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