by Tad Lindley
In these last days, people seeking to discredit God have derided Christianity as being oppressive to women. They have cast the church into the role of tyrant, controlling people’s lives. By undermining the word of God and God’s plan for their life, they have given themselves license to sin. What the liberal minds of this world fail to realize is that the reason that women have it so good in the United States and even in agnostic Europe, is because of Jesus Christ.
The first woman
No woman has ever had it so good as the first woman. She was created after the first man. God realized that the man was incomplete without a woman. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Genesis 2:18) In the beginning, they did not have to work to survive and when her time of childbearing would come, it was to be without pain. The woman and her husband lived in close communion with God. Tragically all of that changed when the events of Genesis 3 unfolded.
New Testament view of women
Yes, the Bible teaches us that wives should submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22, Col. 3:18). Yes, the Bible tells women that the man is the head of the woman (I Corinthians 11:3). I make no apology for the word of God. I am not going to sugar coat anything for you. This is the word of God, and if you try to climb over, dig under it, or go around it, you will be disappointed. If you obey it and honor the Lord, you will be happier and have life more abundant.
Better off without the Bible?
If you think that women would be better off without Christianity, you are sadly mistaken. According to United Nations statistics, in this non-Christian world in which we live, women have a hard row to hoe. They
·are over 50% of the world’s population
·do ¾ of the world’s work
·receive 1/10 of the world’s salaries
·and own only 1% of the world’s land
Even in this modern day, women in Islamic nations of North Africa, routinely have their genitals mutilated during infancy to protect them from promiscuity during adulthood. Even in 2016, it is common in some Asian nations for parents to sell their daughters off the farm and into the cities to work as prostitutes.
And how about before Christianity?
The word of God was unique in the ancient world. In other cultures, women were seen as the property of their husbands or their fathers. They could not testify in court, inherit property, or become educated. In Philistia, during Roman times, prostitutes saved their female children to work their trade, casting their male children into the sewers (archaeologists later uncovering disproportionately male infant skeletons in the sewer system). Greek men gave 3 reasons for being glad of who they were. 1) they were not animals, 2) they were not women, and 3) they were not barbarians, thus categorizing women with beasts and heathens.
Meanwhile back in Israel
While women in the pagan world suffered, Hebrew women were never excluded from the worship of God. The Bible honored them as being models of wisdom (Proverbs 31). They were protected by the laws of God. They were not considered property. God pictured Israel as his bride (Isaiah 54).
Jesus elevates women even further
In spite of the high status that Jewish women enjoyed relative to the rest of the ancient world, Jesus brought things to an even higher level. He spoke with women in public, even unclean women, even women whom others considered to be “dogs” (Matthew 15:21-28). He took the time to teach women. He gave them equal rank as daughters of Abraham. He openly ministered to them. He gave them high respect (John 8:11). Women were in his inner circle of friends. Women stood by him as he died on the cross (John 19:25). Women were the first to witness his resurrection (John 20:16)
How about this?
In the New Testament, women were there in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1, 2). Philip had four daughters who were preachers (Acts 21:9) Priscilla is named right alongside her husband, Aquilla as co-laborers for Christ (Acts 18:2-3). In Romans 16:1, Phoebe is described as a deaconess. The house of Mark’s mother was the first church headquarters (Acts 12:12) Lydia was the first convert in Philippi, and her house was the first church there (Acts 16:14).
Finally, the Bible teaches us that in the eyes of Jesus, women and men are equal, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) So the next time someone who is more progressive than you starts knocking down the Kingdom of God for oppressing women, you need to look them squarely in the eye and say, “Friend, you’re tripping. In the entirety of human history, from the day Adam and the woman ate the forbidden fruit, nothing has lifted the plight of women higher than the Old Testament and the New Testament have!”
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
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