Those who have been hearing my teaching for a while know how I’ve interpreted the Garden of Evil/Fall story through the breaches of covenant that took place before the woman and man ate the forbidden fruit.
The crafty serpent begins the process by inviting them to doubt God’s goodness: “Gosh, all this good food and you can’t eat any of it! How nasty God must be!” The woman perpetuates the process by embellishing the truth: “Sure we can, but not that main one–if we EVEN TOUCH IT, we will die!”
Then the man puts the finishing touch on it by remaining silent in the face of injustice, knowing that at some level, he is going to benefit when the woman takes the fall for having reached for it first–as he stands there with her.
Here is a well-written article that illustrates that point beautifully. Although I read that blog occasionally, I rarely recommend it because I believe the theology behind it insists that women must have restricted roles in church and society, simply because they are women.
For years, I also held that opinion until disciplined study of the Scriptures opened to me a different world of truth. However, this post deserves a read by anyone who is concerned about what our pre-teen and teen girls are facing and how they are learning to despise their bodies and devalue themselves. The author, Kenneth Morefield, is a film critic. His work may be found here.
In his post on a blog for women in the conservative Christian world, he takes full responsibility for having kept silent in the face of injustice–and very much benefitting by doing so.
I hope his thoughts will be widely discussed among the men in the Christian world. This silence is destroying a generation of young women. It’s time to speak out.
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