Hand Me A Sword!

I have recently been reading a rather inspiring book by a well known Christian author, about living life from and for a greater glory. He talks about the importance of seeing ourselves engaged in a bigger God-story. Discovering our inner hero so to speak. Although I am fascinated by the "heart" of this book, and finding his insights interesting and uplifting, there is one underlying attitude that this author is consistent in that drives me simply crazy: his disturbingly objectifying opinion regarding women.

No sooner does he tell us that we must draw our earliest identities from Genesis 1 (our original design) instead of Genesis 3 (the original sin) then he turns around and says that at the core of every man is the question of his manhood – “is he brave?”; and at the core of every woman is the question of her womanhood – “is she beautiful?” REALLY?? The core image issue of manhood is courageousness yet the core image issue of womanhood is attractiveness? My Original Design was about beauty? While men are secretly hoping to be Braveheart, women are inwardly singing, "I feel pretty?"

Genesis 1 says: Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1.26-27

And Genesis 2 tells me that woman was created to be an ezer neged -- or "face to face partner" also contextually translated as "warrior partner" (the term ezer is used elsewhere in the OT in the context of warrior. For an excellent study on this I highly recommend Carolyn Custis James’ Lost Women of the Bible). Adam declared Eve, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh -- not, the “object I will now gaze at and must rescue because she is so pretty.” BEFORE the fall, Adam and Eve worked side by side, sharing God's joint calling to steward the earth. And while I’m at it, can I just mention the Proverbs 31 woman? Clothed with strength and dignity (v 25), the concluding summation of her: 

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Proverbs 31.30-31

I do appreciate the core message of this book, and enjoy the wonderful allusions to "myth" and "magic" -- in the deepest, truest, most gallantly inspiring sense of the words. By using heart-rousing story-examples from the likes of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, The Wizard of Oz, and even the Lion King and The Matrix, the author encourages us to elevate our perceptions of our “truest selves" to the glory we were created to reflect. I just wish his "heroic" view of men included women as equal "heroes" -- not merely Fairytale Princesses. My grandson's favorite movie right now is How To Train Your Dragon. One of the things I love about this movie is that they show the Vikings working and fighting side by side, men and women together -- which (according to many historians) was actually true of the Viking culture. Women went to the battlefield with the men, knowing, as Eowyn remarks in Lord of the Rings when Aragon comments on her skill with the sword, "The women of this country learned long ago, those without swords can still die upon them." 

So why does this admittedly side issue rankle me so? Because it is demeaning enough that our culture (the "world") promotes this restricting and subjugating attitude about women, but it is particularly onerous when a promoter of our faith echoes it. To fulfill my calling, my Kingdom purpose, I need neither pedestal nor protector. I need a sword.