The Creation of Women

The baby’s face twisted into a sour expression and turned two shades of red darker as he wailed for his mother.  She gave her baby a kiss, handed his diaper bag to a day-care worker, and headed off in her car to her job.  Today, women – yes, even Christian women – are leaving their homes in order to pursue a career and a place in the world.  But is it right?  Is it logically consistent for a Christian?  Should women be “equal” to men?  As a Christian woman myself, I feel that I can speak freely on this topic.

Genesis 2 talks about the creation of woman in detail.  All throughout Genesis 1, God declares over and over that His creation was good.  However, Genesis 2 is the first time God says “it is not good”.  And what was He referring to?  Man without woman.  God saw that Adam needed someone by his side, a companion and a help-meet.  Of course, God takes a rib from Adam to make Eve.  I am sure God could have made Eve simply by speaking, but He choose a much more special way – He choose to create woman from man’s side, close to his heart.

I do not believe that woman is superior to man or vice versa, rather we are created for different purposes.    That does not mean that women should only be at home all the time, merely that the home and family should be our main priority.  Being a help meet can take many different forms: for one woman it might mean braving the jungles of a foreign country where her husband is a missionary; for another, perhaps it means having people over for dinner frequently because her husband is an extrovert; it might mean helping remodel houses to sell, or reviewing books and articles that he writes; maybe it is something as simple as bringing him lunch at the office.  Sometimes it’s not about making a little influence in the lives of many, as it is about having an incredible influence on the lives of a few.

The Bible does not give us nice mathematical-like formulae for figuring out exactly how to live our lives (wouldn’t life be so much simpler that way?), but it does give some basic guidelines we should follow.  Marriage is supposed to represent Christ’s relationship to His Bride, the Church. Women therefore exemplify the role of the Church (Christians in general), so our role should be taken very seriously.  I don’t believe that women should be “equal” to men, because we are designed differently.  We need our men to be men and take a stand for what is right.  But, women must stop trying to be men if we want our men to become mighty men.