Obstacles on the Way to God - #5
5. God is a humanist and appoints the same rights and duties to men and women.
Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:
Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:
- God's Law does not value an individual person's life as the highest value, but puts God first. If someone violates God's Law and defiles himself, the people and the land, capital punishment is necessary to wash the sin away (see the following chapters for numerous examples: Exo 21, Lev 20, Lev 24, Num 35, Deu 13, Deu 17). In Deuteronomy, the phrase "thou shalt put the evil away from among you" clarifies the concept behind capital punishment: It is a means of loving your neighbor by not allowing anyone evil to dwell among the brethren to hurt them, lead them astray or defile them (Deu 17:7, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21, 22:24, 24:7). If God was a humanist, the worst thing that could happen would be the death of a person. But God's Law ranks higher than an individual life, so a grave violation of the Law that endangers all the brethren is to be paid for by the death of the transgressor (and sometimes also his household).
- Genesis shows the different roles of men and women in the dominion covenant (Gen 1:28). Eve is called Adam's help meet (Gen 2:18), not his equal. The curses that follow the fall in Gen 3 make their respective roles more difficult: Eve is going to bear her children in pain, and Adam is going to work the soil with more difficulties. Besides, the curses clarify that it is not Eve who should "run the show", but that it is Adam's responsibility to lead his house (Gen 3:16-17).
- Paul and Peter both stress the different roles of husband and wife, men and women, several times (1Cor 11:3-16 and 14:33-35; Eph 5:22-33; Col 3:18-24; 1Ti 2:9-15; Titus 2:1-8; Heb 11:8-12; 1Pe 3:1-7). To write off these roles (as well as God's judgments about what is abominable to Him and defiles us) as cultural, means to deny that the triune God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), and that all Scripture is profitable for instruction (2Ti 3:16).
