adminKilton Moyo
LET me start by asking you a question. Should leadership be gender based? As far back as I can remember, I have always seen men and women at each other’s throats fighting over who is who in the affairs of humanity. I have always wondered why it is so.
But I have come to realise that gender misconceptions, religious falsehoods and theological blunders have given birth to this unfortunate conflict. I will not be exaggerating to suggest that one of the many causes of unending poverty in Africa in particular is this gender conflict which works against what God intended for humanity.
Let me show you here. In the beginning when God wanted to create humanity or mankind whom the English language call “man” in the Bible, in His image, is He created two persons, a male and female. When we talking of “man” in God’s scheme of things in Genesis, we are talking about both a male man and female man (mankind). I have heard many people talk about the image of God, that people are created in the image of God.
This is true but my challenge is that we do not fully understand this image and we abuse it. God is not flesh. God is not white or black. God is a spirit. But the most critical image of God is that He is 3 in 1. He is 3 people or functions in one. We call this the Godhead. He is the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit. This is how He looks if you were to see Him. This is the “picture” of God, 3 in 1.
When He wanted to create man in His image and likeness, He created “man” just like He is. He created man in two functions, male and female. So in short man is 2 in 1 just as God is 3 in 1. Man is male and female, man and woman. Man has two functions, male and female. It is one humanity or one mankind in two functions. Note that after creating the male man using the soil, He did not create the female using soil but He took part of the male to make the female to make this truly one and one flesh. God, the father, son and Holy Spirit are made of one material and therefore they are one and one spirit. Man; male and female are made of one material and are therefore one and one spirit from one source.
Adam has a clear revelation of this when he says she is now the flesh of my flesh and the bone of my bones. Had God made the woman out of the soil, these two would have been different individuals and not depicting his image of Oneness. Beloved, in this set up there is none inferior to another or superior to another. There is equality and shared responsibilities bringing about the “godness” of God in humankind. The intention of God was never this division and hatred we see today.
The division came about when humankind sinned and chose his will over God’s will. When mankind went out of God’s presence and will, he began to craft his own ways of living and doing things. He began to craft his own gender terms based on a fallen nature of blaming and pulling apart. Our gender roles and understanding are premised on this fallen state. We have for centuries walked and operated on this man-made confusion. To make matters worse, our cultures, themselves done without God and our religions also without God have combined to perpetuate this gender misconception rendering human beings too divided to be of any meaningful use.
Tell me beloved, how you expect to function well and fulfill God’s mandate on earth when you are fighting yourself. When men fight women the way we do, humankind is fighting herself. It is this disunity that has impoverished the human race. Humanity is one, male and female. Unless we embrace this eternal truth, we will never amount to that which God intended. Our Godly assignment as men and women was to be productive together, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and exercise dominion together. We were equal and sharing in this responsibility in Genesis 1:26-29. We were all responsible. We were all responsible to God and each other. We were all leaders in the God mandate.
We were to take care of God’s plan and ourselves together in equality and oneness just as the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit do. Jesus is God and He is not inferior in any manner to the Father. So is the Holy Spirit. Men and women were to display this unity and oneness but then sin stole it and we find ourselves conflicting and bringing to shame the image and likeness of God.
According to God’s plan, leadership is the responsibility of mankind and not just the male man. According to God, leadership is not a gender or sex issue. We are all called and designed to lead. Sin distorted this but thank God for Christ Jesus who restores us to the Genesis mandate.
If we were to understand the plan of God we would kill this conflict and enmity between men and women at once just like that. Women can lead as much as men can. Being female is not a weakness. It is a lie that we have just been taught down the generations. Women are able as men are. After all we are just one material. “What is female is not my spirit or intellectual capacities but just my body, biologically, to serve a great purpose. The biological make up is not an issue of inferiority or superiority. What is male about me is not my spirit or intellectual capacities, it’s my body. The dominating male attitude and the victim female attitude are not about me but my culture and religion that have socialised me that way.”
My intention is to show you all that men and women are one, and equal and there is no need for this oppression of each other perpetuated by culture, religion and politics that have plundered humanity. We will continue next week. Keep in touch.
Kilton Moyo is the creator of Fruitful Marriages, a renewal and enrichment program and is a pastor, counsellor and author of The Sex Trap. Call or WhatsApp on +263 775337207, +263 772610103 or [email protected]
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