Should Jesus be like us, or should we strive to be like Jesus? Should we shape our view of Jesus based on how he is presented in the bible, or through the Western view of gender? What, exactly, does God’s design mean for humanity?
It seems we have allowed ourselves to create an image of Jesus that doesn’t stand up to his depiction in the bible. In the Gospels we learn of a Jesus who values the concept of a suffering servant, one focused on community, equality, and inclusiveness. He is gentle: known for promoting non-violent resistance against injustice, and using that non-violent stance as a strength rather than a weakness. Bible Jesus sees and understands the interconnectedness of humanity, and how hierarchy creates damaging power and domination. Loving, peaceful, social justice-minded, and compassionate bible Jesus does not sound much like the Jesus we hear of today. Bible Jesus seems to have been in touch with his feminine side, and quite comfortably so.
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If society is changing to afford women more opportunities, we leave bible Jesus behind and whip out our multi-tool Jesus. Suddenly we expect men to man up, act like the warrior Jesus was, be strong and patriotic, live by the sword, keep women in their place, lead their church, and teach boys how to man up like Jesus too.
Commercialized multi-tool Jesus sells products and fills seats in churches. If our clergy is telling us that the church will fail unless ‘real men’ step up like Jesus to save it, to fight for it, to be the head of it, that women are not equal to men and must be ‘cared for’, then we are seeing a different image of Jesus than that which was laid out for us in the bible. We see power and domination taking precedence over mercy and compassion, and we change
...ous jeopardy. Our culture is unquestionably wrecked. “We have lost as a nation a fear of God. Our walls of protection and righteousness have come crashing down, and we are living in the rubble,” Kay said (True Woman). As I read “The Abolition of Man” and listened to Kay Arthur’s message from the True Woman’s conference, it just reassures that with complete confidence no man is ever going to come to the Father but through Jesus.
In today's world, it is very easy to allow our perception of Jesus to be skewed by our ideology, attempting to define Him in light of our preconceived views. As a Christian whose political views generally lean to the conservative side, I still must recognize that both conservativism and liberalism are man-made philosophies, both having their respective limitations in regards to biblical truth. As Christian sociologist Tony Campolo astutely points out:
In today’s society boys become men when they hit puberty or lose their virginity. But women on the other hand become women when they get married and have children. It was commonly known that men earn more money in the workplace, and hold higher positions. Since years ago women have been able to do nothing, they had no say nor, could they vote. Women were expected to keep quiet when a problem occurred and not speak up for what they believed in. It was the stereotype that “a woman’s place was in the home”. The men were out making the money for the family so it was like what could you possi...
...behavior for women and perhaps to masculine. A common misconception about feminism is that women should and only stay home, watch the kids, and support the man. A common phrase would be to “keep the women in the kitchen.” Today, you can find many women getting an education, reaching higher levels beyond college, and working high paying careers and some out producing men, in this case, staying home and becoming a house wife should not be an option. Women today are not only a pretty face. With women having power in our government, control of education and big name corporations. Regardless of gender, no one should follow the influence of something that would promote people to become less than who they are. Hard work and effort would be put to waste if women today allowed themselves to just stay at home instead of doing something with themselves and for the better good.
