Lie #4

'Women are spiritually inferior and must bow to the 
authority of men.'

~~~

Reader,

  In the religious bureaucracy of the ancient world, women 
were basically property.  If she burned his toast, he could 
divorce her and send her away destitute.  If she saw a crime 
in progress and reported it to the police, her testimony in 
court would be thrown out--simply because she was female.  
Women weren't considered smart enough to recount what really 
happened.

  Isn't that special?

  Get this.  Jesus gets crucified.  His body is taken down and 
put in a guarded tomb.

   Three days later, some of his female friends come to the tomb, 
the door is wide open, and nobody's inside.  They're shocked.  But
they're even more shocked when Jesus shows up.  He talks to them.  
These women are the first people to see this astonishing event and 
report it.  The men don't believe it until they see for themselves.

   Well here's the kicker:  Had somebody invented this resurrection 
story out of thin air, they would *never* have said that women found 
the empty tomb--because women in that culture were considered 
inferior and unreliable anyway.

   So what this demonstrates is:

1) It's highly unlikely this story is made up, because no person who
invents such a hoax would ever put women in this role.  The fact 
that women are the first witnesses to this event strongly suggests 
that Jesus DID actually rise from the dead.  A conclusion that 
has staggering implications. 

2) This also shows that Christianity considers women to be equal 
to men.  Jesus had many women in his inner circle, and there were 
female leaders and prophetesses in the early church.

   When religion runs amok, it's always in the interest of one of 
three things:

   -Money-
   -Sex-
   -Power-

   Don't you agree?

   And what could be more convenient than for selfish men to shove 
women around and say it's the will of God?

   You know, the thing about genuine spirituality is that it 
isn't used as a weapon to control people.  Yes, Jesus gave 
some pretty stern warnings and he talked about some heavy 
subjects.  But how often do you see him bossing his followers 
around?

   He didn't do that.  Instead, he took off their shoes and washed 
their dirty feet to show them how they should serve each other.  His 
life and death are the deep irony of God engaged in the 
humble service of mankind.

   Tomorrow I'm going to attack Lie #5.  This one may surprise you:

'There is no single truth.  Everyone needs to explore and find a truth
that works for them.'

   Respectfully Submitted,

   Perry Marshall