Feminism and Christianity is probably one of the most
controversial and sensitive topics that no one wants to tackle for fear of
offending others. I remember attending the ‘Feminism & Christianity’
session in Mutare when I went for a 2 weeks intensive training on feminism and
leadership. I walked out of that session more confused than ever as the
questions raised by my sisters in that room were not fully answered by the
moderator. So it has always been at the back of my head and it has been an
inner struggle of mine to personally put together these two causes that I hold
close to my heart. I badly wanted them to blend together and make sense.
Now 2 years down the line…after that confusing session in
Mutare until the topic came up about a month ago during a bible study I do with
my girls. The reading was from Genesis 3
we all know the story of Adam, Eve and
the cunning snake in the Garden of Eden right?! So fast forward a bit and get
to the curses part which is from verse 14-19 but my interest is on verse 16 it
says:
“…Your
desire will be for your husband yet he will rule over you.”
And some versions even put it in simple English “…he will
control you.”
<<<<<BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! This is the root of all this
inequality between men and women. Now please do not get me wrong am not saying
all feminists want is to control men. No. We are fighting for equity.
Justice. No discrimination or violation
based on sex. We are all equal regardless of what you have between your legs. Or
at least this is what feminism means to me and I truly believe as a Christian
God created as as equal and it even says so in the Bible.
But I feel this verse clearly explains to me where this
struggle came from. From my previous blog post which you can read here www.umba040@blogspot.com/2014/06/where-did-we-leave-our-young-men.html?m=1
and I had some pretty interesting comments via my Facebook page which you can
read on here www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10203522904289556&id=1122732276
I was very interested to hear what men thought about that
post and I had one man who commented through my inbox and whose identity will
not be disclosed but I loved the honesty and sincerity of his response to this,
here it is:
“I
have a very unconventional mind. I love women who are strong willed, visionary
and go getters. I do. Most of my good "girl" friends were exactly
that....unfortunately most of us guys are not comfy with that kinda woman. It is
almost natural to be intimidated by such...for majority of the guys. The flip
side of it, women, should remember to respect their husbands...that's what a
guy wants....dare I say by design...”
So in realizing that this struggle I battle with is from way
back in time from the Garden of Eden it kinda sent chills down my spine as much
as it shed some much needed light and I guess deep down I was always troubled
that these two most important things
that form me somehow were not in sync.
I would love to hear from my fellow feminists on how they
blend the two: religion and feminism. I would truly appreciate feedback J
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Malawi? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Malawi in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez