This month we are again publishing an essay written by a student from the Bibilical Foundations Class taught last fall. This course was one of three new academic clinics that were offered for high school credit this past school year. - Gary L. Cox

The Design of Masculinity and Femininity

by Bethany Lisk          

   God has a special design for men and women. You must know God in order to understand the greatness of God’s design. He knew before the beginning of time, what men and women would look like. God made them, male and female with a purpose; We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

   In the Hebrew language the word for “woman” is the same used for burnt offering. She is literally giving her entire body to the marriage union. Feminism is a misinterpreted view of the woman. Feminism demotes the purpose of man. We will never find satisfaction in trying to be what the opposite sex is, because that is not how God created men and women to be. Men and women are made in the image of God, and it takes both male and female to be like God. God wants to be reflected in every possible aspect of society, so that everyone can see His power and majesty.

   So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)

   The main way that God blesses men and women is through children. Men and women are commanded to have children, and that can’t be done with only one part, you must have both male and female to achieve that incredible thing.

   God’s calling for men and women is clear.  The man is to leave the family of his youth, and to cleave to his wife. The woman should always be under the guardianship of a male, first her father and then later in life, her husband. The woman is primarily created to be the helper of the man, and the man is called to dress the ground, and to provide for his family.

   We must live with God’s purpose in mind. We must protect ourselves by being under the authority of someone. A woman is under the authority of the man, the man is under the authority of God, and children are under their authority. We are under authority to keep ourselves from dealing with things that we can’t handle. God is anxious to preserve His purposes, while Satan is just here to destroy it.

   Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:1-7)

   “And when the woman saw,” she committed three different sins. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Because of the shame that sin brings, we tend to hide ourselves from people, and God, but He sees everything. God wants us to have shame, for shame is the recognition that we have taken on something evil and dark. There are always consequences for sin.

   And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: (Genesis 3:14-19)

   Before the fall it must have been easier to have a baby, but after the fall God increased the labor, and the pain for the woman. When God cursed the earth, it was then not as fertile. Man has to work harder than God intended, and by the sweat of his brow man will work, until the day he dies; he will slave just to make the earth fertile enough to grow some sort of food.

   God wants us to learn from Adam and Eve. He does not want us to lean on our own understanding. No matter how hard we try, or how strong we are, we will always fail. For our understanding is so inferior to God’s, that we are like bugs in terms if intelligence. He wants us to walk by faith and trust him in every possible way!