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Despite anti-Christian prejudices, it is to the teachings and example of Jesus Christ that women owe most of their freedoms. The advent of Christianity raised the dignity, freedom and rights of women to levels never before known in any other culture or religion. Indeed, as one historian put it: “The birth of Jesus was the turning point in the history of women.”
As a result of the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, women in much of the world today, especially in the West, enjoy far more privileges and rights than at any other time in history.
Women in the Middle East
By way of contrast, one only needs look at how women are treated in those countries where Christianity has had little influence, for example in the Muslim Middle East. Christian women have been publicly stripped and flogged in Sudan for failing to wear the Islamic Abaya (a black garment that covers the head, face and the entire body). Under the Taliban in Afghanistan women were forbidden to go to school, to work outside the home, or even to walk without their whole face and head being covered under the Abaya. Women have been arrested and jailed in Iran for wearing lipstick. In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal for women to drive a motor vehicle.
By approving of polygamy, mistresses, underaged “brides” and “temporary marriages”, for example, Islam denies the value of a genuine marriage, based on exclusive, lifelong, devoted love. Polygamy also erodes the concept of a Biblical family. Christianity has always maintained that monogamy alone gives the recognition, status and value that a woman needs and the environment for raising children in a stable and loving home.
The Roman writer, Ovid, noted that sexual relations had become sadistic and masochistic. Catullus, a Roman writer, referred to the prevalence of Romans practicing group sex orgies. Suetonius reported that the Emperor Tiberius had nude women wait on his tables while he dined. Tiberius also had male and female prostitutes openly engage in group sex as entertainment for his pleasure. The Emperor Caligula was given to incest with all of his sisters, engaged in sex while he ate and often had people tortured during his orgies. The Emperor Titus surrounded himself with all manner of perversities. The Emperor Domitian engaged in incestuous relations. Emperor Commodus had a harem of 300 concubines and 300 young boys to satisfy his trans-sexual appetites. Homosexuality and paedophilia were rampant in Rome and Greece. Tiberius, Nero, Galba, Hadrian, Commodus and many other emperors engaged in widespread homosexual perversions and what would today be classified as child molestation. Decadent plays, including live sex, mutilation and bestiality on the stage, became common during the reigns of Nero and Trajan.
A Revolution of Love
Into this decadent environment the Christian message and lifestyle came as radical, revolutionary and very offensive. “You shall not commit adultery” Exodus 20:14; “Marriage should be honoured by all and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” Hebrews 13:4; “The husband should fulfil his marital duty towards his wife and likewise the wife to her husband” 1 Corinthians 7:3; “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” Ephesians 5:21; “Be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect” 1 Peter 3:7.
By rejecting polygamy, adultery, fornication, public nudity and the artistic portrayed of sexual acts, either openly on stage, or graphically portrayed on household items, the Christians instituted an entirely new sexual morality. As secular historian, Edward Gibbon declared: “The dignity of marriage was restored by the Christians.” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).
Christianity equalised the crime of adultery and brought dignity and beauty to the formal wedding ceremony. Prior to Christianity marriage ceremonies were anything but dignified. In keeping with the low regard of women and marriage as a whole, obscene songs, mockery and open displays of extreme decadence were part and parcel of Roman weddings. However, from the 4th Century, Christianity brought about a revolution in the state’s view of marriage, introducing a dignity, beauty and solemnity to weddings which had never before been seen. The belief that marriage is a Divine institution, a sacrament, stems from Christianity (The History of Marriage, by Edward Westermarck).
The Pagan Practise of Perversion
Walter Williams in his book “The Spirit and the Flesh” sympathetically focuses on the prevalent homosexuality amongst the American Indians: The Kwakiutl, Crows, Klamaths, Hopi, Sioux, Navajo, Zuni, Yokuts and other tribes in the Americas all practiced homosexuality before Christianity came to the Americas. Often homosexual acts were part of the religious ceremonies performed by the shamans.
