"Ladies Please"

Originally posted March 9, 2008

"LADIES PLEASE"

Many liberal woman and men have accused the Word of God of being anti-feminist, especially just recently. This blog is made and dedicated to those that believe that and intended to clear up confusion, if that is the case of the accusations. This will cover three of the main accusations. More can be added later, but if you want to include them the discussion might have to go by comments until I have time to add them to the blog. Let us begin (note that the info was retrieved from the Archaeological Study Bible made by Zondervan unless otherwise indicated.)

Regarding the Creation:

Many woman see the creation of woman from man as anti-feminist. The problem is there is no evidence of this, here is what Adam said:

"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called woman,
for she was taken out of man."
Genesis 2:23

The Hebrew for woman sounds like the Hebrew for man.

Also later in one of the 13 Letters, it says that since woman was created from man she should "have a sign of authority on her head." (1 Corinthians 11:10)

Regarding Deuteronomy 22:29

In that day and age a pregnant woman was completely without recourse or resource. Without a man to support her and provide for her physical needs, she and her child would have no means of survival. Not to mention she would most likely be rejected by the community at large and treated as a social outcast (see Mathew 1:19). Thus when Deuteronomy 22:29 prescribes that an unbetrothed rape victim should become the wife of the man who has violated her, it is not a matter of "a rape victim being forced to marry her attacker." On the contrary, it's a matter of requiring the rapist to take responsibility for his actions, thus giving the woman and her child a future and a hope.



from the words of Dr. Dobson. (from the Rape victim marrying her attacker blog).

Regarding 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

"Paul had already noted that God had gifted women with the capacity to prophesy and pray in public (11:5). So rather than intending to silence woman totally in the church, Paul may have been referring to interfering chatter or to the promotion of false teaching."

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (p. 1879)

"The religious activities of women in the Greco-Roman world spanned a wide range and exhibited enormous diversity. Some mystery cults included ecstatic, orgiastic worship in which women played a prominent role, and priestesses were common in the worship of Greek goddesses. Some religious festivals in Greece were exclusively for women; an example is the Thesmophoria, which honored the goddess Demeter. The Bachae, a play by the Greek poet Euripides (fifth century B.C.), tells of frenzied religious celebration of the god Dionysus by women who followed the cult. Other pagan religions created religious festivals, and fertility cults employed women for the purpose of ritual or sacred prostitution. On the other hand, within Judaism women's access to the inner courts of the Jerusalem temple was restricted, and scholars debate whether the synagogues of the time displayed gender segregation.

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul provided guidelines for orderly worship, including some instructions specifically addressing the activities of women in worship (vv. 33-35). Evidence from Corinth reveals that the city contained several temples to Aphrodite and Apollo, and Paul's readers would have been familiar with these and with other cults that were widespread in the Greco-Roman world."

HUSBANDS AND WIVES:
FAMILY LIFE IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD (p. 1922)

"The Latin phrase pater familias, which means "father of the family," signified the Roman father's place as the head of the family. Roman writers commonly discussed family life in terms of three sets of fundamental relationships: husbands and wives, parents and children, and masters and slaves. This organizational pattern, called the "household code," was strictly hierarchical. By following the code, the patriarch/ householder adhered to the generally accepted, "proper way" to rule his household. In Roman culture people understood the society's structure and stability were rooted in the family's structure and stability. The empire itself was viewed as a great family in which the Roman emperor stood at the top and everyone else had a predetermined, designated place. (a little like today wouldn't you agree?)

Fathers were expected to provide for their families, although mothers often imparted the most direct moral influence on young children. As a son grew up, however, the father would assume primary responsibility for his education and discipline. (also a little like today.)

The Roman mother held a place of high honor in society and was expected to behave with honor and chastity. She handled day-to-day responsibilities of her household, held the household keys and managed any domestic servants. Beginning with the Augustan Age, a Roman woman who had at least three children was free to conduct business on her own. Some Roman women were renowned for their wisdom and virtue. For example, the Roman statesman Cicero read and admired the letters of a famous Roman matron named Cornelia.

Modern Bible students do well to be cautious of popular but false generalizations stating that women and girls, even in the upper echelons of Roman society, were regarded as little more than property, on par with domestic animals, or that Roman men had no love for their wives and daughters. Roman women definitely had fewer legal rights than men, but they and their children (including to some extent their daughters) still had rights and often enjoyed deep affection from their husbands and fathers. Cicero maintained a close relationship with his daughter Tullia and was devastated when she died. Pliny the Younger, another Roman, wrote tender love letters to his wife, Calpurnia.

Greek and Roman epitaphs often record great sorrow and affection for deceased wives and daughters, and epitaphs written for departed husbands are often equally tender. One mourning widow described how she and her husband had been bound by love from the moment they met.

We are unwise to attempt to project attitudes/cultural perspectives onto ancient people simply because their social order was hierarchical or their marriages often arranged.

Paul, in Ephesians 5:25-6:8, not surprisingly assumed a top-down, male-dominated social order. Still, people of the Roman world would not have perceived his injunction that a husband was to love his wife (5:25-33) as contrived, peculiar or revolutionary."