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Godly Versus Ungodly Feminism

Godly Versus Ungodly Feminism

In the beginning, God created sinless perfection. Adam and Eve were created as equals, with neither one to rule over the other, but to live in the perfect harmony of other-centered love.

One Christian writer put it this way:

God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided “an help meet for him” – a helper corresponding to him – one who was fitted to be his companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 46).

Adam was made in God’s image, and God is love. Adam could not advance, develop, or experience the fullness of Godlike love without someone for him to serve, to love, to give of himself to uplift. Eve was created as a “helper” to Adam – to help him experience and grow in Godlike love as he gave of himself for her good. And Eve was to receive this love and have it flow back to Adam in loving service for him. Thus, in unity with God, the three reveal and represent the Triune perfection of Godlike love.

Equality in God’s design is the equality of moral worth – the equal need of both male and female to be united as “one” in other-centered love, and the equal treatment of God’s design laws upon both. God purposely did not make them equal in abilities, but with complementary abilities that when united in godly love would expand, ennoble, develop, and elevate both partners beyond that which either one could experience or achieve individually. It is in this unity of love that humanity flourishes and becomes truly godlike. Thus, Satan hates this God-designed unity of equal partners in other-centered love and seeks to destroy it.

Sadly, God’s perfect design of equality of man and woman was fractured when Adam and Eve broke trust with God. Love was displaced, and fear and selfishness were established in their hearts as their primary motivating drives to action. This necessarily debased and perverted God’s design for human relationships from love to selfishness. God accurately diagnosed what would be the result of this change in the nature of humankind: “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). That is, the strong (men) will dominate the physically weaker (women), and the physically weaker (women) will seek protection from the strong (men).

To those who view God running His universe like sinful humans, making up rules and punishing rule breakers to enforce His way, they read this as God inflicting a new hierarchy on human beings – either as a punishment to women or as a necessary safeguard. But those who understand God is Creator know that His laws are the laws upon which reality is built and that breaking God’s design laws has unavoidable damaging consequences. They realize that God merely diagnosed and pronounced the new reality that Adam and Eve chose when they changed themselves from operating upon love to operating upon fear and selfishness.

As sad as this state was for God, He knew, and later revealed to the apostle Paul, that “women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (1 Timothy 2:15 NIV84). Sadly, those operating upon the principles of the world in which the strong dominate the weak read this to mean that women should be kept subordinate to men, ruled by men, and function as baby-factories.

Yet those who understand design law realize, again, that this was God merely pronouncing the power of love that is magnified in the heart of women when they become mothers. It is the power of love that keeps one safe from fear and selfishness. It is love that overcomes, love that heals, love that cures the disease of sin. And in childbirth, women experience the greatest potency of human love possible – something men do not experience. Neurobiologically, through the largest surges of oxytocin a person can experience, a new mother’s brain rewires with an intense love for her child, one far beyond any love she previously experienced. This love battles against the temptations of selfishness and leads her to a greater likelihood of living like Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Philippians 2:6–8 NIV84).

The Bible teaches that as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they ran and hid because they were afraid (Genesis 3:10). Yet “there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18 NIV84).

God pronounced that their sin damaged the hearts of human beings, displacing love and instilling fear and selfishness; how men would dominate women; but also how women would be protected from being consumed by fear and selfishness through childbirth, which magnifies motherly love, enhancing her ability to resist selfishness and live more closely to Christ and God’s ideal for humankind. (This does not mean that women do not need to be converted or to surrender to Christ, or are in some way saved through childbirth, but merely that the increased maternal love allows them to experience the joy of love, which increases their awareness of their need for Christ and may contribute to a willingness to surrender to Christ more readily).

When a man experiences genuine conversion, he dies to fear and selfishness, receives a new heart with the motives of Christ, and from that moment forward begins to treat his wife like Christ treats the church, sacrificing himself for her. (Ephesians 5:25). This means that as we grow to become like Jesus, God’s original design is restored, and genuine equality is experienced the closer we come to Christ. Such men no longer seek to dominate their weaker partners, but seek to give of themselves to uplift their spouses. Women in such marriages no longer live in fear but flourish in love, trust, and freedom – and also seek to uplift and benefit their husbands. The bonded pair operating upon love become ever more Christlike and their capacities grow and expand.

