War of the Sexes

Eve: Hello Man of God (MOG)

Adam: Morning Sister, trust it’s well with you.

Eve: Can’t complain, won’t complain. Just struggling with stuff.

Adam: Worry not sister, cast your burden onto Him, He will renew your strength.

Eve: More like He’s cast His burden unto me and it’s pretty heavy.

Adam: How so? The Lord is a very present help in times of trouble,^[1]Psalm 46:1 not the other way round!

Eve: I feel like He’s laid a burden on my heart that I can’t shake off.

Adam: A problem shared is a problem solved. Is there anything I can do to help?

Eve: Hard to tell, MOG – considering you’re part of the burden!

Adam: I reject that. Where are you going with this?

Eve: It’s about my place in the Lord that you’ve all stolen.

Adam: Preposterous! Absurd! In my father’s house, there are many mansions,^[2]John 14:2 enough space for everyone. Who’s putting stuff in your head?

Eve: Famous men of God!  One said that women were not in the original plan of God – like we’re an afterthought!^[3]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Gev_q7LAc Another implied that we have no part in the finished work of Christ!^[4]1Timothy 2:14 How does one even begin to engage with that? It’s as though the Church is one massive manosphere!

Adam: (Smirks) Sister, on the first point, the preacher was simply being scriptural. Genesis 2 tells us God made man and after a while, he considered that the man needed a helper, so he created the woman. That is the word of God. Why is that a problem?

Eves: Here we go – Genesis 2! Why do y’all read the Bible like you’re in a kindergarten. In Genesis 1, the bible records that both man and woman were created on the same day. Genesis 2 is not so much a revision of the previous account, but about purpose, capacity and the thinking that went into creation. Read differently, it would imply the work that God had described as “very good”^[5]Genesis 1:31 was in effect incomplete! That would be a heresy.

Adam: Balderdash! Genesis 2 tells us God put man to sleep, took out a bone and made a woman from that bone! Capacity! (smirks) What capacity?

Eve: The reason God made them male and female in Genesis 1 is because He foreknew that on his own, Adam would be pretty useless.

Adam: “Pretty useless”? A little harsh, wouldn’t you say? “I see that you are in the gall of bitterness…”^[6]Acts 8:23

Eves: Bitterness! Absolutely not! Just putting scripture in proper context. Have you learned Hebrew?

Adam: Now we’re exploring linguistics?

Eve: Do you know the Hebrew word for ‘helper’?

Adam: I’m afraid you’re about to tell me!

Eve: It’s ezer, meaning saviour or protector, as in Eben – ezer. The word is used to describe God 17 times in the Hebrew Bible, mostly in the Psalms^[7]Psalm 121:1-2; 124:8 and the Prophets.^[8]Hosea 13:9 Eve is called ezer kenegedo (help meet), meaning a saviour, deliverer, warrior, protector, provider, suitable for him.

Adam: “You are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”^[9]Acts 26:24 Why would someone to whom God conferred dominion^[10]Genesis 1:26 need a saviour or protector, other than God.

Eve: At a common-sense level, could anyone be bigger, more important, pre-eminent or superior to their helper?

Adam: That’s where you run into a brain wave. Scripture is not a field for common sense logic. It’s a revelation. “Spiritual things are spiritually discerned”.^[11]1 Corinthians 2:14

Eve: And you’ve been ‘discerning’ women out of our places with your patriarchal interpretation of ancient texts for millennia.

Adam: It’s not a question of interpretation. Scripture tells us in plain language: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.  And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.”^[12]1Timothy 2:13-14

Eve: 1Timothy 2 is a proof text that displaces women from the critical role that God gave to them and the salvific work of Jesus Christ. It’s still holding women to a sin that Christ already nailed to the cross. And it does so in a way that implies that only the woman fell into sin. As Job saw it, it’s like Adam hiding his iniquity in his bosom!^[13]Job 31:33

Adam: This is feminist diatribe. I can see your arsenals are limited to provisions in the Old Testament.

Eve: Only because the oracle was committed to the Hebrews. The Greeks were invited to the party millennia afterwards. However, as the dominant culture of the time, they imposed Helenist misogyny on ancient texts and limited women’s role in the church. The ancient Athenian Thucydides once wrote concerning women:

 “The greatest glory [for women] is to be least talked about among men, whether in praise or blame.”^[14]Women in Greece – Wikipedia

The zeal to confront inherited misogyny in the church is the burden the Lord laid on my heart.

Adam: As I said earlier, much learning is driving you mad.

Eve: In the words of St Paul, “I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am”.^[15]Acts 26:29

Adam: Balderdash!