{"id":1071,"date":"2011-05-22T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T21:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2011-05-22T14:00:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T21:00:34","slug":"1071","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2011\/05\/22\/1071\/","title":{"rendered":"May 22, 2011, "Life Lessons from Women in the Bible""},"content":{"rendered":"

Message 58, \u201cLife Lessons from Women in the Bible\u201d, 5-22-11\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

One day in the Garden of Eden, woman called out to God and complained of her boredom. \u00a0\u201cI love the beautiful garden, the flowers, trees and animals but there is nobody to talk to except for a funny snake. \u00a0I don\u2019t know what to do with myself.\u201d \u00a0\u201cWell Eve,\u201d said God, \u201cI have a solution for you! \u00a0I will create man for you as a companion. \u00a0He won\u2019t be as smart as you but he\u2019ll be bigger and a bit stronger so he can help you here in the garden. \u00a0He\u2019ll talk to you, but not as much as you might want and he will revel in silly things like kicking a ball and fighting. \u00a0He will also need your advice on lots of things but, overall, he will be a friend and a companion.\u201d \u00a0\u201cOK,\u201d said Eve. \u00a0\u201cMan sounds pretty good. \u00a0What is the catch, though, God?\u201d \u00a0\u201cWell,\u201d said God, \u201cman will be arrogant and self-admiring so you will have to let him think<\/span><\/em> that I created him first. \u00a0Just remember, it\u2019s our secret\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..woman to woman!\u201d<\/p>\n

It is sad to say, but such a story is wishful thinking.\u00a0 As the real Bible story goes, man was created first, then Eve.\u00a0 And, depending on which account you follow, either that in the first chapter of Genesis or that of the second, woman was created out of the side of Adam \u2013 supposedly to symbolize how the female is to be a helper and so-called side-kick to man.<\/p>\n

But that issue speaks to a larger point about the Bible and other faith Scriptures as well.\u00a0 They are open to multiple interpretations none of which, I believe, should be considered definitive or absolute.\u00a0 As with all works of literature and history, we have to use our own reason <\/em><\/strong>and applied knowledge<\/em><\/strong> to find meaning and truth in the Bible.<\/p>\n

For centuries, the interpretation of Eve and other women in the Bible has been unflattering.\u00a0 And that was mostly done by men. \u00a0Indeed, it is Eve who has long been considered the one responsible for the entry of sin into our world.\u00a0 The Bible story regarding the Fall goes as follows, \u201cNow the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”\u00a0 The woman answered the snake, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. <\/sup>But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.’ ” But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. <\/sup> God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God! The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that its fruit was good to eat, and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.\u00a0 Then, it was as if their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story, which I believe is myth, was partially borrowed from other ancient cultures by Jews writing around 500 BCE to explain where humanity came from.\u00a0 It is a straightforward and relatively simple story.\u00a0 Eve, acting as any reasonable person, wanted to acquire wisdom for herself and she offered the same to Adam.\u00a0 She was a free thinker who determined that the serpent\u2019s words had resonance \u2013 I have a God-given brain capable of knowing good and evil.\u00a0 Adam, however, simply accepted and ate the apple.\u00a0 No conniving and no female seduction is evident in the Scripture words.\u00a0 \u201cHere, try this.\u201d\u00a0 OK!\u00a0 In many respects, Adam comes off looking a bit dumb \u2013 he does not question Eve or the apple given to him.\u00a0 He simply takes and eats.<\/p>\n

