God Loves Women Part II

Well, apparently God loves women, but His men cannot see past the ends of their noses to get that.  Okay, not all men, men of faith... Alright, alright; just a few men of faith.  But believing that women cannot lead the church? That's downright backwards.  One of the reasons that I wrote the previous blog was because I believe in women's rights and female empowerment. As a society as humans, we are all together, we are all connected to each other, so therefore, we are inherently equal. We are all capable of understanding our world, and being that I do believe in God, I am capable of understanding Him or Her (covering all my bases here) to the best of my ability.

So, one of my co-workers, and yes he is a reader and I don't really care that he can will read this (sorry dude), told me this:

1. When women preach the gospel, they gain three followers.
2. When children preach the good news, they gain ten followers.
3. A man can gain one hundred.

What I loved about this argument was the hesitation in his voice when he said one hundred. Puh-leez! He then asked me how many times I read the Bible a week. I read the passages that my Pastor assigns several times and in about 5 different variations.  My co-worker proceeded to let me know that if I didn't read the Bible at least 4 times a week, I wouldn't get anything out of the message. Double puh-leez! If you ask me, this was a feeble attempt to show his superiority as a man. Blah.  As a woman, I am able to have children, I am able to give life to another human.  So women are by far the superior sex! Don't try to argue it, I'm just right on this one.

I feel I need to take a minute here to explain how I approach the readings I do every week.

1. I read the scripture
2. I do historical research on what was happening in the world around the time that book was written.
3. I research journal articles that basically dissect the scripture and give in depth meaning to them.
4. I read several different sermons or interpretations of the text.
5. I re-read the scripture, which now has more meaning to me because I know what it's about.
6. I keep in mind that the Bible was essentially written by man.

Number 5 can be a taboo subject with the Bible Beaters.  It creates a lot of arguments and accusations, "If you were truly faithful, you would accept the Bible as the word of God." First of all, nobody can determine my faithfulness for me, I do.  And second, I do accept it as the Word of God, but written by the hand of (wo)man. Anything that goes through human hands is apt to be fallible. This is why I use caution when consulting the Bible.  I am a historian, I look for the closest thing to truth that I can. Historians dig, they analyze, they compare. I'm not saying that I am right, but I think I put a lot of effort into understanding the scriptures.

When I am able to understand better, I am able to convey the message better. And being educated about something you believe in, is more powerful than just saying, "the Bible says this." It's too vague, it's too interpreted, it has been translated to the point where some meanings of words have changed over time. It is important to challenge oneself to find historical studies of the era in which these scriptures are set. I think being that I do this, allows me to gain more followers... more than three anyway.

Like Patrick said, women are open to new things more than men... and studying allows me to further understand what I have opened my heart and my brain to.

Peace!