I Disagree

It is not often that I receive strong opposition to my blog, but when I do, I think it is important to look into the reason why.  The concern is over my statement that a woman was God’s crowning achievement and that the Scriptures no where speak to this.  Here is the comment:

 

"Beauty Is Transcendent":

I take issue with the statement that woman is God's crowning achievement. Scripture nowhere says anything like that. It is a nice sentiment, but not a true one. The Eldredges, while providing a needed service to the Christian community by helping us to understand ourselves, do quite poorly when it comes to helping us understand the nature and character of God (and Satan as well) as understood from the Biblical record.

 

My reason for making the statement that a woman was God’s crowning achievement comes from 1^st Corinthians 11:7 and 1^st Timothy 2:15….

”For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”  

“Notwithstanding she (the woman) shall be delivered in childbearing, if they (her children) continue in faith, and love, and holiness with sobriety.”

 

I consider the woman to be God’s crowning achievement in the sense of beauty, grace, virtue, and most important, redemption.  As I look at the animal kingdom and see the male animals as the most beautiful, I see the opposite in the human realm.  A woman is the attractive force, with her beauty and grace.  This to me cannot be contested. This is not to say that a man in his strength, meekness, wisdom and valor is not also of the highest achievement in God creative genius.  First, I would say before I go further, that it is true that the Scriptures do not speak of the woman being God’s highest achievement.  From a man’s perspective, and I think I can speak on behalf of my gender, we see women as God’s highest achievement in regard to beauty. Since there is so much more in God’s creative realm, I agree that a woman is not solely His highest creative achievement.  However, it is through a woman that redemption is brought to the world (of course through Christ), if she can influence her children to continue in faith (I Tim 2:15).  And for me, this would be the highest achievement on earth.  Please don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that a man’s role in redemption is minor, nor of lesser importance, but the real work and beauty of the woman, in my opinion, is the redemption of her children, to then bring redemption to a lost world.  

            Your comments are appreciated…and like Augustine said in my opening paragraph on the blog "We who preach & write, do so in a manner different from which the Scriptures have been written. We write while we make progress. We learn something new every day. We speak as we still knock for understanding…If anyone criticizes me when I have said what is right, he does me an injustice. But I would be more angry with the one who praises me and takes what I have written for Gospel truth than I would be with the one who criticizes me unfairly." Augustine