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Catholic woman in France, lashing
out
10
anger, called the Pope's
statement a "scandal."
An associate professor of theology
at Boston College and a leader
among women in religion said.
when asked if the Pope's pro–
nouncement was unfair to women:
"Asking if the Pope is unfair to
women is like asking if the KKK
[Ku Klux Klan] is unfair to blacks."
She continued to say that the Pope,
at least, did women a favor by
"making the oppressive situation
more obvious."
A New Feminist Theology
Militant feminists in religion are
not satisfied with the gains women
are making within the churches, nor
are they content with settling for
full, equal participation with men in
al! levels of church hierarchy. They
want complete theological rethink–
ing- an out and out feminist theol–
ogy.
Feminists take issue with every–
thing from church canons to church
hymnals for what they call an over
usage of male-gendered words and
philosophy.
Already, the United Church of
Christ has been persuaded by femi–
nist groups to abolish "sexist
phrases" in its official language. A
report recently approved by the
two-million-member church govern–
ing synod calls for widescale altera–
tions in the wording of educational
literature, hymn books, worship ma–
terials, and other documents in or–
der to rid them of "sexual bias."
"Brethren in Christ," for instance,
becomes "kindred in Christ," "man–
kind" becomes "humankind,"
"chairman" becomes "chairperson,"
and the pronoun "he," used generic–
ally to include everyone. becomes
"he or she."
Feminists also take great excep–
tion to marriage ceremonies, which
they claim perpetuates male domi–
nance. They dislike the terms man
and wife. The term "giving away"
the bride also angers feminists. The
38
bride is no one's property and
doesn't become anybody's property,
they say.
One leading feminist within the
Catholic Church went so far as to
say that she envisioned a second
coming of Jesus, this time as a black
female so that our human idea of
God could be complete.
But perhaps the most gutsy issue
of al!, as far as the new feminists
within the. churches are concerned,
is the Bible itself.
They challenge the relevancy, va–
lidity, and the fairness of most of
the Old Testament and much of the
New Testament. Scriptures that per–
tain particularly to women are sin–
gled out for scrutiny and debate.
Are the scriptures pertaining to
women really unfair? ls God him–
self unfair to women? What does
the Bible really say about women?
The Bible and Women
The truth is that God, the Bible,
and true Christianity are solidly on
women's side! Nowhere does the
Bible allow or teach discrimination
against women.
On the contrary, women are held
in great esteem and respect in the
Bible. They are heirs, together with
men. of salvation.
God created women to be ca–
pable, worthwhile members of the
human family. The Bible itself is
replete with accounts of competent,
industrious, reliable women who
served God and humankind.
The accounts of Sarah, Rahab.
Ruth, Deborah, Esther, and many
other women are on record in the
Bible as perpetua! examples of
those who had character, In–
telligence, faith , and loyalty to God.
God nowhere teaches that women
should be treated as non-persons or
second-class human beings. As a
matter of fact, God himself
COM–
MANDS
husbands to give wives
proper respect and honor.
"Likewise, ye husbands, dwell
with them [wives] according to
knowledge, giving honour unto the
wife, as unto the weaker vessel
[physically], and as being heirs to–
gether of the grace of lifc:"
(1
Pet.
3:7).
God's very laws and statutes pro–
tect women from rape, abuse, and
misuse. For example, holding
women up as sex objects, a justified
complaint of feminists , is con–
demned by God in the Bible: "Ye
have heard that it was said by them
of ol.d time, Thou shalt not commit
adu ltery: But
I
say unto you, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after her hath committed adul–
tery with her already in his heart"
(Matthew 5:27-28).
God's law and God's Bible are
not partial. God is not a respecter of
persons (Romans 2: 11), nor is he a
respecter of sexes.
AH members of the human family
have an equal opportunity to be–
come Christians and receive the re–
ward of a Christian, no matter what
their
sex,
race, color, or nationality.
Paul wrote, "There is neither Jew
nor Greek ... bond nor free ...
mate nor fema/e:
for ye are all one
in Christ Jesus. And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the
promise" (Galatians 3:28-29).
But let's understand.
Everything God has created on
this physical earth has purpose and
function. That includes the human
sexes. God made humankind in his
image. He made humankind male
and female. Man and woman were
created as two distinct members of
the same kind, the humankind.
No one can deny that God cre–
ated obvious biological differences
between males and females. Even
the smallest cell in human tissue can
be distinguished under a microscope
as belonging to either a maJe or a
female. Along with the obvious bio–
logical differences between males
and fema les. God gave and in–
tended corresponding differences in
physical strength, emotions, inter–
ests, and psychology.
"The psychological differences
PLAIN TAUTH
January
1974