The central teachings of traditional Christianity teachings were created to assure that man could work out his salvation. Therefore, making man responsible for finding his way to God, so that he could have a personal relationship with his Savior through Jesus the Son of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2017). Jesus Christ attracted followers who eventually took his teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond. Jesus, who was born to Mary and Joseph in Judea teaching methods placed him in conflict with prevailing Jewish beliefs and authorities; nevertheless, Jesus message inspired a small group of followers, who believed he was the Messiah (Matthews et al., 2014). However, the meaning of Jesus’s
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus in a topical manner. This paper will be divided into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will discuss about the nature of a gospel, Johns views vs. the Synoptic, whether or not the writers of the gospels were eyewitnesses and how they used written sources and also about what is Q source and how Mathew and Luke were similar when it came to their sources; how the old testament stories (Moses, Samuel, Elijah) used to interpret Jesus and finally whether or not Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesses birth and childhood, the miracles, his resurrection and also the actions Jesus did relating to curing people, spirits and how they are these interpreted: prophet, magician, madman compare Saul and Elijah. In the final part of the paper, I will discuss about what Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of the Romans and what he meant by the end of the world and also the reason behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible (Gospels of John, Mark, Matthew and Luke) and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
Joletha Cobb, a minister and an NCCA licensed clinical pastoral counselor, explained the expectations of genders in accordance with past centuries with an emphasis on the bible. Women “were expected to bear children, stay home, cook and clean, and take care of the children” (Cobb 29). They were expected to be weak, timid, domestic, emotional,...
Phillips says that the future of men is women because women have a long standing battle or history of women’s movement and right protests. The study of masculinity is growing due to the influence of the successful feminist movements. Women and Men are compared to one another for the longest time, but men has always been the dominant during the early stages of humankind. It is said that male and female bodies were innate and suited for specifics roles in society. In the 18th century, male bodies were more superior, stronger, more able, suited to be leaders, roles in government, business, family and land. While the females we're fragile, weaker mentally, and physically, and better suited for childbearing and household roles (Phillips, 514) . Males have always had the upperhand, but no one ever talks about their insecurities and
Men were taught to be superior to women since the dawn of time, whereas females were looked down upon. Ruled by patriarchy, it was hard for most of these women to do more than just be a stay at home wife. In some of the stories we have read, the women were portrayed as submissive, obedient, with no voice. Women have struggled to break out of this mold and find a voice for themselves. However, some managed to break out of these expectations and standards. Women and men have had to fulfill different set standards before anyone had stepped foot outside the womb. For both genders those standards came with different expectations.
Throughout the history of mankind, there has always been a common belief that women exist inferior to men. The Bible demonstrates that God made the first woman Eve from the rib of Adam and God “[does] not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet” (1 Timothy 2:11-15). However, understanding their important role in the family and society and feeling tired of being undertreated by men, women finally stood up for themselves. In the 19th century, the Feminist Movement emerged and completely changed the lives of millions of women in the United States until this day. The Movement provides the new perspectives and protects the rights of women in social and political aspects.
One of the most perplexing events in the ministry of Jesus Christ is His resurrection from the dead. Many skeptics look at it as made up stories or hallucinations, or mass hysteria, yet the biblical accounts and other evidences point to another conclusion. This research paper will explore three pieces of evidence that the resurrection story is factual and can be accepted as a historical event.
I think these changes have occurred because women’s’ role in the society have changed over the years. Until recently, women were the weaker sexes compared to the dominating males. Women were passive and were just happy being portrayed as such. However, over the years, more and more women fought for their rights and nowadays want equality with men. More women have taken up occupations, which before were considered to be men’s jobs.
Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders.
In the beginning of the Bible in the Book of Genesis, it is revealed to use in 1:26-27 that God has created man in his image. The text verbatim states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” From this distinct text we can clearly conclude that when ad created man and woman, they were destined to be in God’s image and carry his image throughout his creation. Today we can see that many of us do not live in God’s image due to society becoming more secularized as it progresses through the years, however as Christians we can verse this by living in God’s image in our chosen vocations, churches, and even in the secular world.
Men have dominated the workforce for most of civilization up until their patriotic duties called away to war. All of a sudden, the women were responsible for providing for their family while the men were away. Women went to work all over America to earn an income to insure their family’s survival. Women took all sorts of jobs including assembly line positions, office jobs, and even playing professional baseball. When the men returned home from war, the women were expected to resume their place as housewives. The women who had gotten a taste of the professional life decided that they wanted to continue working. Thus, the introduction to women in a man’s working environment began. Women were not taken seriously at first, because they were stepping into a “man’s world”.