Women and Condoms

Here are some more thoughts from (John Piper this time) on the use of condoms as a means of preventing the spread of HIV in unmarried persons:

"This morning's paper (12-4-01) carries an unsigned editorial on "Condoms: A Secret Weapon in Short Supply." It addresses the issue of AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. The issue is worthy. The crisis is huge. The pain is unfathomable. And the article is sad. So it must always be when the deepest things in our lives are trivialized by being disconnected from God. Sex is deep. And when it is treated like an unmanageable addiction, rather than a God-honoring gift for marriage, tragedy is added to tragedy.

"Women in Uganda have been hanging their condoms out to dry. They're doing it not because they're ignorant, but because they're desperate. Long acquainted with the lifesaving virtues of latex, many can't imagine taking the risk of unprotected sex. And since condoms are hard to come by in southern Africa, they're forced to experiment with recycling."

This paragraph is full of irony and insult. The insult is that these women are treated like helpless slaves of sexual desire. They are "desperate" without fresh condoms. They "cannot imagine" unprotected sex – or abstinence. They are being "forced" to recycle. And the source of that force? The slave-master sex. This is all incredibly demeaning – as if these women were mere dogs in heat with no higher commitments or self-control."

You can read the rest of this article here

God and Women

It seems that there is a consensus building that conservative Christianity is against the woman. Critics of conservative Christianity say the faith is basedon a holy book that speaks from a patriarchal culture that that is out of touch with the current understanding of masculinity and femininity. A lot can be said about this view point ,but I think that something that is not said enough is contemporary critics of conservative Chrisianity frequently appear to be out of touch with what the Bible actually says about masculinity and femininity. When we allow the Bible to speak for itself we will find it has a suprisingly positive view of women.

Joe M. Kaployo a Zambian theologian discusses this in his book “The Human Condition: Christian Perspectives Through African Eyes” published by IVP. He starts by discussing women and the fact that they are created in the image of God. “…the scriptures unequivocally give men and women dignity and an exalted but equal status. Men and women bear the image of God in equal proportions (Genesis 1:26 -28). Since the image is described as ‘male and female’ it must mean at least that femininity is represented in the creator..” P 72

He then goes on to discuss the implications of the Bibles use of feminine descriptions of God. “Alongside the Lord’s dominant male imagery are a number of female ones (Stott 1984:238). For instance he described by Moses as ‘the God who gave you birth’ (Deuteronomy 32:18). In the first part of verse Moses had stated God was ‘the Rock that fathered you’. He uses male imagery there. In typical Hebraic fashion he repeats the same statement but this time he chooses to use female imagery. Moses knew God in ways most of us can only guess at. Yet he was not embarrassed, ashamed or did not consider it ‘hearsay’ to call God the mother of Israel. Isaiah the prophet also speaks of God as a ‘woman in childbirth’ (42:14), a suckling mother (49:15), a nursing mother (66:13). David the great king in describing his sense of security chooses mother/child imagery where God is mother and David the child (Psalm 131:2, see also 57:1, 61:4).” P 74

Thank God for the Christian faith.