Those of you who are tuning in to my blog will notice that I changed the look quite a bit. I made this blog last year and re-started it this year and didn't think the look still suited me. I have to say, customizing can become quite addictive so I have decided to stick with this style for a while.
After reading Ruth the other day, it reminded me of a paper that I had to write a year ago for my Intro to Women's Studies course. We had been assigned to read a book about Women in the Criminal Justice System. In the introduction of the book, there was a comment saying that the Bible started all the misogamist ideas that we now see in society. Now, while I agree with the author of this book that Paul was not the easiest critic of women, I don't think that the Bible is itself non-feminist. Along with the example of Paul, the author of the book said that the Bible presents such examples of submissive women like Ruth....yes, ladies, she gave Ruth as an example. She didn't stop there; rather, she proceeded to quote Ruth 1:17-18: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." The author gives readers the impression that Ruth is talking to a man and promising to do whatever he wants her to do. She is actually talking to her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, pledging to stay with her. Rather than being submissive, she is actually going against social norms that would have required her to enter back into her own parents' home because of her own status as widow. I was appalled and devastated that this book had even been published and that someone could misinterpret and mislead others about Ruth. She is one of my favorite women in the Bible. She is strong, determined, and faithful to her fellow woman and mother-in-law, Naomi. She is a wonderful role model for women today.
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