Feminism… Thoughts. 14! (Finale)

Hello, everyone, I trust y’all are doing great! Let’s continue where we left off on feminism.  If you haven’t read the prequels, please do. Let’s delve right into it.

My Thoughts! (Feminism)

First off, I like to state a couple of things; I am Christian, and as such, my perspective with regard to the entire feminism ideology is contingent upon sacred Scripture. Secondly, I’ll be writing mainly in the context of marriage and family as well as adding a little context of the church as a community, because these are the nucleus that form the basis of our Christ-like living in the society. Marriage and family are the foundation upon which other institutions are built. Alright! Here we go!

I think a number of things are wrong with the feminist movement but I’ll list only a few in this article:

Feminism is a Violation of the Created Order: This is because by nature men and women are of the same essence but have different roles or functions. Most feminists think the idea of men being the head and them having to submit is by its very nature oppressive… And I get that in some cultures, this idea of men being the head has been perverted and tilted into oppression and toxicity.

Apparently, those in such cultures have a warped view of headship and should be taught right. However, it is utterly wrong to assert that because a few people have an askew view of a concept, it is, therefore, wrong in and of itself, and as such that jinxes the entire ideology of male headship. Just because an ideology or a truth is being done wrong doesn’t make it wrong in and of itself. Hence, Male Headship is not oppressive.

It is not about value or importance but order and function. Male Headship does not affirm chauvinism. it is not like God thinks men are more important than women and so they have to be the head and women have to submit to them. No! There’s an axiom that goes anything with two heads is a monster. A woman (wife) must be submissive to her husband and allow him to lead. This is, of course, in the family, and we know that the family is the smallest nucleus of society. It’s about order! Just as it is inconceivable and illogical to have two functioning captains on a ship, it is a freak to have a woman perform the role of a man and vice versa, whether in the family, church, community or society. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, “The head of the man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God (the Father)”. What’s fascinating about Paul’s assertion is if it is about value and not about order, it essentially means that the Father (God) is more valuable or more important than the Son (God/Christ) in essence. Nothing can be further from the truth. It is about order and not value. Feminism is a massive violation of the created order.

Secondly, the Feminist Movement Assumes Male Headship as a Social Construct When, in fact, it is God who made it so from the Beginning: Male Headship otherwise known as the patriarchy is not a social construct. I understand that it has been largely misunderstood and practiced wrong, but again, just because an ideology is misunderstood and practiced wrong doesn’t discredit it in its pristine nature or as it is to be practiced. We can safely infer from sacred Scripture that men are to lead their homes and even in the churches or ecumenical communities… Ladies are to submit not to lead. See Ephesians 5:21-32, Proverbs 31, and Titus 2. Some people think that Male Headship is an ideology formulated by a group of men somewhere sometime around the 1800s, some think it was formulated by some men before then. Absolutely wrong!

Male Headship has been from the beginning. We see this in the book of Genesis. Part of the problem of the fall, I believe, was that of order alongside unbelief. In Genesis 3, the serpent came to Eve and convinced her to eat the fruit, Eve convinced Adam to do the same (although he wasn’t deceived), after which sin entered the world. It was about order. This is why in the book of Romans 5:12, Paul asserts, “Through one man, sin came into the world, and death through sin”. Notice he didn’t say through one “couple”, he said through one man. Sin came into the world through Adam and through Adam alone, why’s that? You may ask! This is because Adam had headship. The man is the head, not the man and woman., but the man.

The problem of the fall was the order alongside unbelief. Here’s the order before the fall; God – man – woman – beasts and all created things. But this was flipped in the fall. The beast/serpent tempts and convinces the woman, thus, exercising dominion over her – the woman tempts and convinces the man, thus, exercising dominion over him, and the man eats because he couldn’t live without her as well as disbelieving God. They flipped the order completely. It was a total pitchpole and everything went downhill from then; sparking the decline and disintegration of humankind. If such flip could cause such catastrophe then, it certainly can now!

It has been ordained for the man to be the head of the woman right from the very beginning. This essentially means that the concept of Male Headship is not a social construct, it has been ordained by God from the inception of the world.

It Blasphemes the Illustration of Marriage: This is especially true when we understand the illustration of Christ and His bride (the Church). Marriage is an illustration of the relationship of Christ and His bride (the Church). See Ephesians 5:20-33. To say the male shouldn’t lead as the head of the institution of marriage is to blaspheme the illustration of marriage. Based off that, we can infer that feminism is an attempt to corrupt the purpose of the created order which, in turn, is an attempt to corrupt marriage itself as well as the world at large. Now, this could be innocently or whatnot, nonetheless, this is what the feminist movement attempts to do.

What Headship and Submission is and is not!

When feminists think about headship, they think dominance, autocracy, or one person having all control, and when they think about submission, they think weakness, timidity, or losing the sense of self to follow someone else, but Jesus came to display both of these things perfectly and when He did, He showed us there is great sacrifice and great vulnerability in both of them.

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, commands husbands to love their wives like Christ loved His bride (the Church) and gave Himself up for her. Here’s the catch! Notice how Christ led His bride (the Church) with love before the Church loved Him back and when the church failed Him. This shows us that God is not calling the husband to be domineering in his marriage, but He is challenging us to be more like Him, even in those moments when our wives fail and/or reject us. See Ephesians 5!