When God’s principles are practiced (truth, love, freedom), people experience peace, wellness, growth, development, maturity, health, and happiness.

When Satan’s principles are practiced (lies, selfishness, coercion), people experience fear, insecurity, corruption, stagnation, decline, immaturity, sickness, and misery.

 

Godly and Ungodly Feminism

Godly feminism is the restoration of God’s character, methods, and principles into the heart of women, so that they can fulfill God’s purpose in their lives. In other words, they love like Jesus loves.

Ungodly feminism is the feminism of the selfish world – it is the way of me-first, driven by fear and a willingness to hurt others to get one’s way. It seeks not to restore the image of God in women, but instead seeks to make women more like the unconverted, worldly, arrogant, self-centered men who dominate, coerce, and control others.

Throughout history, men have been more violent, more domineering, and more sexually promiscuous than women. Women have been less violent, more peaceful, more submissive, and more faithful and chaste. Historically, it has been these qualities of love, selflessness, and faithfulness in women that have held families together – despite the abuses and exploitation by men.

It is a sad reality of history – and one that is still occurring in various places in the world today – that self-centered men have abused and exploited women, denying them education, treating them like property to be traded, denying them leadership roles, denying them opportunity to fulfill God’s calling for their lives, denying them the opportunity to develop to their full potential, denying them equal pay for equal work, and denying them a vote in democratic societies, etc.

This abusive and prejudicial treatment resulted in a feminist movement that, perhaps, originally intended to stop the exploitation and mistreatment of women by men and merely sought genuine moral equality. Such goals, and actions that restore people to God’s design of love, freedom, respect, and equality, are truly godly and I fully support them.

However, the feminist pursuit of equality has, overtime, developed one major error in its application – namely, it has made the goal to be equal to unconverted, self-centered men, rather than the moral equality of the unity of love as God designed.

What this worldly feminist movement has actually done has been to corrupt women by teaching that to be equal to men means to be equally promiscuous (have as many sexual partners as you want), equally selfish (don’t worry about sacrificing for others but only about getting yourself ahead), equally career-oriented (don’t have children – but if you do, don’t sacrifice your career to raise them; rather, put them in daycare and advance yourself).

The modern feminist movement is not the panacea of godly equality that uplifts, ennobles, and heals, but is the cauldron of worldliness that is certainly making women equal to men – but equal in greed, corruption, and selfishness.

Activities that seek equality in society – such as equal pay for equal work – are righteous and should be pursued and supported as long as the methods used do not corrupt character in the process.

So do we need to pursue equality for women? Absolutely! But only in harmony with God’s design for humankind, leading people to treat and love each other as moral equals – which, in reality, means to lead men to become more Christlike and treat women as Christ treats the church, sacrificing ourselves in love to uplift women, rather than taking the noble and godly character traits of womanhood (love, faithfulness, compassion, self-sacrifice) and replacing those qualities with the traits of this sinful world and leading women to be just as debased as unconverted men. 

 

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After reading your book, ‘Could It Be This Simple,’ someone was explaining Christianity in a way that made sense to me for the first time in my life. One morning, I simply prayed “I’m sorry and I love you.” As soon as I silently said that, I could literally feel God’s presence and light flood down on me from above and fill me up with love and joy. I sat there crying my eyes out, because I was so overpowered with this feeling of love and joy. It was just so incredible. I hope that more people can read this book and get a blessing from it. It’s really amazing.

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It was very touching to hear the testimony of your class share how viewing God’s true character has changed their lives. My feelings are the same – there is so much freedom in knowing that God LOVES me – regardless of my… just, REGARDLESS! I’m still blown away by the true gospel, the fact that God is not ready to strike us when we fail. He is not arbitrary. He simply loves us and warns of the natural consequences because He can’t stand to see us suffer. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GOD!!!

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I just want to say thank you so much for your conversations via YouTube. I regularly tune in to your lectures, “Let’s Talk” sessions, and many others. Through these I’ve found greater depth and meaning to God’s word. Thanks for all that you do and please continue. I’m currently working in the middle of Silicon Valley at Stanford University. I feel like God really has me in the right place right now and I’m sensing that your teachings might be part of it.

