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What does a woman do with the wisdom God has given her?
Great question. Did you know that 90% of the dear young
single Christians who are reading this are female? Of course, I’m
guessing…it’s too early for real statistics, but I’ll bet I’m
close! (One day we’ll check it out to be sure...)
[Note: Several years have passed since I first wrote the above, and I have been pleased to discover that men seem equally interested in what we're discussing here. In this particular case I'm very glad to have been wrong!]
Most of
us women LOVE to learn. We love to know more about God and His
ways. We also love to know how people interact, and what makes
the human world go ‘round.
The average guy, on the other hand, likes everything to fit together right so he can just get on with his business. (If something's broken, fine, let's fix it. If we can't fix it, well, get over it.) He isn't usually looking for new ideas that might upset his system.
One bit
of fallout from these natural tendencies is that women sometimes end up
knowing things men don’t know, not only about human nature but also
about spiritual matters. Plus there are those women who God has
simply made extra wise.
Was that a mistake on His part?
For
some of you, Question #3 might seem a little strange. Let me tell
you where it comes from. You see, the Holy Spirit through Paul
made a couple very blunt statements about women keeping their mouths
shut.
“Let your women keep silent in the
churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be
submissive, as the law also says.” (I Corinthians 14:34)
“And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” (I Timothy 2:12)
I
suspect these verses have been twisted and turned more energetically
than just about any other scriptures in the Bible. All kinds of
folk, both men and women, are not happy with what they
say. We women, of course, aren’t the least bit comfortable with
keeping silent, especially when we know something the men can’t figure
out (which happens every now and then…).
Men are troubled
by the same verses for several reasons. First, it makes their
women unhappy, and that’s reason enough. But also, many men
honestly admit that women have something to teach them. And
third, men frequently don’t mind if women take over some of the work of
teaching. After all, they’ve willingly shared other tasks.
So, now that we’re agreed on that, what’s the big deal?
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