Submission, especially in our current world, can be pretty scary, however, know that Christ-like leadership is just as vulnerable. Also, notice that Jesus never lost His voice, neither did He lose His identity when He submitted perfectly to the will of the Father.

Why is this such a Big Deal??

Well, as John McArthur said, this is, because it is such a far-reaching, vast rebellion against the Word of God.

In the beginning, back in the garden of Eden (See Genesis 3), Adam and Eve, created in the garden, innocent. Eve comes out from under the protection of Adam and has an encounter with the serpent. She is seduced, and deceived; she sins. Adam follows up, sins; the whole human race is catapulted into corruption. So, the Lord curses the participants in that. The serpent is cursed in chapter 3, verses 13, 14, and 15. The man is cursed in verses 17, 18, and 19. But the woman is cursed in verse 16. Here’s the lacuna —  to the woman, God said, this is the curse of the Fall “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain, you will bring forth children, yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you”

It is imperative to establish the fact that pain is universal. Every woman who ever has a child has pain. That’s universal. That’s the curse. That’s the first half of it. But the second half is equally universal — “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you”.

The desire in this context is not a sexual desire, because the physical sexual desire was there before the fall, when God created Adam and Eve, He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth”, i.e, go have babies.” What leads to babies is desire. There’s nothing wrong with a woman desiring her husband in that way.

The point is there’s a curse on the woman and the curse is that she has a desire for her husband, and he has to rule over her. If a woman has a sexual desire for her husband, that doesn’t lead to him ruling over her, that leads to a joining in an act of love that produces a child. Sexual attraction and marital love is not a curse. But whatever desire it is that was spoken of in Genesis 3 is, it’s a bad thing and it leads to conflict.

Well, the answer resides chapter 4. This particular phrase is only used twice in the Pentateuch and in the Old Testament, and here is a second one. The Lord said to Cain in chapter 4, “Why are you angry?” Cain, you remember, offered an unacceptable sacrifice to God. “Why are you so angry? Why is your face so fallen? If you did well, if you did the right thing, would not your countenance be lifted up? If you had obeyed and offered the right kind of sacrifice, you wouldn’t have this issue. And if you do not do well,” – here’s why – “sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” It’s the exact same expression as in chapter 3. Here it’s “sin desiring to have you, and you must master it.” That is exactly what is meant in chapter 3, verse 16, “Sinful desire to dominate your husband, and he is going to have to exercise rule over you.”

As a result of the Fall, woman bears a curse in two areas. One, and it’s ubiquitous: pain in childbearing. Secondly, a desire, because of her fallen heart, to upset the divine order of authority and submission, and to want to dominate her husband. This is the universal reality in marriage to one degree or another. The woman will desire to control, the man will have to rule over her. That’s as universal as pain in childbearing. It refers to a desire, a sinful desire to control. This is why there is constantly the effort of women to overthrow the authority of their husbands, or the authority of men in the culture. There’s an innate desire in them for such.

Hence, the reason the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:34 tells women to subject themselves. Bring themselves to submission to the Lord by submission to their husbands and submission to male leadership. Women need a bit of self-control and self-restraint because they are fighting against their fallenness.

Consequences of Feminism

If we are not careful, the feminist movement will totally violate and corrupt the created order of headship and submission which will, in turn, have a negative impact on marriage, other institutions, and the world at large. This is already happening though! The feminist movement is beginning to pervert, corrupt, and turn both headship and submission into something really ugly and horrific in different directions as well as in opposite spectrums for both men and women.

For headship, it is currently destroying the loving-humble headship into either hostile domination or abuse, or lazy indifference with a can of beer and a bag of chips slouching in front of some screen for hours until 10:00 pm and then asks for sex. it is making men either vicious abusers of headship or lazy neglectors (I use “neglector” for lack of a better word) of it.

For submission, it is also one of two things. It is unhurriedly taking willing, intelligent, articulate, and happy submission — and turning it either into a manipulative grovelling or obsequiousness, which is quite a silly caricature of femininity. Or the brazen, stark-apathetic “nobody is opening the door for me, I don’t need a man in my life, prideful” kind of femininity, as John Piper once said.

There is redemption or a solution; it is obedience to God’s word. Just do what the book says!

Like Voddie Baucham said, “Most ladies don’t like it when submissiveness is being spoken of. I’m not worried about whether you don’t like it, I’m worried about if it’s in scripture. If it’s in Scripture, then we have two choices, we can either say, ‘God I know that You know enough to put the earth exactly where it needs to be, far enough from the sun so we don’t fry but close enough so we don’t freeze, I appreciate that. I also appreciate that you gave the earth enough mass so that gravity will keep us here but not so much that it won’t crush us. I appreciate the balance as to the earth and humankind that you have made, however, regarding the submission thingy, you are crazy!’. That’s one, the other choice is ‘God, whenever there is a disagreement between you and my culture, let God be true and every man a liar’. The unfortunate reality is; we are so wed and acclimatized to this Godless culture that we rarely make choice number two”.

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