Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences.
A very heart-aching article (for me personally). :) You know, I have two female colleagues who are quite disrespectful towards me - maybe because I'm soft-spoken, but recently with the encouragement of my other colleagues, taken a stand to be gentle but assertive. But yes, food for thought - what are your thots abt it? To what extent is this valid in Singapore? And more importantly, how could the church respond to strengthen men in general?
Personally, I believe the natural order, as ordained by God, is that man was created to lead, provide for and to protect the woman, while the woman will nurture, support and give birth to more men. A beautiful partnership. Both were equal in their importance, though the man was to be the head... to feminists out there, just because the head is, well, the head, doesn't make the body any less important. I mean, if you remove the head from the body, both won't function very well after that. :P However, the Bible shows us that after Adam sinned and fell, he started pushing the blame onto the woman, and the woman would end up trying to please the man and having pains in childbirth.
I think the church should, against all protests of the world, be a healthy place where both men and women can be what God created them to be, yet having a blessed equality - we are all one in Christ, yet the wife submits to the husband as a model of the church's submission to Christ, and the husband loves the wife as Christ loves the church. So we need to guard against the worldly ideas of feminism, and be courageously counter-cultural, in setting an example for the world to show how gentlemanly the brothers can be to the sisters - being servant-leaders to them, while the sisters can take the lead in supporting. Such a beautiful interplay of mutual servanthood...
I see a beautiful example in my brother-in-law. Everytime my sister goes out, he will kneel down to tie her shoelaces. Obviously my sister is more than capable of tying her own shoelaces, yet she submits to my brother-in-law's initiative by allowing him to serve her, while of course my brother-in-law shows macho servanthood by kneeling down to tie her shoelaces. Such a beautiful model for me to see! :)
As for me, haha, with my disrespectful colleagues, God reminded me that He is a mighty warrior, and when there's a time to take a stand, He will help me stand firm and put them in their right places. =) But yeah, need wisdom and discernment for the right time... and meanwhile, praying.
So I also thought about God. I think He shows us how to be men - and how being a real man demonstrates to the world a certain aspect of God's Personness. And how being a real woman demonstrates the glory of a beautiful Church. Still, I find this a mystery far too deep to grasp fully, as Paul said. But well, just stand and admire the beauty of two genders.
(Why did God create TWO genders, anyway? Why not one or three or multiple?)
It gave me a good insight into God's patience too. We often demand that God work faster. But sometimes God is more patient than we deserve. He deliberately holds back and let us insult Him, even though He has every right to destroy us. (That's why I admire Kim Leong's heart so much - that he does respect and fear God as God.) He even let us crucify Him, because He knew that we did not know what we were doing.
But to those who know already, God doesn't mince His words nor His deeds. "It is mine to avenge; I will repay." The tender heart of a caring Father, with the wings of a mother hen gathering her chicks... but also the fearsome and awful wrath of a holy God, trampling sinners like grapes in the mashing-pit, full of blood. Because He will fight to the death (and He did) to defend those He loves, and those who hate Him and will fight against Him, He warns, warns and warns yet again - till the point of utter rebellion. A powerful and mighty Father God fighting for His flock with the fury and ferocity of a mother defending her children from slaughter. Wow. Again and again, I marvel at how a father and mother can, when combined, demonstrate so powerfully - though it be but a mere shadow - the perfect wholeness of a thrice-holy God. Blessed be the LORD God Almighty, King of Kings and Lord of Lord, and the Shepherd of our souls - blessed be the triune God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, world without end! =) (Hee, sorry to get all so doxological here =D but yeah, true, true, isn't it?)
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