In my last post in my series on Christian Egalitarianism, we showed why I believe KENEGDO in Genesis 2’s “help meet” means that woman was made “opposite or different” than man.
Just look around you today and you will see our culture trying to minimize or deny the significant differences between men women, both physiologically and psychologically. They deny God’s natural design and order as Paul speaks about in Romans 1:
“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:18-20(NASB)
How can anyone say with a straight face that men and women are equal outside of their common humanity and their souls? Let me remind you of these differences I stated in the last post:
| Men have external sex organs | Women have internal sex organs |
| Men’s bodies are built for strength and endurance(they have more muscle mass, tougher skin, more red blood cells and experience less pain because have fewer pain receptors in their skin) | Women’s bodies are built for beauty, comfort and caregiving and they are more sensitive to pain than men are. |
| Men are systemizers | Women empathizers |
| Men have tougher skin | Women have softer skin |
| Men see less colors | Women see a broader range of colors |
| Men have faster reflexes and can track moving objects better | Women are better at multitasking |
| Men are competitive | Women are cooperative |
| Men are task oriented | Women are relationally oriented |
| Men are risk takers | Women are more cautious |
It can be “clearly seen, being understood through what has been made” (Romans 1:20) that women and men were designed for very DIFFERENT purposes and roles. To deny this is to deny a self-evident truth.
I believe based upon Romans chapter 1 that we as Christians should not stand silently by as groups claiming the Christian name, seek to minimize or deny God’s distinct design of and his roles for men and women. We should be angry at such a perversion of God’s purposes, just as he shows he was angry when men perverted what he had made.
As an American, I believe in the right of every person to believe what they will. But as a Christian we are called to defend the truth, and call out false teaching where we see it. Most Christians, and especially Bible believing Pastors, need to stand up and call out this teaching for what it is – heresy pure and simple.
I believe the answer to why God made woman so opposite from man can be found in this verse:
“Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”
I Corinthians 11:9(KJV)
We can see from both Genesis 2 and I Corinthians 11 that God created woman for man. When we understand this principle, then we understand that God created a helper for Adam, who was not just his mirror opposite, but someone whose opposite attributes would complement Adam.
Adam needed someone who would be able to bear and care for his children, he need someone to care for his home while he hunted and worked the fields. God not only made woman with the natural ability to become pregnant and after birth be able to feed the child from her breasts, but he also gave woman the emotional ability to empathize and work with children in a way most men are incapable of doing.
A woman should never be mocked for being emotional (as some men do), because this a gift from God which enables her to be the perfect mother, as well as great caregiver to the sick and elderly.
But God did not just give women breasts for feeding children, he gave them breasts for the pleasure and comfort of man. Human females are the only mammals who have constantly protruding breasts, even when they are not pregnant or nursing children.
Because men are so visually wired by God, he made a woman’s body for beauty, not for toughness and endurance the way a man’s body is built.
But besides these practical differences, God also created woman for spiritual and symbolic reasons. God created man in his image, to exercise God’s leadership, provision and protection qualities. But man needed a person, not just some animal, which would allow him to exercise these traits. Woman was perfectly designed by God to fulfill this role as the recipient of man’s leadership, provision and protection, and to provide him with the perfect helper and companion.
God could have made men and women much more similar than he did. He could have made women just as strong, and with the exact same nature and abilities, but he did not. God purposefully made woman weaker and more fragile (both emotionally and physically) than man, so that she would need his leadership, protection and provision.
In my next post in this series on Christian Egalitarianism, I will talk in more detail about the Bible calling woman “the weaker vessel”.
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Why does the Bible call woman the weaker vessel?
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Biblical Gender Roles 
Very interesting. I have a similar table of contrasts between men and women that used other parameters for assessment. the list keeps growing. Intriguing!
I list these differences all over my blog, because it is truth that stands in front of us every day of our lives. How can anyone look at a woman and man and say they are completely equal? It is laughable. It reminds me of the story of the Emperor’s new cloths. Everyone knew the Emperor was actually completely naked, yet everyone had to pretend he had clothes, this is no different. It is sad. As believers we are called to bring people back to the truth of God’s Word.
In my opinion, the doctrines of marriage and gender roles(and yes they are taught in Scripture) are second in importance only to the doctrines of the Gospel, the trinity and Biblical inerrancy. The reason is that if we embrace God’s design for our gender, and for marriage, many of life’s questions and questions regarding our direction in life fall into place. It is when we reject God’s design for genders and marriage that we have all the chaos and turmoil we are now facing as a society.
I LOVE the male anatomy, and I’m very outspoken about it. I think that the male body is the most beautiful, attractive, lustful thing in all of creation. Strong legs ,abs stomach ,handsome manly face, lips ,eyes ,also muscular arms and shoulders, also cute hands and feet, muscular thighs ” like football players thighs. The penis and the scrotum are beautiful parts of the male anatomy. I adore every inch of it. I disagree when I hear the statement that female bodies are more attractive; to me male bodies are more attractive. From a female perspective, because women are programmed for attraction to men. The male body is in no way aesthetically inferior to the female body.
