Finding role models to live by in Scripture, if you are a woman, is slim picking. I spent a fair amount of my young life looking for them, in fact. I heard a great deal in church and school about the kings, Solomon and David. They taught us about the faithful ones like Job and Joseph, for instance, who, despite their sufferings, never cursed God. But they said precious little, hardly a word, about women. Except about Delilah, of course, who had tempted Samson, leading to his ruin, and about Eve, who had tempted Adam and left us all in ruin.
Such teaching left girls with very male images of what it meant to be loved by God, or "made in the image" of God. Abraham and Moses and any number of men -- such as Noah, Jacob, Daniel, Isaac, Joshua, and Isaiah, to name a few -- had been entrusted with the work of God. But you didn't hear much about women at all, except, of course, for Mary, "the mother of God," who was clearly too exalted, too divinized to be a real model for real women. Women, it seemed, were also-rans where the work of salvation was concerned.
It takes years for a woman to realize how effective, how distorting, that exclusion can be to a woman's sense of herself before God. What had become clear to me, over the years, is that men got us to heaven; women went along. Men were the doers of God's will; women were everybody's "helpmates," but never their leaders. Women, in fact, were seldom or never the carriers of the vision. They were almost never the speaker of God's word. I admit to being disappointed by it all.
As a result, I did what most girls did. I looked to male figures and male saints and male spiritual leaders, for direction, for the interpretation of what, if anything, God expected of me in life. But somehow or other, little or none of it fit. Worse, all of it reminded me of a woman's secondary status, even where God was concerned. There was something not right about that.
Then, one day, I discovered, almost by accident, the books of Ruth and Judith -- two women who were strong leaders and committed followers of the Word of God. But these books had never been read in my church. I had never heard anyone even preach a sermon on them. I never saw any pictures of these two women hanging anywhere on sacred territory. But there were their stories, full and entire, right in the middle of the Bible. They were not pieces of religious fancy. These were, the priest told me, solemnly, "the Word of God." Suddenly, things began to change.
If anything in Scripture prepares us for the Jesus who walked with women, taught women, and commissioned women, these stories are surely it. They prepare us to see, if only we will open our eyes, the place and power of women in the Work of God. They enable us to realize the message of redemptive presence that comes through the stories of the women around Jesus -- Mary, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman, the woman in the house of the Pharisees and all the women of all the house churches in the New Testament.
The books of Ruth and Judith are signs to us all. They are signs to men of the ministry, that they must share equally with women. They are signs to women of the ministry, for which they, too, must take clear and conscious responsibility, knowing, indeed, that God is with them, in them, calling them on, as witnesses, ministers and leaders -- for all our sakes.
From Joan Chittister's introduction to Ruth and Judith (Darton Longman and Todd).
Women in the Bible - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The result was that after Paul's death around 62 AD, the patriarchy reasserted itself, leading to several of the later letters written in Paul's name, but not by him, changing the teaching. Like I Timothy and its infamous injunction against women speaking in church, for example. Scholars have known for many years that Paul didn't write that, but very few ministers tell their congregations what they learned in seminary about scholarship.
I do believe that Sister Joan knows the fallacy of this practice and offers this article as a voice against it. She uses only direct Biblical references to speak to other Christian sects.
Anyway, you are correct with your second paragraph. I was just pointing out the "out of the box" alternative to the situation.
Those who have taken authority as the truth,
Rather then truth as the authority
--G. Massey, Egyptologist
Anne Hutchinson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hutchinson
I know, that good'ol wishful thinking. :P
"Her particular "heresy" was to maintain that it was a blessing and not a curse to be a woman."
She was accused "of "lewd and lascivious conduct" for having men and women in her house at the same time during her Sunday meetings."
These concepts were tiresome even in the 1600s.
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The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has
anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
-- Luke 4:18-19
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This passage is a very familiar one. It has been
preached on many occasions, even made popular in
books and songs. Though the quote is about Jesus, all
Christians take this commission seriously as a
directive on how to reach the world with the gospel.
We, like our Savior, are to bring the good news to
the poor, the brokenhearted, those in captivity,
those who cannot see, and the oppressed.
