What does The Bible Say About Women?

WOMEN



I was looking up all the scriptures on women yesterday listed in the back of the Bible. Part of our next ladies bible study this next Thursday. I noticed something I had never ever noticed before.

I posted the other day my other revelation that Eve had eaten the fruit to gain more knowledge & to gain the ability to be like God (wanting his supreme authority & ability to do anything). Instead when God punishes Eve he changes the original plan. The original plan was that they would be immortal, she would be the mother of mankind, & she and Adam were equal in Creation and co ruled the earth. The punishment? Now we are no longer immortal, women would birth in great pain & we were no longer equal in creation, we were going to be "ruled over". Basically Eve got the exact opposite of what she was seeking when she sinned.

From that point on women's rights were not very pretty.

ENTER JESUS.

As I was studying I was taken to the book of Luke. In Luke we see Jesus & his disciples traveling with a group of women. What were these women doing? They were financially supporting Jesus & his disciples, that is what they were doing. Since they were travelling with him they obviously would have been learning from him also.

In my study portion of the Bible it says that in Jewish culture women were not allowed to learn directly from rabbi's. Their husbands would give them instruction. By Jesus allowing a group of women to travel with him and also learn from him & to have those women in a place of supporting him and the disciples (not the more traditional role of men supporting women) Jesus was making a huge statement by his actions. He was saying that men and women were equal in creation & should be equal in the kingdom of God. Men and women could both participate equally in the things of God, neither sex meant more to God. God cared about the person, not the sex of the person. WOW.

It occurred to me that Jesus came to restore relationship with God. He came to "fix" what happened at original sin. One of the things that needed fixing was what happened with women at original sin. I asked myself, did Jesus come to heal that too? When you look at God's original intent for woman & then after the punishment what woman had was no place close to what God had intended. We see Jesus over and over breaking Jewish traditions & man made customs to show mercy & love, to give restoration. Although I have never ever heard any teaching on this, as I am studying all the scriptures on women I am wondering..... was Jesus also here to show God's forgiveness on the impact of Eve's sin? Was Jesus trying to restore woman's place in the world?

It is obvious that women can be used by God. Look at Esther & the Judge Deborah for instance. Women were prophetesses also throughout the old testament & such. But still, our place was a low one as far as rights & being educated.

As I study more I am more convinced than ever that God cares for the person, regardless of our sex. I am convinced that God will use whoever is available to be used regardless of their sex.

I just thought that was amazing yesterday, the part in Luke about the women supporting Jesus's ministry and the glaring statement that must have been making in Jewish society. Did He come also to say that He loves women just as much as men & wanted healing in this great rift between the wall being put up barring women from serving in the church like they could do otherwise? Makes ya wonder.......

Women struggle so much. What is our role? Men have such clearly defined roles, that must be so wonderful! Our struggle goes all the way back to original sin. Why Eve didn't you just go have a heart to heart with God before you took the devil at his word? If we work full time then what is our role & our hubby's role at home? Why do women who work full time still do the majority of all housework, grocery shopping, meal planning, doctor's visits, play date making & taking, & all things kid? What is that all about?

I tell ya, men would get a lot more sex if they just realized all they need to do is work more around the house. One, she is not so tired & might actually have some energy left to extend around bed time & two, she will be so moved & feel loved & appreciate her man that she will WANT TO PLEASE HIM. Duh.

If a woman is a stay at home wife, what is her role? Should the hubby do any housework? Does that answer depend on how many or how young any kids they have are? Is everything her responsibility? Some of the housewives I know have hubby's that expect that they work hard the entire day they are at work & give them a hard time if they do anything pleasureful during the "work day". Humph, don't get me started on that topic.

What is okay for women to do in the church? I personally love having at least one women's pastor around to talk to about my woman stuff. It is such a pleasure to speak sometimes to someone who is just like me but also completely thoroughly schooled in pastoring as a man. The woman pastor's I have been around are just a treasure.

The other thing that jumped out at me yesterday? When God said to Eve that your desire will be for your husband but he will rule over you, it is clear that women are no longer equal with man in leadership on the earth due to her sin. However, however however, let us look at God's example of what rulership should be shall we?

God is our ultimate ruler. We are all under the ruling authority of God. I believe God sets the best example of how one should rule. With love, with care & compassion. How does God rule over us? I believe God is the example for leadership on how men should lead their homes & in everything that they do.

God told Adam & Eve to rule over the earth. He also expected them to take care of it as he told Adam to work in the garden of Eden. We should care for what we are ruling over, it is in our care, it is in our responsibility. That is actually a pretty big responsibility for men, imagine God asking a man or judging a man at judgement time and making him accountable for how he "ruled/lead" his family. I can't imagine how God does not make man accountable for how he handled his rulership that he was entrusted with. What would God say about your leadership as a man? Ahem, if I was a man, that would get me right in the heart. Big responsibility I should say.

Women hate that word rule because it almost always has negative connotations with it. I personally have experienced & continue to hear horror stories from women on how their men abuse their rulership/leadership in the home. Men are told to love their wives as their own bodies, meaning treat your wife as you would want to be treated. Then we all, men and women, have the golden rule to live by. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. There is no room for selfishness & meanness in God's kingdom.

I can see God wants us all to work together & love each other. I am really learning a lot about what went horribly wrong with women and some great insights on what Jesus says about women. Lots more to study here, I can't wait.

If you have any insights on this topic I would love to hear anything about God's plans & purposes for women for our next bible study. I will be teaching on the Proverbs 31 woman also. BTW, notice the proverbs 31 woman also has servants to help do all the stuff she does. So if you ever read proverbs 31 & feel a little too convicted just remember that she had full time staff okay?

Love y'all,

Jenn

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