I think us woman, are taught to be the reciepents of desire, instead of the instigators because that would be taking the dominant position. Women simply need to realize that society and the media are in some sense brain washing them.
Chloe,
I have no doubt that you are a very visually driven woman. I also would not disagree that many women find various features of men to be attractive. Some women have a sex drive that is more visually wired, than emotionally wired and you might be one of those women. But would respectfully submit to you that you are in the minority of women if you are like a man and are driven more by visual than emotional wiring when it comes to attraction. This does not make you bad, it just makes you different.
There are some men, rare men, who are more like most women in that they are more emotionally driven, than visually driven when it comes to attraction, again there is nothing wrong these men, they are just different.
I honestly don’t believe this has anything to do with brainwashing women. In fact our society is trying to push women to be more like men in their sexuality. For instance they try and encourage women to discuss mens physical characteristics, as opposed to their internal and emotional characteristics which most women would rather discuss. If you take a group of men talking about women, the vast majority of the time they are going to be talking about physical characteristics, rather than emotional characteristics.
Having said all that – you may be shocked to find that while I don’t think most women naturally see attraction and sexual desire the way you do, I do think that Christian women should be trained to respect their husband’s physical sexual desire, and even if they don’t naturally care much about physical sexuality, they need to cultivate a stronger sexual desire so that they can please their husbands.
@BGR,
With regards to the physical attraction thing, I think that you might be a bit biased. (Nothing wrong with that. I’d expect a heterosexual man to be biased toward women, after all.) For example, all the reasons that you list for why women are more attractive than men are reasons why I would consider women to be less attractive than men. Women having more fat and less muscle? That makes their bodies look less firm than men’s. Women having smaller chins and less defined features overall? That makes their features look less artistic and purposefully structured than men’s. Breasts vs. pecs? If you compare weird and often less-than-perky (especially when they get bigger) balls of fat to firm and defined, muscularity, pecs win for me. Vulvas? Honestly, they look like creepy and deformed flowers to me. Strength vs. delicact in terms of touch? Being able to feel strong arms and legs and butt and chest and back and all feels amazing to me. The flesh isn’t yielding, and I can really grip and hold on hard. Basically, it all boils down to women enjoying the feel and look of a man’s outward indicators of strength and capability.
As for visually vs. emotionally based attraction…I think that you’ve said before that women are more holistic when it comes to sexual attraction, and that’s more accurate, IMO, than what you’ve stated here. I know that I’m pushing my own anecdotes here, but I will say that from the time that I was a preteen and my female friends and I were discussing boys, we always focused on who was cute rather than who was nice. My first real, intense crush occurred when I was 10 or 11 and was completely against my will. I didn’t actually like his personality at all. I thought that he was mean, and I didn’t like that he worked less hard at school than I did. It didn’t matter at all. I just recognized that he was super cute one day right out of the blue, and it was about a year before I could look directly at him without blushing. (I will also say that at that age, I was insanely awkward and bookish and barely even knew the names of the cool band and singers. I could only tell you the name of one, maybe two, cool songs. I was not culturally influenced.) My friends that I made later had similar experiences. A number orb them I discovered years later with the same guy as I did. I’ve also definitely had experiences in the past before I met my husband where I could really enjoy talking to a guy and where they would open up to me emotionally about their problems. But I just felt zero attraction to them because I just didn’t find them good-looking. Conversely, I found myself very physically attracted to men whom I found good looking and thought had good characters, but we couldn’t carry on a conversation, not due to awkwardness but due to incompatible personalities. I felt no emotional connection to them. My husband was the first and only man with whom I ever felt physical attraction, respect, and an emotional connection. The first one happened upon first glance. The second one happened within the span of our first conversation. The third developed quickly when we began talking and discovered how similar our values were and how well our personalities complemented one another. (And I’ll definitely concede that men and women are often very different in their personalities and that those differences often work well toward a better marital relationship.)
And to clarify, I’m not arguing that God made men to be attractive to women. Granted, I do think that men’s looks and bodies are also a testament to God’s wisdom and design capabilities, and I think that we can see countless examples where the idealized male form has inspired great works of art. But because God made man first and woman second, it makes far more sense to say that women were designed to be attractive to men rather than the reverse. But because woman was made a helper and a complement to man, I think that it makes a lot of sense to say that women were made with the nature to be attracted to men, especially since the male body represents men’s abilities and purpose just as much as the female body represents women’s abilities and purpose. Men’s bodies represent their strength and their durability, which in turn represent their ability to protect and provide. It only makes sense that women would be attracted to that on a purely physical level. The reason that they tend to need to feel respect and an emotional connection to feel comfortable acting on that physical attraction is because they need to know that they’re getting a good father for their children and a committed husband. Plus, they (women) need a powerful motivation to remain monogamous.