But thousands of theologians have looked at the same story and interpreted something sinister in Eve\u2019s actions.\u00a0 She was the weak one who was capable of being tempted and tricked.\u00a0 Further, according to such theology, she then seduced Adam with her female allure to get him to eat.\u00a0 Why else would intelligent man eat the apple without question or protest.\u00a0 In other words, Eve \u2013 as the symbolic ancestor of all future women \u2013 was easily tricked and tempted.\u00a0 Satan did not dare go after man \u2013 he was too smart and obedient!!\u00a0 But then Eve used her female skills \u2013 in all of her nakedness \u2013 to get Adam to also eat.\u00a0 Eve is not much better than Satan \u2013 in this view – she is a temptress!\u00a0 Look at these famous images of the fall \u2013 both created by men but reflective of longstanding views of the Fall\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first, by Albrect Durer, shows Eve with a slight smile as she seductively takes the apple from the serpent and offers it to Adam.\u00a0 He, though, is so smitten and overwhelmed with her wily charms that he does not even care about the apple \u2013 he is interested in one thing only as he suggestively reaches out toward Eve.\u00a0 While the image also implies a sexual nature to all forms of temptation, it is Eve who is almost in collusion with Satan in tricking Adam into eating the apple \u2013 all through sex and seduction.<\/p>\n

The second image suggests the same \"\"<\/a> \u2013 and this is a much more famous painting by Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel.\u00a0 Again, looking to the left of the image, Eve takes the apple, but look at her highly suggestive position in regards to Adam.\u00a0 The implied message from the painting, as I interpret it, is that Eve seduced and tricked Adam into sin.\u00a0 It is all her fault.\u00a0 It is all the fault of women.\u00a0 We must be wary of their false, manipulative and evil ways according to such theology.\u00a0 Men must learn from this in order to control women in their weakness and propensity to be tempted and then a tempter.\u00a0 I know this is only my interpretation of these images but century\u2019s old theology holds Eve primarily responsible for the fall of humanity.\u00a0 This, I believe, led directly to religious and cultural control of women.<\/p>\n

My point today, however, is not to beat the same drum that I did last week \u2013 that patriarchy is something that must be overcome.\u00a0 My hope today is to point out the misleading theology and interpretations that call it sin to use reason, intelligence and rational thought to discern good and evil.\u00a0 Indeed, as much as the Bible tells us that it is wrong to think of ourselves as like God or as little gods \u2013 as we just read from Scripture \u2013 I believe the exact opposite.\u00a0 That is what the creative forces of the universe \u2013 or God \u2013 achieved in humanity\u2026.a species capable of using highly advanced brains and intelligence to discern, on our own, good from evil.\u00a0 If that is to be like God, so be it.<\/p>\n

Even if Eve tempted Adam \u2013 which I do not interpret the story to say – she was using evolutionary or God-given reasoning powers to think and act as her own free agent.\u00a0 It is not sin to think.\u00a0 It is sin, in my humble opinion, NOT to think and to blindly accept as fact that which we are told.\u00a0 For many, that is the difference between religion and spirituality.\u00a0 The former is human created based on human interpretation of ancient writings.\u00a0 The latter is mysterious, unknown and transcendent stuff which beckons us to think, question and explore.<\/p>\n

From Eve, we learn a lot.\u00a0 She was not the mere handmaiden to Adam.\u00a0 If she is to be credited with the fall of humanity, then we must at least give her due acknowledgement for the wit and ability it took to question God\u2019s command \u2013 and to establish a morality that resonates today \u2013 free thinking and rationality.\u00a0 We think therefore we are, to paraphrase the famous philosopher Descartes.\u00a0 Indeed, Eve thought on her own, she proved her own existence as a person and she offers us such a life lesson.<\/p>\n

