| Answer
from Jesus:
I loved all of my disciples
with the love of Christ, which is unconditional. This means that I love
all people regardless of their current limitations or faults. Yet my
love is not blind, and I clearly see the limitations each person needs
to overcome in order to grow spiritually.
It is indeed correct that Paul had an attitude toward women that was
not in accordance with my attitude and my teachings. I have explained
this in some detail in my discourse on my relationship with Mary
Magdalene. I also mention my hope of restoring women to their rightful
place as the spiritual equals of men. I have explained elsewhere
that Paul's attitude toward women was not in accordance with my highest
hopes for Paul or my other disciples.
So I have no desire to make excuses for or explain away Paul's attitude
toward women. It was simply an expression of his time, and Paul’s
attitude toward women was no worse or no better than the attitude of
most men at the time. Again, this is not an excuse, it is simply a statement
of fact.
It is indeed one of my great regrets that Christianity did not become
a religion that would restore women to their rightful place, both in
the family, in society, in churches and in the minds of both men and
women. Yet the real problem here is that the path of individual Christhood
was lost. When you attain Christhood, you naturally begin to look beyond
any outer divisions as a result of gender, race, national origin or
any of the many other artificial divisions and labels that spring from
the relativity of the carnal mind. These man-made divisions simply lose
their importance, and a Christed being will honor women as being fully
as worthy and important as men.
A Christed being will also accept that parts of the biblical story about
the creation of women is incorrect. Women were not created as an afterthought,
and women were not created out a man’s substance. These sections
were simply added later by people in a male-dominated culture.
Male and female created he them (Genesis 5:2). The male and the female
sex form a polarity similar to the Tai-Chi known in Taoism. One simply
cannot exist without the other, and therefore one cannot be created
without the other. Both sexes were created simultaneously and with equal
value and importance in the eyes of God. That is indeed how they should
be revered in the eyes of men and women.
Back to topic
main page.
Back to Answers
main page.
Back
to top
Copyright
© 2003 by Kim Michaels |
