Sunday, March 2, 2014

God is Sexist? AKA, Woman = Human

    1 Corinthians 11:7 says, "Man is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man."
    To be honest, I have a problem with this.
    There's a part of me that's like, you're just prideful and want to follow YOUR way, not God's way!
    But there's also a part of me that is like, this goes against everything I know about God.
    Genesis 1:27 says "God made man in His image, male and female He created them." Does this not imply that we can both glorify God?
    Explanations, even on the ever-handy Google, are sparse. So far, the most lovely explanations I've read compare women to cakes made "for" men that "serve no particular use on their own" (News flash: I am not a cake), or claimed that as a woman, I was made to serve men, because I can glorify God so much better with a husband than alone (1 Corinthians 7:8, anyone?). I should also mention that in these articles, women were referred to as "beings," "cakes," and "wives." Note what's missing?
    Let me say this, loud and clear:
    Woman = Human. Man = Human.
    Now that we're clear on the maths, here comes my real question:
    Is God sexist?
    Eh, as previously stated in this post, Genesis would imply no. Also, Galatians 3:28 says "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Not to mention that "there is no partiality in love." Since "God is love," He cannot be partial to men. Plus, given my own interactions with God, I'm pretty sure the answer is no.
    Also, I've been informed that, in Genesis 1, Adam is described as man in the androgynous sense; in other words, human but not male. When Eve is created, Adam is only then described as male. So I suppose it's possible that something has been lost in translation.
    So, is Paul sexist?
    I don't know. I didn't know Paul. It's possible, but I'm not exactly comfortable labeling Paul sexist when it means, by extension, labeling a book the church has agreed is inspired by God as sexist, too. Not to mention he also wrote Galatians, in which he affirms our equality in God.
    So: anyone else got an explanation? 'Cause I'm at a loss. (Hence the unusual amount of snark and less poetic writing in this post). I feel like I must be missing something here, because, like all of us, I'm just a flawed human with limited understanding.

Love,
A Very Confused Kelley

P.S. - I wore leggings twice in the last week! Progress is real!

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