Saturday, April 19, 2008

Christian mythology and Woman

What do you think the importance is in Christian mythology that woman was created from a piece (specifically a rib) of Adam... while Adam was created by the dust of the Earth?
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

• Adam and Eve - snapshot of an ideal marriage BEFORE the fall
• Genesis 2:15-25
• V15 God puts man in garden "to work it and take care of it"
○ To work "avad" - literally, 'to serve'
○ To take care off "shamar" - literally 'to keep, observe, or have charge of'
§ These two verbs parallel the idea of worship (Deut 10:12-13 - worship of God involves serving him and obeying his commands) Adam was commanded to serve and take care of the garden - it's an act of worship
• V16-17 God gave man a law
○ You can't eat the tree, or you'll die
• V18 here, we read of something that is not good. This is the first time this has happened
○ It's not good for the man to be alone (not good to serve and obey God alone)
○ This is Adam in his perfect state and still he needs something
• V19-20 God doesn't just tell Adam that he needs a helper, he shows Adam that he needs a helper
○ He makes the animals to show Adam the inadequacy of the creatures around him
○ Adam needed to realize that he had a need
○ Why couldn't the animals be his helpers?
§ Physically - they couldn't help him
§ Intellectually - couldn't converse with them
§ Morally - nope
§ Emotionally - animals can't help
§ Spiritually - lacking still. (most important)
• V21-22 finally, God meets Adam's need (the whole rib section)
○ Woman is the only one who can help man - she qualifies perfectly
○ "helper" - does NOT refer to a lesser status of man - just means different function
§ Eve was custom-made to Adam, she's valuable
• V23 first recorded human words "this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man"
○ It's Hebrew poetry
○ To see himself, in a way, standing before him - unlike anything else he'd seen so far
○ We can make a case her for love at first sight
○ Also first hint of familial structure
§ Man named woman just like he named the animals
§ In OT, naming something means you have authority over it - so man has authority over woman
§ God-ordained - he gave the woman to man
○ Perfect provisions - how is one spouse supposed to handle the imperfections of the other spouse?
1. Look beyond weaknesses. God works through those weaknesses
2. The weaknesses of one spouse can be fore the sanctification of the other (imperfections in one party can build Godly character in the other party)
3. Weaknesses are opportunities to be needed.
4. We love unconditionally in spite of weaknesses.
• V24-25 "for this reason a man will…"
○ Man must "leave and cleave" (society sort of says that the woman must do this)
○ This is not just physically in the flesh
§ Intellectually, emotionally, morally, and spiritually. It's not just sex.
§ "naked and not ashamed" is not a physical nakedness.
○ They're not carbon copies of each other, they're compliments. You come together and make one person.
○ Perfect position to fulfill perfectly one of the main reasons of marriage - to worship
§ For a few moments, they had an ideal marriage

1:15 PM
Zac said...

This is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you.

2:13 PM
jay said...

freakin a, zac penix! : )

3:06 PM
jay said...

agreed. you're forgiven. hah.

10:27 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)