One other female character from the Bible, whom I want to examine today, is Jezebel.\u00a0 We all know the name but few know her Biblical story.\u00a0 As a princess from Phoenicia, a coastal nation, she married the king of Northern Israel, Ahab, as a political move to unite an inland nation with one that had access to the sea.\u00a0 Israel was a divided Kingdom around 600 to 500 BCE with the North having drifted, according to the Bible, toward apostasy and paganism.\u00a0 Jezebel is blamed as a primary instigator of that.\u00a0 The Bible story tells us that Jezebel induced King Ahab to convert from Judaism to the worship of Baal \u2013 a god of wine and fertility.\u00a0 According to legend and the Bible, Baal worship involved the liberal drinking of wine and lots of sex \u2013 all done at Temples dedicated to him.\u00a0 (Now that must have been one interesting church service!)\u00a0 Eventually Elijah, the famous prophet who foreshadowed Jesus\u2019 resurrection by ascending straight to heaven without dying, came to denounce King Ahab, Jezebel and the worship of Baal.\u00a0 According to the Biblical story found in the book of Kings, a climactic scene resulted when Elijah confronts 450 prophets of Baal in a duel to see who could end a drought brought on by God.\u00a0 With lots of shouting, singing and marching, the Baal prophets proved impotent thus indicating the fallacy of Baal.\u00a0 Elijah and God bring back rain and thus prove Yahweh\u2019s omnipotence.\u00a0 King Ahab is killed, he is replaced by a successor named Jehu who then proceeds to kill Jezebel. \u00a0In a scene from which she earned her dark reputation, Jezebel \u2013 who is old at this point \u2013 takes time to apply makeup and mascara and to don her finest dresses when she learns Jehu is on his way to her.\u00a0 Theologians describe her as a wanton woman inclined to seduction and disloyalty because they say she wanted to lure the new king with her charm.\u00a0 Scripture says nothing of the sort.\u00a0 Instead, her actions point to a woman determined to die in her own way, as a Queen and with her dignity intact.\u00a0 She was thrown out a window and her body consumed by dogs.\u00a0 But she did, indeed, die as a stately Queen in all of her finery.<\/p>\n

This theological interpretation of Jezebel comes directly from that of Eve and other women in the Bible \u2013 as connivers and deceivers of good and decent men.\u00a0 It was Jezebel who introduced belief in a pagan god and it was her who wantonly used sexual attractiveness to lure her unsuspecting husband and later King Jehu.\u00a0 This interpretation of her \u2013 and strong women like her \u2013 remains even today.\u00a0 Watch a more contemporary interpretation of a Jezebel-like woman and note the words used in the captions\u2026 http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cgVm0Z6lleY<\/a> (click on preceding link to watch video)<\/p>\n

What we hopefully learn from Jezebel is that being strong, intelligent and disobedient to prevailing cultural or religious thought is actually a good thing.\u00a0 While perhaps I went too far last week in describing an all dominant patriarchal culture \u2013 it is a telling commentary on our culture when a popular movie of the last century suggested independent woman like Bette Davis\u2019 character should be whipped.\u00a0 While the film was made in 1938, such a view of women has lasted thousands of years and still exists today in many areas of our world.\u00a0 Sadly, our world is not free from patriarchy.<\/p>\n

We are all encouraged, I hope, to question rigid religious dogma and to explore other paths to Divine truth.\u00a0 Whether that Truth be supernatural or, instead, a scientific explanation, it is an unknown source of which any of us are only dimly aware.\u00a0 Eve and Jezebel were willing to stand up to religious certainty and, while we may all chuckle at Jezebel\u2019s worship of a fertility god, we can also marvel and worship, like her, at the creative or fertile forces still at work in the universe.<\/p>\n

The ideal female character from the Bible, besides the virginal Mary, is often said to be Ruth \u2013 described in a Biblical book bearing her name.\u00a0 The story is of a young woman from Moab who marries the son of a wealthy landowner from Israel who had moved to Moab to escape that nation\u2019s drought.\u00a0 When this landowner and his sons die, leaving Ruth and her sister \u2013 along with her mother-in-law Naomi \u2013 as widows, they must make a decision whether to return to Israel or remain in Moab.\u00a0 Ruth\u2019s sister chooses the latter but Ruth, with heartfelt loyalty, pledges her fidelity to Jewish Naomi by saying, \u201cWhere you go, I will go; your people shall be my people and your God my God.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

