exquisite contempt
Exquisite - sophisticated, delicate, sophisticated.
Its antonym is lame, crude, vulgar.
Exquisiteness is good, and it affirms the quality of a craft, skill, or product. However, when something derogatory reaches a sophisticated level, it becomes a bit scary and extremely deceptive.
In human history, perhaps the earliest sophisticated small talk with the most serious consequences was the conversation between the snake and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Lord God originally commanded Adam: "You may freely eat from any tree of the garden, but you shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat from it you will surely die!" (Genesis 2: 16)
When the serpent came to the serpent's words, the content became specious. He first asked Eve casually: "Did God really say that you are not allowed to eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden?" Eve corrected: "We cannot eat the fruit of any tree in the garden." You may eat it, except the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, of which God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor touch it, lest you die."
The meaning of "you shall not touch" may be due to an inaccurate message from Adam, Eve's own understanding, or God's personal command after creating Eve. In any case, the target word of the chat - the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - was subtly introduced, and the snake gave Eve a hint by the way, saying: "You will not necessarily die; for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will Be enlightened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” It implies that God is deceiving because he is being cautious.
Faced with a God who was belittled and fruits whose benefits were emphasized, Eve fell into the trap because of her own desires.
Exquisite means carefully packaged, dressed, polished and carved, like a work of art. Once the straight-line distance from point A to point B is refined, it will become a "winding path" and arrive very "artistically". The exquisite packaging can even dazzle people and make them buy the beads.
When it comes to gender relations, whether in the workplace, church, or family, some "exquisiteness" is not due to intention, but to the subconscious - the social subconscious that has accumulated for thousands of years and is integrated into culture and customs. More real, more powerful, more inexplicable, and therefore more terrifying.
▲In human history, the earliest sophisticated chat with the most serious consequences is probably the conversation between the snake and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
workplace phenomenon
As far as the workplace is concerned, the movie "Hidden Figures", based on real-life events, very representatively describes the experiences of a generation of women (and ethnic minorities in the United States): In the early 1960s, three African-American women in the United States When working on calculations related to the Mercury Project at NASA's Langley Research Center, they were often challenged, discriminated against, and ignored based on their skin color and gender. They were not even allowed to use the restrooms reserved for whites at work, and their achievements were taken for granted by others. Take it and they are "automatically ignored". But they did not give up their ideals and responsibilities, and eventually helped NASA put American astronauts into Earth orbit for the first time in February 1962.
Because this kind of discrimination is a "normal phenomenon" in society, it is emboldened and careless; it is obvious and not yet refined. Today in the 21st century, it is very normal for women to enter the workplace. Perhaps because of this, the discrimination faced by women has become more subtle and hidden.
Ms. Meng Huaiying, an academician of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and an academician of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, became a tenured professor at Stanford University at the age of 34. She is the inventor of the predecessor technology of WIFI. In June 2015, she was invited by National Taiwan University to mention something in her graduation speech. Story: When she was teaching at Stanford University, she took a leave of absence to start a business. Unexpectedly, soon after she started her business, her partners abandoned her halfway because they did not trust women’s ability to work. They started a new business with others, leaving her in an extremely passive and disadvantaged position. In this situation, the business plan that the two of them collaborated on at the beginning, the cooperation that they had negotiated with some people, etc. were completely unusable. At this time, a professor who had successfully started a business and was very prestigious came to her and hoped that she would not be sad because if she wanted to return to work in the industry, he believed that there would be a good company willing to do so. Hire her.
Although the professor was well-intentioned, to Ms. Meng Huaiying, his subtext was not encouragement and comfort, but hidden contempt. What she felt was the extremely powerful social subconscious underlying these comforts: a woman's working ability cannot be On par with men, it is difficult to start a business on your own. And this kind of subconsciousness may not be realized by the professor himself, so that his well-intentioned consolation turns into exquisite harm.
Meng Huaiying said: "I was almost speechless after hearing this. What an insult." "At that time, I made up my mind to prove that women can also create world-class technology companies! I was a little hesitant at first. , after hearing what he said, I decided to devote myself to starting a business.”
Meng Huaiying's company went public five years later and was sold to Qualcomm for $3 billion in 2011.
Thanks to the progress of the times, women can receive the necessary knowledge and equipment to realize their potential in the direction of their choice - whether it is starting a business, working, being a stay-at-home mother, or others - and letting facts speak louder than words. Perhaps, when such a fact becomes common practice, equality between men and women can move to a higher level, and thus become a deeper psychological fact for people.
▲Some of the "exquisiteness" is not intentional, but comes from the subconscious - the social subconscious that has been accumulated for thousands of years and integrated into culture and customs.
▲The movie "Hidden Figures" is based on real-life events. It describes how three African-American women in the United States were often challenged, discriminated against, and ignored while working at NASA in the early 1960s, and their achievements were taken for granted by others. go.
Sophistication in the church
If women in today's workplace are still experiencing varying degrees of exquisite contempt, in God's kingdom, there is another kind of contempt that is carefully crafted with a "sacred" knife, so that women can be openly treated. suppress. For example, many churches do not allow women to preach, or ordain women as pastors, or serve Communion. In short, they do not allow women to be important leaders, because Paul said: “I do not allow a woman to preach or have authority over men. , just be still." (1 Timothy 2:12)
Regarding this scripture, many exegetes emphasize that it must be viewed in context, “thinking that it is based on the family background, because the above mentioned is ordinary life. The original text of the sermon refers to authoritative teaching, which is the continuation of The above refers to husbands, not to church preaching." 1 This also explains why Paul said in another place: "Every woman who prays or preaches without covering her head dishonors her head. ” (1 Corinthians 11:5) But those who insist that women cannot “preach” often “miss” this verse. (The meaning of "head covering" will be discussed in another article.)
