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Greeny World Domination 103
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w _____ ____ 1 000 333 "The 'Genesis' of Feminism" w
D // | \ 11 0 0 3 by Priest D
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G || || \ / | || | 1 0 0 3 issue #103 of "GwD: The American Dream G
w \\___// \/\/ |____/ 111 000 333 with a Twist -- of Lime" * rel 06/11/01 w
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Genesis, chapter one, verse one says that, "In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth." In Genesis, also, began the birth of feminism. In
a time when women were persecuted and sometimes killed for little or no
reason, Christianity began teaching radical new ideas on equality. The bible,
the holy doctrine of Christianity, spells out again and again its exact views
concerning the treatment and role of women in the church, the family, and to
an extent, society. Genesis is the basis for the bible's support and teaching
of equality between men and women, and the beginning of the feminist
movement's greatest ally, Christianity.
Feminism on a large scale is a relatively new idea. Only within the past
several decades have women managed to make radical advancements forward.
However, feminism began a long time ago, at the very least, with the creation
of Christianity. When the Old Testament was written, women's place in
society, large scale, was the social doormat. In the Islamic faith, women
have no place whatsoever, and having a daughter is considered even today to be
a curse. In two verses of the very first chapter of Genesis, Moses explicitly
denotes God's view of women as having personal equality with man as an image-
bearer of God. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and
God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Gen.
1:27-28) This is a break from traditional classicism in which women had no
real role.
Moses goes on to begin the teaching of women's role towards man in the
second chapter of Genesis. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living soul." (Gen. 2:7) "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man
should be alone; I will make for him a helper. And out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought
them unto Adam to see what he would call them...but for Adam, there was found
not a suitable helper. .And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man,
made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because
she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Gen.
2:18-24) We see here, how, although man is created first, this does not make
him greater than woman. Woman was created to be a helper for man, but this is
not a demeaning role by any means. The later verses of the same chapter show
Adam saying that woman is, "bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh," and
therefore of same value. In the very last sentence, Moses says that to be
complete, man has to leave his family, join with his wife, and then the two
shall be one. This begins the idea that woman will provide that which is
lacking in man, making them complete only when together.
The third chapter of Genesis deals with fall of man and woman and begins
the battle of the sexes. "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of
the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath
God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Gen. 3:1) Here
clearly the fall begins with the woman. "And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat and gave
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (Gen. 3:6) Although the
fall begins with the woman, it is only complete through the actions of both.
When God discovers what has occurred, he questions Adam, and finds that Eve
convinced him to eat through the beguiling of the serpent. He punishes them
both saying, "Unto woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be
to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field." (Gen. 3:16-18) Here, God gives woman childbirth. He also begins
the race between man and woman here by saying that her desire will be to thy
husband, but that husband will dominate over wife. In Hebrew this was meant
to say that her desire would be to dominate over her husband, but that he
would over her. He punishes the man more so than the woman and in greater
depth, in spite of woman's initiation of the fall, thus establishing man's
role of protector of woman. This same verse also shows that although woman
came from man, man could only further his lineage through woman.
This may sound as though Moses was trying deflate the importance of
woman, but in actuality, he was pointing out that man and woman alike had been
given specific roles and power over one another, therefore establishing the
beginning of equality. The bible expands on this idea and goes on to spell
out specifically the role of man and woman in the church and the family in
such chapters as Ephesians, Corinthians and even Timothy. It gives no mention
whatsoever to the role of woman in society and the workplace. This is in such
stark contrast to its detailing of church and family that one would most
likely surmise that it had no specific role in mind. Thus, Christianity
establishes the equality of man and woman in the work environment. In the New
Testament, the idea of equality takes an even larger view through Jesus'
treatment of women. When He is resurrected, He shows himself to a woman
first. There is the episode of the washing of feet between Jesus and a
prostitute, a woman thought unworthy by the society of the time. The bible
brought such new and radical ideas forth that it was often thought of as
revolutionary literature. Behold, the birth, or "genesis," of feminism.
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Issue#103 of "GwD: The American Dream with a Twist -- of Lime" ISSN 1523-1585
copyright (c) MMI Priest/GwD Publications /---------------\
copyright (c) MMI GwD, Inc. All rights reserved. :RIGHT AND TASTY:
a production of The GREENY world DOMINATION Task Force, Inc. : GwD :
Postal: GwD, Inc. - P.O. Box 16038 - Lubbock, Texas 79490 \---------------/
FYM -+- http://www.GREENY.org/ - editor@GREENY.org - submit@GREENY.org -+- FYM
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