Flight From Womanhood
June 5, 2009 3:11 pm creation, The Home Philosopher Peter Kreeft, commenting on Francis Bacon’s Man’s Conquest of Nature, had this to say, “The term in the phrase Man’s Conquest of Nature is a sexually chavinistic term, not because all use of the traditional generic “Man” is, but because we have a civilization that is in the midst of what Karl Stern called “the flight from woman.” We extol action over being, analysis over intuition, problems over mysteries, success over contentment, conquering over nurturing, the quick fix over life-long commitments, the prostitute over the mother” (Ravi Zacharias, I, Isaac, Take Thee Rebekah, 16).
This flight from womanhood is the costly price we have paid in our gender wars by making difference synonymous with hierarchy. God made the differences, and those differences are purposeful. There is also difference in the Trinity without inferiority” (Zacharias, 16-17).
“The entire fury over gender warfare and sexuality is because the issues are positioned purely in pragmatic terms, forgetting that in the first created order there was specific design and intended purpose. All the philosophizing and arguing by well-meaning people to the contrary will not explain why the biology is so distinctive, as is the chemistry that follows. The differences between men and women are not perfunctory; they are essential. The complementariness is not bestowed by society; it is God-given. The purpose is not just love; it is procreation. It is not merely a provision; it is a pattern. Woman is not a fellow man; she is a unique entity, part of man but separate from him. The difference matters and is sacred in purpose. In violating this we violate a transcending intent” (Zacharias, 16).
Zacharias touches on an important aspect of human existence. God created Adam and Eve. In this creative act, He made them male and female. He gave them each individual purpose. He made them complementary. Whenever equality is pushed to the point that God’s original design and purpose are distorted beyond recognition, then the consequence to human identity and meaningful purpose is destructive and great harm is done. The evolutionary model of man destroys this sacred intent and attempts to blur the distinction between men and women that God has divinely purposed. This is just another example of the difference between the sacred and the profane.
The Word of God upholds the value and preciousness of womanhood. The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31:10-31 gains the respect of her husband, her household, and her God. She does this by manifesting a “fear of the Lord.” “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:30-31).