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I have been confused for years about what [christianity] calls [its] most disgusting teaching. It has never made much sense to me and for that reason has been evermore empty. I have listened to your class off and on and have struggled determining what is truth, because of the resistance design law encounters in the church. So, I thank God for your ministry. What you teach makes sense. It’s logical and backed up by the power of love. I have never seen that in Christ until now. I am astounded by the insight that is found when we look at God’s ministry through design law. All strength to this message, as I believe it to be the power of God.

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I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

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Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

Testimony 29

Thank you for all of your work to correct misconceptions about God’s character. So many people that my husband and I have talked to seem to be against the natural law construct and view it as “errant” and “dangerous.” Having learned more about it through your blogs and lessons, I don’t really understand why they view it that way, except that it means they have to relearn theology they have known for their entire lives. But I’m so excited to relearn this. For the past few years I have been questioning how I could trust a God who punishes arbitrarily and is full of wrath for those who don’t obey His commands. That view made me afraid to “mess up” or “not be good enough,” even within my relationship with God. I really appreciated the point you bring out about God not wanting us to serve Him because we are afraid, but because we love Him.

Melissa H., IN, USA

 

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I was introduced to Come and Reason Ministries by accident, via a passing comment made in a bible study class we were visiting. I checked this website out and my life was changed. The understanding of the truth of God’s character, and how we apply it, is so right. The tricky part is consistently applying which “lens” to look through. As I began to understand, I started sharing the basics of this understanding with a discussion group I was leading and, suddenly, a lot of things started to make sense that never used to. At the same time, I enjoyed an amazing opportunity. I was able to conduct a full bible study at WORK! What an amazing experience! It is such a joy to share the truth about God and to share how it all fits in the war between God and Satan. So many people benefit when we have a correct understanding about how God works and who He really is! Thank you for this transformational understanding. Keep up the good work! God Bless you!

Tony P., CA, USA

 

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Thank you for the ministry you are sharing with us, it is a real blessing to us and especially to my husband and myself! You are encouraging us to think for ourselves and not just to except everything, without thinking it through, with God’s word!

M.K., USA

 

Testimony 46

Over the past couple of years God has been expanding my view of Himself and His character. Along my approximately 40-year journey, I have often had questions, but was hesitant to voice these and step outside the traditionally accepted thinking, for fear of admitting that I may in fact be eternally lost. In the recesses of my thinking has been the thought – if one blindly accepts (which is widely regarded as “real faith”) and does not question, is this really ‘truth?’ I often find it challenging to grapple with very theological ‘speak,’ but Dr. Jennings has a real gift of explaining spiritual concepts with clear practical examples. The weekly discussions are growing my Christian experience and slowly changing my view of how to live as a child of God in today’s complex world. Finally the whole Old Testament sanctuary teaching moved in my mind from fantasy to reality!

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You have helped make sense of thirty two years of confusion. The material you freely provide reorganized so much of my life into such a beautiful pattern that has always been hinted at from within, but misguided with my training and what I was experiencing externally. My filipno parents, who were converted from Catholicism to SDA, were sincere and did their best to raise me the right way and I have deep respect for them. However, being immigrants and not understanding the language made for a difficult transition as I was growing up, which also applied to my spiritual growth as I learned the patterns of religion. I have been listening to as many bible study classes and reading blog posts as my time in a work truck will allow, searching for the practical applications of where spirituality and reality meet, and I thank you for helping me find that. You have helped me reach a point in which I can truly say that I love God, that I believe He loves me, and, like David, I delight in His law. God bless.

Emmanuel V., Calgary, AB Canada

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I grew up in a prominent protestant church and had what I like to call religious anxiety. I’ve always had questions about God and Salvation that no one could seem to answer.  I didn’t know how to find resolution. During 2020, at the height of my anxiety, I fell to my knees and begged God to show me truth and light and to give me the hope that I’ve been longing for. Days later, I stumbled upon your online videos and it was like a veil was lifted and EVERYTHING made sense! For the first time in my almost 39 years of life, my religious/spiritual anxiety has lessened. I feel a sense of freedom and peace I’ve NEVER had before… and it’s all because my view of God has changed. Thank you!

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