages.  On the other hand, as I said above, it isn't hard at all to find pretty clear misogynistic themes running all through the bible.  There is a good reason for this.  The bible was written by men who lived in a strongly patriarchal society, as noted by Papas; one in which women were regarded basically as chattel. It would be very surprising if they had written other than as they did about women.  I admire your attempt to refute this fact, but in my opinion, you do not succeed.

 

He waits to create Eve to show Adam just how important she is to be to him.

In your analysis of the supposed order in which YHVH creates Adam and Eve, you say that YHVH shows Eve's importance by creating her after Adam.  Really?  Is Adam so dunderheaded that he won't understand Eve's value unless it's shown to him by the creator?  I think rather that what's being shown here is Adam's seniority in the partnership.  Equals would have been created at the same time. As it is, Eve is clearly the junior partner here, with all that entails.

 

...the concept of Wisdom is portrayed as a woman.

In Proverbs 8, wisdom is given a female pronoun, but that does not at all mean that wisdom is a woman.  In fact, wisdom existed, according to these passages, well before women did, so "she" cannot be a woman. Is a ship (commonly referred to as "she") a woman?

 

In the last chapter of Proverbs, Wisdom is seen as the Wise Wife.

In Proverbs 31, I never see any reference to "wisdom" at all.  Basically it seems to be about how a hard-working woman is hard to find.  It describes many qualities found in this hard-working woman, which make her a valuable person to have around.  No doubt the men who've heard this passage down through the ages nodded their heads sagely when it was read, and cast meaningful glances at their wives.  Maybe you're more subtle than I, but to me this just sounds like a literal laundry list of the duties of a good wife.

 

...the strange woman, who of course represents Folly or Foolishness.

If you say so.  However, it sounds to me like the writer in Proverbs 2 is simply warning against the dangers of consorting with strange women. If anything, this "strange woman" seems to represent wickedness.  Wickedness may be the result of folly, but they are not the same thing.  Either way, you seem to be making an unjustified leap of interpretation here.

 

If one looks at the coherent whole as one reads the texts...

I have indeed read the bible, some of the passages many times.  Overall, my impression has been that women are second class citizens in the biblical view, at best.  May I suggest this page from the Skeptic's Annotated Bible for a comprehensive exposition of the biblical view of women. I don't think it's going to change your mind on this subject, but it might give you some food for thought.

[Dristann's Girl]

Thanks for your insight. I will have to check out the article. And thanks too for the compliment on my writing. I wrote this for class, so it might look a little better than some of my thrown-together blurbs.

[Tanker]

Are you sure that you wrote this? The following quote makes me think it was copy and pasted.

Posts: 87
Join date: 2009-04-13

After all if you are the original writer why would you need to copy and paste fom another forum, somthing that you should have already have saved on you own computer.

[Recusant]

Are you sure that you wrote this?

I hadn't thought of that.  I guess I'm not sufficiently suspicious.   :raised:

(By the way, I've delivered a pile of ikolium to your territory.  What's in it for me?  The reflected glory of Emperor Tankerguy?)

[McQ]

Easy folks. No reason to make accusations. I researched Dristann'sGirl too. Let's go with the benefit of doubt for now. I don't think that immediately jumping on every believer that posts here is any way to open a dialogue.

To Dristann'sGirl, please take a moment to read over the forum rules and familiarize yourself with out issues on potential spamming and trolling.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1522
 
You did give some of us the appearance of coming in as an advertiser for your blog and books. That is why you received a less than cordial welcome from some of the members here. If you have any questions about the forum or anything, just ask.

[Sophus]

Women represent blessings and curses. True. Women have always had power over men.

But there are still awful statements in the Bible giving men power over women that are, in some (if not many) cases, taken to heart today by Christians. I remember a few women who wanted to become preachers, elders or be in a teaching/leadership position of some sort and they were shot down in flames. By today's standards that sexism.