The Biblical doctrine that sexual intimacy was a holy gift of God, only to be enjoyed between a husband and wife within the context of marital privacy, was a revolutionary Christian concept. Historians note that the Christian concern for the privacy of marital sex essentially led to the institutionalisation of privacy. Privacy has strong Christian roots. (“Privacy in A Public Society”, by Richard Hixson). Hannah Arendt in “The Human Condition” maintains that “there is a marked relationship between the rise of Christianity and the rise of privacy.”
A Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Christian teaching that “the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body” 1 Corinthians 6:13 and that the body is “a temple of the Holy Spirit” 1 Corinthians 6:19 led Christians to condemn and in time to outlaw, adultery, paedophilia, homosexuality, bestiality, pornography and other decadence which had once been prevalent and accepted in pre-Christian cultures.
Professor Alvin Schmidt in his “How Christianity Changed the World” observes: “The hateful attitudes that were once directed against the early Christians seem to be returning and for similar reasons, despite the current attention given to toleration. Increasingly, Christians are hated by many who advocate ‘hate crime’ laws. In large measure, they are hated because they seek to honour God and His laws rather than ‘re-define god as our future selves’…as feverish efforts are underway to bring back the sexual debauchery of ancient paganism.”
To appreciate the revolutionary impact of Jesus Christ in the history of women and to understand how radical His teaching and conduct towards women was to the ancient world, we need to understand the historically low status of women before the time of Christ.
As Sophocles wrote: “Silence is an adornment to women”; Euripides asserted: “Silence and discretion are most beautiful in women and remaining quiet within the house”. Aristotle declared: “Silence gives grace to women”. Homer wrote: “Speech shall be for men”. Euripides wrote: “Women, specious curse to man”. Aeschylus wrote: “Evil of mind are they and guileful of purpose, with impure hearts”. Aristophanes wrote: “For women are a shameless set, the vilest of creatures going”. Homer wrote: “One cannot trust women!”
Greek civilisation accorded an extremely low status to women, not allowing them to have any meaningful social life in public, or in the presence of men, even in private. Women had little or no social value. Female infanticide was commonplace. Baby girls were expendable. Female babies were seen as “an economic liability, a social burden” (How Christianity Changed the World).
Freedom in Christ
These laws were strongly criticised by the early church fathers, including St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo. From the very beginning, the Christians opposed infanticide and rescued and adopted many of the abandoned babies. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
For this reason, synagogue worship was meant to consist only of male participants. Women, if present, were to be passive listeners, separated from the men by a “michetza” (partition). These women were never to raise their voices. Only the men were to do the singing or chanting. It was only by the late 18th Century in Reformed synagogues that Jewish women were permitted to sing.
At the grave of Lazarus, Jesus taught Martha: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). Under Rabbinic law, to teach a woman was bad enough, but the Lord Jesus did more than that, He called for a public verbal response from Martha.
The Rabbinic law of the time was quite explicit: “He who talks with a woman in public brings evil upon himself” (Aboth 1.5) and “One is not so much as to greet a woman” (Berakhoth 43b).
One can imagine then why the Lord’s “disciples were surprised to find Him talking with a woman” John 4:27.
New Respect and Status
By the Lord Jesus granting women a previously unknown respect and status, He not only broke with the anti-female culture of His era, but He set a high standard for His followers to emulate.
The actions and teachings of Jesus raised the status of women to new heights, to the consternation and dismay of both His friends and enemies. By word and deed Christ went against the ancient accepted practices that stereotyped women as socially, intellectually and spiritually inferior. Truly our Lord came “that you may have life and have it in abundance” John 10:10 and “indeed there are those who are last who will be first and first who will be last.” Luke 13:30
It is noteworthy that women were the last at the cross (Mark 15:47); the first at the tomb (John 20:1); the first to proclaim the Resurrection (Matthew 28:8) and the first to witness to the Jews (Luke 2:37-38). Women attended the very first prayer meeting (Acts 1:14); women were the first to welcome Christian missionaries to Europe (Acts 16:13) and the first European convert was a woman (Acts 16:14).