When they do return to Israel, Naomi and Ruth meet a distant relative of Naomi\u2019s deceased husband.\u00a0 According to ancient Jewish levirate law, a man was to always marry the widow of a relative in order to keep the deceased\u2019s lineage alive.\u00a0 Naomi declares herself too old to marry again but encourages Ruth to insinuate herself into Boaz\u2019s life \u2013 the unsuspecting relative \u2013 so that he will marry her and thus preserve Naomi\u2019s family line.\u00a0 In a very sensual scene, Ruth joins Boaz on a wheat threshing floor and then lies down at his feet while he naps.\u00a0 This, according to the custom, indicated betrothal and a willingness to obey and be a wife.\u00a0 Boaz accepts Ruth as his wife, he buys the land of his deceased relative and the two eventually produce a male heir – who would be father to the legendary King David.\u00a0 In reading the New Testament book of Matthew, we see that<\/span><\/strong> author, writing many hundreds of years later, added Ruth as an ancestor of Jesus \u2013 the only woman so named.\u00a0 The humble, loyal, obedient foreign woman became a great-great-great-great, etc. grandmother to Jesus \u2013 the man the Bible says is the Son of God.<\/p>\n

Theological interpretations of this story focus on Ruth\u2019s ideal female virtues with an implicit contrast to Eve, Jezebel, Baathsheba, Mary Magdalene and other so called bad women of the Bible.\u00a0 God will be faithful to those who are faithful, and women, especially, are called to be obedient.\u00a0 They must check their inclinations to question prevailing religious orthodoxy and male authority with pure faith \u2013 in God and in the supposed goodness of men.<\/p>\n

While I do not question women who choose to be wives and mothers, I hope as I said two weeks ago on Mother\u2019s Day that such decisions are freely made and motivated by sincere desires.\u00a0 Cultural coercion or mere compliance with prevailing thinking does not advance any of us.\u00a0 Indeed, we all encourage that here at the Gathering.\u00a0 Last week, it seems my message was either totally loved or completely disagreed with.\u00a0 I don\u2019t ever want to speak to an amen corner here.\u00a0\u00a0 Differing thoughts and viewpoints challenge our thinking \u2013 especially my own.<\/p>\n

While time constraints will prevent us from having a talk back time today, I deeply value it and I want a free and respectful exchange of thoughts and ideas here.\u00a0 We welcome dissent and voices of gentle and respectful disagreement.\u00a0 In the process, we all learn.\u00a0 While we can and should arrive at our own opinions, differences in religion, politics, love, life and general habits are wonderful \u2013 they make the world interesting and they help us grow.\u00a0 Ruth, in her willing conformity to the religion and ways of her adopted family was not evil.\u00a0 Her actions speak, however, of a woman inclined to not question or buck the prevailing trend.\u00a0 Perhaps we should see her character as sincere in her willingness to accept a foreign God \u2013 but, if so, then we must also accept as sincere Jezebel\u2019s decision to NOT accept such a God.\u00a0 As I often say and as is a prevailing motto here at the Gathering, nobody and no religion has access to absolute Truth.\u00a0 We may believe our ways are correct and that is good.\u00a0 But we must be open to other truths and other paths to absolute Truth \u2013 whether that be God, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius or a physics principle like Thermodynamics.\u00a0 Let us explore with minds and hearts wide open.\u00a0 Let us learn to embrace Eve for her brave defiance and willing questions.\u00a0 Let us celebrate the strong and purposeful Jezebels of the world who chart their own course in life \u2013 adding to diversity and greater understanding for us all.<\/p>\n

Let us always be people who value questions far more than absolute certainty.\u00a0 Let us use the miraculous brains we have to explore and think about large questions like existence and meaning.\u00a0 To paraphrase another verse from the Bible, faith without reason is shallow and a form of blind idolatry. The Bible characters of Eve, Jezebel and even Ruth point us to such a standard.<\/p>\n

I wish you all peace and joy\u2026..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message 58, \u201cLife Lessons from Women in the Bible\u201d, 5-22-11 \u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved One day in the Garden of Eden, woman called out to God and complained of her boredom. \u00a0\u201cI love the beautiful garden, the flowers, trees and animals but there is nobody to talk to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}