I just got caught up on the shooting near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus that happened tonight. I'm saddened, really. Just saddened. My prayers are with the victims families.
As I was reading through the thread for #YesAllWomen on Twitter, it was refreshing to hear a united voice against violence toward women. Violence toward women has no place in American society, and it's an abomination in God's eyes.
One thing that troubled me, though, was that some of the tweets indicated that such violence against women is not only tolerated by God and Christianity, but that the putting-under of women is somehow sanctioned by the Bible.
Let me take this opportunity to clarify a few things:
- God loves women, and expects men to do the same
- "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for her . . ." Ephesians 5:25 (NKJV)
- Nowhere in the Bible does it say that men are empowered to lord over women (that scripture everyone quotes says "own husbands", not "all men," and is still misunderstood in context). In fact, men are to love and cherish women as much as they love and cherish themselves.
- God tells men to honor women
- "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them in understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel (in other words, do whatever you can for them because you honor them), and has being heirs together (not one more than the other) of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
- God says specifically that mistreating a woman is grounds for you being cut off from Him.
- God is not afraid of women being in charge and being honored
- A few examples:
- Deborah (Judges 4 and 5) - was leader of Israel and responsible for victory against overwhelming odds
- Esther (book of Esther) - was responsible for saving the Jewish people from a legally-sanctioned one-day massacre
- Rahab (Joshua 2) - prostitute that helped the Israelites take the city of Jericho
- This isn't meant to be a theological article, so I'll just say this: scriptures that are interpreted as demeaning women in the church ignore multiple biblical examples to the contrary.
That being said, please know this: if any Christian tells you that you sinned by being raped, they do not speak for God. If you have been told that you are somehow of lesser value than a man, you've been lied to. If anyone tells you that a woman's job is to be seen and not heard, they're misinformed. This is not what God says, and it is not how the vast majority (and I do mean the vast majority) of Christian churches operate.
Ladies, God loves you, and he values you and treasures you. Don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise.
As for the Christian church, our doors are always open. Come as you are.