Finally, I don’t mean to say that I think that women in general are physically disgusting for having a higher body fat percentage and a lower muscle mass than men. I realize that my language was a little bit hyperbolic in places. All that I really want to emphasize is that the things that men find attractive in women are not generally things that women find attractive in themselves or in general because they’re designed to be physically attracted to men and masculine physical traits. (My pet theory is that this is why women sometimes wish that they were taller, thinner, and less curvy. They’re failing to recognize on some level that what men are attracted to physically is the opposite of what they’re attracted to physically.)
Lets us Proclaim the mystery of Faith since Most women nowadays are very Complicated and down right Stupid as well unfortunately. Today it is hard to talk too a woman that likes to Curse at us men for No Reason at all when you try to Strike up a Normal Conversation with them which this has happened to me. And i have friends that had this happened to them as well which makes these women so Very Pathetic and such Losers now more than ever. It is just too bad that God didn’t make Normal women like he did in the Past which Most of them back then were the Best of all. It is very Obvious why our Family Members were very Blessed to find Real Love in those days since it was a Totally Different Time than today since many of Family Members now are still together today as i speak.
Just to add a lot more Truth to my comment which Most women unfortunately have No Good Manors at all these days, have such a very Bad Attitude Problem, No Personality whatsoever which makes it even more sad. Most women that have a Career today are so very Greedy And Selfish more than ever before since they’re making a Six Figure Income that they Never made in their life years ago which really has Changed them for the Worst. So even though God made women which makes it very Difficult for many of us Good Innocent Men out there now looking for Real Love ourselves since many of us Would’ve been married with our own Family by now had we been born many years Earlier when Most women back then were Nothing at all like today.
Interesting article. I do disagree slightly about women being weaker emotionally. In my experience, emotional strength depends greatly on life experience and individual character and has very little to with gender. I think people think women are emotionally weaker because they care about smaller details more than men and are permitted by society to show their emotion (through crying). I’d like to hear more of your thoughts.
Misha,
I do believe women as a whole are more sensitive or weaker emotionally. It is not just a matter of it being more acceptable for them to show their emotions. It is not just a cultural thing – the typical man has the God given ability to compartmentalize his emotions – most women do not have that ability. The reason is that God made men as duty driven, mission driven creatures and he made women as relational creatures.
A woman’s more emotional and relational nature is an asset to her caring for children and the sick but it is a hindrance to her in a battlefield situation.
@BGR,
Would you say that women’s (generally) greater sensitivity to other’s emotions, keener observance of body language, and relational way of thinking is also an asset to them maritally? Obviously, these traits can be channeled to have a negative impact on marriage, just as men’s tendency towards compartmentalization can have a negative impact on a marriage. But I’d argue that when channeled correctly, men and women’s different ways of processing and expressing emotion can be mutually beneficial as long as each spouse understands that the other processes and expresses feelings differently. Women can be good supporters and confidantes to their husbands as long as they don’t push them to talk when they don’t want to or aren’t ready while men can be good at calming their wives as long as they don’t dismiss their feelings right off the bat.
Alex,
Your Statement:
Absolutely a woman’s emotional intelligence(her emotional sensitivity) is a great asset to her in her caring for the needs of her husband and children. And yes sometimes a man’s ability to compartmentalize can be negative in the same way a woman’s emotional nature can be a negative.
You care correct that it is all in the correct channeling of our different natures. God made woman to compliment man – that is obvious.
Definitely! And compartmentalization can certainly be good when offering emotional comfort. I’ve noticed that whenever I’ve had something bad happen and been in need of assistance, I’ve always found people who were able to distance themselves from what happened to me while still showing compassion often provided the most help, both practically and emotionally. Basically, instead of putting me in a position where I had to keep reassuring that I was basically okay, they could offer advice and assistance and give me the space to express why I was shaken up by the experience.
And of course empathy is good for comfort because the better an empathizer someone is, the more he or she can help another person put their feelings into words so that they can understand and then cope.
Well for many of us good men looking for love these days is very impossible now unfortunately since most women are very different today compared to the past when they were so much nicer and a lot easier to meet as well. Today most women do prefer men with money since they will very rarely go with a man that doesn’t make that much money since most women now do really want the very best of all and will never settle for less either. Many of us men really don’t care about money when making enough money for us to get by is good enough for us. And unfortunately for most women which it is all about money for them which makes it very sad how women can be these days. And now you have all of these very stupid reality TV shows as well as the media that has certainly corrupted many of these women’s minds altogether which makes these women so very horrible today as well. I will certainly say that the women in the past really did put the women of today to real shame as well since this is a very excellent reason why so many of us men are still single now since it does really take two too tango today.