According to a recent news article, "On Thursday’s The View on ABC, co-host Raven-Symoné blamed the Bible — and not Hillary Clinton’s penchant for being enveloped in scandals — for allegations that she is untrustworthy. “I have a problem with everybody still saying that she’s untrustworthy,” said Raven-Symoné of the former Secretary of State. “I feel like there’s this stigma since the beginning of [the] human race that a woman is untrustworthy. It starts in the Bible.” Raven-Symone would go on to suggest that this apparent distrust of women stems from the story of Adam and Eve where Eve was deceived by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit. I could argue this same event can easily be used to say men are untrustworthy since it was Adam who God made the covenant with and Adam who broke that covenant by eating the fruit. This is not the first time someone has blamed the Bible for oppressing women in some way. But, does she have a point? Does the Bible give a message that women are untrustworthy?
It is true that Eve was deceived into eating the forbidden fruit which led to the Fall of Man. However, I wonder if Miss Symone knows what Eve's name means? According to the Bible,"Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20)." Eve means "the mother of all the living." If Eve is so "untrustworthy"why did God use her to become the first mother and, basically, start the human race? Then there is Rahab, a prostitute. Is there any other occupation that personifies being untrustworthy than a prostitute? Yet, she was obedient to the Lord and hid the spies that Joshua had sent into the city. And because of her obedience, "Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day (Joshua 6:25)." Lastly, we see Mary, the mother of Jesus. It has been said that Mary was only a teenager when she became pregnant with Jesus. Joseph, her husband, thought she had slept with another man and it took an angel of the Lord to convince him not to divorce her (Matthew 1:20). We know how much teen mothers are looked down upon today and it was probably worse for Mary in her time. Yet, when God sent His angel to announce to Mary what was to take place, the angel said to her, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you (Luke 1:28).” "The Lord is with you." There are no more comforting words that one can hear than those.
The first sinner, a prostitute and a teenage mom. In modern times all of them could be considered untrustworthy. But, God trusted them. We should all be so trustworthy.
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