Late Night Discussions

His position was that having husbands to lead wives as part of their role as men was a "dick move" by God. He elaborated by saying that he understood why God might have said it then, but it shouldn't have to apply in modernity. After all, we eat shrimp, sit on seats where menstruating women have sat, and wear clothes with mixed fibres. 

I explained at this point that the Mosaic Law given to Israel is no longer binding on us because it is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus kept it all perfectly on our behalf, and so we trust him to do just that. Gender roles on the other hand, goes farther back than the Mosaic Law, I told him. It starts in the Garden of Eden, where you find the basic blueprints of Creation laid out. 

"But you're quoting Old Testament as well!" He rebutted. 

Well, to be fair, the thread of gender roles, explicitly in marriage is found in the New Testament as well. The thread continues unbroken. Paul talks about the roles of husband and wife in Ephesians 5, showing us that marriage and the roles played by husband and wife has a far larger purpose, that is to point forward to the reality of Christ and his Bride, the Church, which is yet to come. Which is why Jesus talks about there being no marriage in the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33). 

"Yeah, I get how God might have said it like that then, because the culture of that time was patriarchal, but now things have changed!" He retorted. 

That caught my attention, because it came across as convoluted (it was 1am), and I love convoluted stuff. Untangling the statement to uncover the assumptions behind it is always fun. 

"So which of the two are you saying," I posed a question back at him. "That reality is because God decrees it, or that reality is and God merely describes it?"

But question didn't hit home, so I tried again. 

"So, I suppose we can agree that God is the Creator of reality."

"Yes..."

"And so, if he is the Creator, he gets to dictate the rules of reality, no? Like the solar system working in a certain fashion, with the planets revolving around the Sun and stuff."

"Yes..."

"Therefore, God being the Creator of reality, and humans being a subset of reality, God gets to dictate our gender roles function?"

"That's like saying you have a car, and the car is blue, therefore all cars must be blue"

"Far from it..."

"That still is a dick move for God to say men must lead the women. If the women are more capable, why shouldn't they take the lead? If God came to me and told me personally, I'd tell him to F*ck off, he can send me to hell."

The converstion ended there, because we had arrived at a book fair, and I got distracted. 

But thinking back about last night's conversation, I realise that the problem isn't even actually gender roles. It's us wanting God to approach us on our own terms. As if we were there to help him hold up the foundations of the Earth while they were being laid. 

It's kinda like meeting a person for the first time, and as he introduces himself as Mr Mbwewe, you insist,"No, your name is Ms Wong." As if you would know better.