Gender Role

Perspective

In my 2nd year of college I needed to take a biblical studies credit, and I just really wanted to get the things I needed to do out of the way as soon as posible.

I also was wanting to make sure that whatever class I took would not be too difficult that it would make me have to give up too much freetime.

Thus enter the 300 level class of Women and Vocation.

Essentially translated to “Women and their calling by God”

I am a man.

also I was suprised that I was not the only man in that class, my really good friend was actually in that class.

in this class I learned lots that I did not know, I also came to a very firm understanding of God’s calling on some of the ladies I know and respect.

However it did also help me to understand my calling, and how to live with God’s calling on someone else

It’s really easy to look at the church and see this very specific gender role focused place.

We joke about the meninite boys here and girls there.

But sometimes that joke just feels really out of place, especially today.

See there is that real side of what we call Gender roles,

what should a man do?

what should a woman do?

what should they not do?

...

This question is more difficult to talk about when we look into the bible and read about what is perfect and now what is imperfect.

lets look at the perfect world for a minute:

Adam and Eve the first man and women were created in the Garden of Eden and they had been give jobs, they had work to fill their time and this was thier job descriptions:

Genesis 1:28–29 NIV

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

The Role was to fill the earth, to make babies

Even more to make food

be a parent, a farmer and a foodie

however we know that the story gets messy and that sin gets mixed into the pot.

Adam and Eve eat of the tree and there is 3 division here.

1. People sinned again God,

They had been told that they cannot eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil

2. they sinned against creation

Creation was change even more as they were cursed and creation was changed to reflect the punishment.

3. they sinned against each other, that they became judgy to each other, he did it, she did it, satan made me do it.

it was a progression of pointing fingers.

All this sin lead to curses and this is where the brokeness of gender roles comes in.

Genesis 3:16 NIV

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

and for the guys

Genesis 3:17–19 NIV

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

And these roles are formed, however through time they are distorted. See there is the perfect and imperfection of these roles

Here is my point of the night,

No matter who you are equally created by God.

Altough having differenet roles, to work or to raise kids. Men and Women were created equal.

For the men that means, we gotta humble ourselfs, altough we are told to be high and might men who strive for success, we gotta know that the ladies beside us also do that.

For the ladies that means don’t let people look down on you for who you are, you are equally created with the guys in this room.

Genesis 2:20 NIV

So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

There was no one to help Adam, no equal peice in the equation.

Our perfect roles are equal, but sin creates the distortion.

So, if you are nervous about who you are becuase your idenitiy I want you to be satisfied by the fact that you are created by God, the creator who made man and woman to help each other.

Even more let me read you this,

Psalm 139:13–14 NIV

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made, no matter who you are.

What does the word Helper mean?

How does God try to give Adam a Helper? (Genesis 2: 18-21)

Why is that unsucessful?

How does being created equally change your view on the world?

Should we seek equality between Men and Women? Why?