In the early Church, women were not only very prominent but were frequently honoured: Elizabeth (Luke 1:43); Mary (Luke 1:30-38); Mary of Bethany (Matthew 26:13; Luke 10:42); the Samaritan evangelist (John 4:29); Dorcas (Acts 9:36); Lydia, the business woman and the first European convert (Acts 16:14-15); “Apphia our sister” (Philemon 2); “Nympha and the church in her house” (Colossians 4:15); Phoebe “a servant of the Church in Cenchrea…she has been a great help to many people including me.” (Romans 16:1-2).
Women Co-workers of the Apostle Paul
In His epistles, the apostle Paul mentions numerous female co-workers including “Priscilla… and her fellow workers in Christ Jesus” Romans 16:3; “…Mary, who worked very hard for you.” Romans 16:6; “Tryphema and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord…Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.” Romans 16:12; “…Euodia and… Syntyche… the women who have contended at my side in the cause of the Gospel along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers…” Philippians 4:2-3
Far from Christianity being “anti-women” as many critics allege, women in the early Church soon outnumbered men to such a degree that there were simply not enough Christian men available for marriage. Celsus, a 2nd Century critic of Christianity ridiculed the believers by saying that Christianity was a religion that attracted women. To him, this was a sign of weakness. Numerous Roman authors saw Christianity providing dignity and freedom to women as a threat to the entire social order.
Christianity revolutionised marriage by seeing the wife as a partner, commanding husbands to love their wife as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25) and allowing Christian women the choice as to whom they married. Christianity also granted women the right to divorce unfaithful or abusive husbands. Women also received for the first-time guardianship over their children who previously were the sole possession of the man.
Freedom from Foot Binding
Similarly, the Chinese practice of foot binding, where girls from an early age had to have their feet tightly bound, forcing the four smaller toes of each foot up and under against the fleshly part of the foot (frequently causing severe infection and even on occasion, gangrene), was only abolished under the influence of Christianity. This cruel custom, which crippled many Chinese women, was only outlawed by the Chinese government in 1912. It was Christian missionaries who led the crusade to abolish foot binding in China.
Barbaric Rituals Abolished
The widespread practice of clitoridectomy (often erroneously called female circumcision) is another cruel age old cultural practice, which has been outlawed in all countries where Christianity has become the majority religion. The only countries in the world where this barbaric ritual is still practiced are countries where Christianity has little, or no, influence.
This legal ban on suttee (known as Carey’s Edict) is still in effect today, although since the 1990’s there have been numerous attempts to revive the custom with open glorification of suttee widow burning and instances of teenage widows being cremated on their husband’s funeral pyres. Dr. Schmidt notes: “In light of the current, almost worldwide promotion of multi-culturalism, which argues that all cultures and religious are essentially equal, the desire and efforts to bring back India’s pagan custom of suttee may gain momentum in the future.” (How Christianity Changed the World).
History records, that before the coming of Christianity, widows were burned by American Indian tribes, by the Maori in New Zealand and by the Chinese.
When one understands how atrociously women were once abused in pre-Christian cultures, then one can understand why historians have declared that “the birth of Jesus was the turning point in the history of women” and “the conversion of the Roman world to Christianity brought a great change in women’s status.” (How Christianity Changed the World).
“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
“…remember the Lord Who is great and awesome and fight for… your daughters, your wives and your homes…” Nehemiah 4:14
Dr. Peter Hammond
Africa Christian Action
PO Box 23632
Claremont 7735
Cape Town South Africa
Tel: 021-689 4480
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.christianaction.org.za
www.livingstonefellowship.co.za
Sources:
How Christianity Changed the World by Dr. Alvin Schmidt
What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? by Dr. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe
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