Lady Looks Like a Dude, by Ember

So, I was looking up this passage on what are commonly referred to as male or female traits. Many people seem to have prejudice according to the way they are, or prefer to operate, and want to say that either the male, or the female traits are not as good as the other, rather than to say they are both good and necessary and create a harmonious balance together as is symbolized by the Taoist taijitu, yin/yang.  

Fourth, traditional ethics overrates culturally masculine traits like “independence, autonomy, intellect, will, wariness, hierarchy, domination, culture, transcendence, product, asceticism, war, and death,” while it underrates culturally feminine traits like “interdependence, community, connection, sharing, emotion, body, trust, absence of hierarchy, nature, immanence, process, joy, peace, and life.” Fifth, and finally, it favors “male” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize rules, rights, universality, and impartiality over “female” ways of moral reasoning that emphasize relationships, responsibilities, particularity, and partiality (Jaggar, “Feminist Ethics,” 1992). - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/ 12/30/11

If you look at all the male vs. female traits it seems that Jesus emphasized the feminine traits in his life and teachings. He, "whom God made our wisdom" (1 Cor 1:30) Wasn't he being the perfect example of the "good shepherd"? I can't imagine Jesus treating people the way that the shepherds of the Church, as a whole, treat their flock (there are good examples like St. Francis of Assisi. And remember many of the first apostles gave up their lives for their faith). But, as a whole, what wisdom are they following in doing what they do, this hierarchy? Would Jesus advocate burning at the stake?  Would a woman?  Would a mother? It seems to be very masculine based traits that are employed above the feminine. Why? By whose example? I just said the example of Jesus was to employ the feminine traits. The world was already filled with the masculine to the point of imbalance. Why go the way of dominance? The impartiality in setting down rules and regulations; "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." (Mt 23:4), above personal responsibility. This seems to be the way of man and the wisdom of man, not of God.  

What kind of "bride" is the Church preparing for Christ, the bridegroom? They themselves say that the Church is the bride. Yet they are making her out to be some sort of feminist gone wrong, if she is a woman. Or, what? Are we to think that the bride of Christ is male? If she is a woman they are making her abandon her femininity in favor of masculinity, which is feminism gone wrong, or "she" is really a "he" and that makes Christ a homosexual if he were to marry him. Which the church obviously says is wrong! If you think feminism is so wrong, if you think homosexuality is so wrong, then why are you making the Church out to be that kind of relationship? Hypocrites! Lady looks like a dude! There is no balance in the Church right now that is the problem. Femininity has not been respected even though Christ himself showed us this was the way to perfection; balance. God created them male and female. You are imbalanced if you deny one side (rib, in Heb tsela) in either the microcosm (individual person) or the macrocosm (relationships). Christ was physically male (the Word) to the world, but he balanced his personal spiritual masculinity (word) and femininity (wisdom)  and gave us the example of what the world could be in balance; Love. Word and Wisdom united as "one flesh", heiros gamos, the holy marriage, i.e., the image of God.

   

Wisdom of God vs. Wisdom of the Wise, by Ember

Wisdom of God vs. Wisdom of the Wise, why is there a difference? The wise can only be as wise as the information that they have. For example, given that the world is flat and you could sail off the edge, like on the Kansas, Point of Know Return album cover, then not sailing far away from shore or trying to travel around the world would be wise, wouldn't it? But the world is not flat, so it is not unwise to travel around the world like Magellan. The problem arises when people think that they are so certain of their first principles, when really they don't have ALL the information as of yet, and might be wrong on certain points. One wrong assumption can lead to a whole lot of "bad" wisdom.

One example of the Wisdom of God vs. the Wisdom of the Wise is in 1 Kings. I think it is funny and I wanted to use it as the example.

Then King Rehob'oam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?" And they said to him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants for ever." But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.  1Kings 12:6-8

So, King Rehob'oam did not take the counsel of the old "wise" men, which was based on love and service to others. It seemed like foolishness to him and the other young "wise" men, and they advised heavy handedness instead .  .  .

And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to the people who said to you, "Your father made our yoke heavy, but please lighten it for us"; thus shall you say to them, "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."  1 Kings 12:10-11

OK, Rehob'oam, way to go! Keep the testosterone flowing. I don't think anybody's loin size is going to mean anything when you are lying in your grave. And isn't that somewhat the point?  This world and its wisdom is fleeting. What does any of it profit you for its own sake?  Shouldn't we have our minds on the big picture, on eternity, on God's mind?

"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Heb 8:12-13 (Jer 31:34)

"Ready to vanish away" like you and I and everything, over the "Point of Know Return". Let us keep ourselves sober and awake that we might catch a ride aboard The Good Ship The Wisdom of God.