The commission given to us in this passage is clearly
a charge to care for those for whom God cares the
most. I wonder though, whom do we look for to be
touched by the Holy Spirit as we go out into the
world?
Who are the poor, if not those unborn children who
have been abandoned by their parents before they ever
leave the womb?
Who are the brokenhearted, if not those unborn
children whose only example of love is having their
mother take them to an abortion clinic to be
destroyed, or the mother of a child who has been
deceived by everyone around her into believing that
what she is doing is best for her and her child?
Who are the captives, if not those unborn children
who are bound over to death by the "choice" of
abortion?
Who is more blind than an unborn child in the
darkness of a womb that has become a waiting room for
their death?
whose oppression has been legitimized by their
government, their church and even their family and
loved ones?
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PRAYER
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Lord, You empower us with Your Spirit to do your will
in the earth. Send us to the poorest, the most
broken, the most captive, the most blind and the most
oppressed in the world, the innocent pre-born
children in their mother's wombs that are scheduled
for destruction. Help us to bring them healing,
liberty, sight and justice through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Amen.
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Justice, a key theme of the Scriptures, is something
God does and that we too must do.
When God intervenes to save his people when they are
helpless and in slavery in Egypt, he "does justice."
He manifested his justice in the plagues that were
sent upon Egypt, whereby Pharaoh was convinced that
he must let the people go. Justice is manifested as,
in awe and wonder, God's people see the Red Sea open
before them, allow them to pass without even getting
their feet wet, and then close again to drown their
powerful enemies.
God is a God of Justice; he rescues us when we cannot
save ourselves. His justice, above all, is seen in
Jesus Christ, who, when we could not save ourselves,
rescued us from the kingdom of sin, Satan, death, and
hell. The mighty work of Christ on the cross and in
the resurrection is the perfect manifestation of God
as the God of justice.
We, then, are to be the people of justice; we are to
"do justice" by intervening to save the helpless in
the name and by the power of the God who saves us who
are helpless ourselves. That's why we have a pro-life
movement; that's why we have a 40 Days for Life
Campaign; that's why saving the unborn is our
business.
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God of Justice, you heard the cry of your people when
they were being oppressed in Egypt, and you proved
yourself to be the God of justice, who rescues the
helpless. You likewise rescued us from the kingdom of
darkness, and brought us into the Kingdom of your
Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who saves us from the
power of Satan, sin, death, and hell.
Make us people of justice, ready to intervene to save
the helpless. Indeed, as your prophets have
announced, let justice roll on like a mighty river,
to save all who are in need, especially the unborn.
We pray through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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We ask God that we may understand the concept of
justice, as a gift he gives and as a responsibility
that shapes our work.
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SCRIPTURE
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Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like
a never-failing stream!
-- Amos 5:24
This is a good role model, for who? Teenage males at the peak of puberty?
1) Judith was a pious woman, and had more faith in God than the Israelites had.
2) There would not be any possible way for anyone but a woman to be able to get close to Holofernes in such a short time. Any other form of infiltration by a man would take many years, as he would have to prove himself to Holofernes.
3) Judith got Holofernes drunk first, to the point that he passed out. Then she cut his head off.
4) Judith returned to the Israelites and showed them the head of Holofernes to motivate them. Holofernes was a highly feared general.
5) Holoferne's death, especially at the hands of a woman, totally demoralized his army when word got out. The Israelites decimated the enemy, and ran the rest of them off.
Without delving into a literal interpretation, the symbolic one is that God will give power to those who believe in him unconditionally. This is the role model that is being promoted.
Indeed, the enemy could not imagine that a woman was capable of such daring.
Just want to add to your conclusion, because God would welcome those who have a change of heart....Matthew 21:28-32.
If I may speak freely (without quotes) God is seeking those that would believe, for sure, God delights in those that are humble, as opposed to the proud; that rely on their own efforts/strength. This way God receives the praise because it is considered humanly impossible. Like Moses and Pharoah at the Red Sea, or Gideon and the 300 against Midian. So that you may know, that God is God, and believe.
So let me get this straight...you had been a follower of christianity for years, but you had never sat down and actually read the bible? You found the books of Ruth and Judith "almost by accident"??...in the bible. Um...
26] When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. [27] After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
John chapter 19
What a mess.