How much more, God himself said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the livestock of the earth and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. ” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created he; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27) Here it is said that men and women are created in the image of God and are to "ruminate" the entire earth (including the church) together. If men are forced to "forbid" women to do anything, does that mean that they have to artificially separate the image of God from the Lord?
Pastor Tang Youzhi said: "A good steward is to faithfully receive gifts, accept entrustments, and let the Lord have the right to control. People cannot use gender to dominate God's work." 3 Many churches today allow the suppression of women's service, perhaps for the same reason as Pastor Qiu Qingping pointed out: "Today, many people in the church have an understanding of the role of sisters without carefully studying the Bible. They have preconceived ideas and accepted the tradition without any discernment. It is also the most effortless way." 2
Although more brothers do not discriminate against women and are comfortable being led by female bosses in the workplace, they are indifferent to the fact that the church does not allow women to be leaders. Dr. Liang Yancheng summarized this phenomenon: "I believe that many male Christians do not intentionally discriminate against women, and they also think that they view gender issues fairly equally and openly. But in fact, there are many unconscious cultural differences. The mentality subconsciously believes that men are the mainstream, and women's status is always unimportant. Therefore, they will naturally show a kind of indifference, but they are indifferent. This is really contrary to the Bible's teachings about men. We should repent and abandon the cultural baggage of socialism.”4
The church is a beacon of society, but these "holy" discrimination against women have become an obstacle to the gospel. Many people gasped because of the church's "blatant" sex discrimination. Although they longed for the merciful and righteous Christ, they stopped. At the church door. Many gifted sisters in the church feel suppressed and excluded, and the principle of employing people based on gender rather than gifts has also hindered the church's ministry. This is a loss to the country and a real pity.
▲Understanding the role of women requires careful study of the Bible, rather than preconceived acceptance of tradition.
Strange phenomena in marriage
I once heard a well-known pastor on the Internet say to a female audience when talking about the relationship between husband and wife: "God says: You will long for your husband. Therefore, wives should love and obey their husbands well. The wife's The place is in the family.”
His teachings seem to speak to the voices of many people, as can be seen from their popularity. However, this kind of teaching is very scary, because the Bible does have a way of getting along with husbands and wives: "The husband loves his wife and his wife is submissive" - the husband loves his wife as much as he loves his own body, and the wife obeys her husband out of respect, but the theological foundation is not what it was after the fall of man. The curse of falling into: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and your husband shall have dominion over you.” (Genesis 3:16) But the redemption of Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; "Become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) "Old things" include relationships that are under a curse. If the redemption of Christ has been broken, why should we teach people to go back and fall into it again? Doesn’t this make the blood of Christ shed for redemption flow in vain? Moreover, in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
The redeemed relationship between husband and wife is a loving relationship that is freed from mutual manipulation and control. Out of love, the wife submits to her husband as the church submits to Christ; out of love, the husband gives himself for his wife as Christ gave himself for the church (Ephesians 5:22-30). Now that the curse on the relationship between husband and wife has been broken in Christ, marriage should return to the sweetness God gave it at its creation. The woman is matched with the man, and he loves her as "bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh." She becomes His helper (help in the sense of an equal, not an inferior or inferior to a superior). Love is the core of the marriage relationship and the driving force of the relationship. (For the relationship between husband and wife, please refer to my humble work "You and I, You and Me - A Marriage Pas de Deux" in Issue 43 of this magazine)
As for whether women only belong to the family, God does not think so. Otherwise, how could He say "give them dominion" over the whole earth (Genesis 1:26), instead of "him" dominating it? Women are considered to belong only to the family because they are good at taking care of the family, just as other equally outstanding talents are rejected because of the same outstanding talent. This is unfortunate for both men and women. The family is built by men and women together. Not only women belong to the family, but men also belong to the family, but they do not only belong to the family. Work (paid or unpaid) is also God’s mission for human beings, including men and women, in which they can develop the various gifts He has given and be good stewards of the world He created. As for each couple, whether the wife (or husband) gives up her career and focuses on the family, or focuses on the family at a certain stage, is their personal choice and is not a requirement of the Bible.
Some Christian brothers also apply the idea of a man loving a woman and a woman being submissive to the workplace, thinking that women should obey men. Many women think so too. I hope this is just the result of not thinking deeply, and is a conclusion naturally learned due to the patriarchal cultural psychology. Whether it is arrogance or inferiority, it can be changed by "gazing" at it-serious examination.
▲The redeemed relationship between husband and wife is a loving relationship that is freed from each other’s control and control.
Return to God’s Divine Original Purpose
Fortunately, although the relationship between the sexes is still bumpy, after all, history is progressing. Contempt has changed from high-profile to hidden and underground; from fearless to modified and refined. I hope men will be more self-reflective and neither arrogant nor humble; women should also be more self-reflective and neither humble nor overbearing. Because in God’s creation, the two sexes are not enemies, but allies. When both men and women can respect each other and help each other as equals, they can jointly reflect the glorious image of God.
Note:(For the online version of the following article, see www.ficfellowship.org/Gender-Reconciliation.html)
1. "The Ministry Role of Female Pastors from the Bible", Teng Jinhui
2. "Please stop discriminating and indifference", Qiu Qingping
3. "Sisters in the Church", Tang Youzhi
4. "Although I don't discriminate, I ignore it", Liang Yancheng
Mu Su: A traveler in life. Along the way, text sharing and "coaching" methods are used to help people improve their life and happiness.