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 Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today

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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptyThu Mar 04, 2010 9:56 pm

I am fascinated with women in the Bible. But wait a moment. Why read (and write) about women in the Bible? Are they still relevant today?

A while ago, I participated in a symposium on women of the Bible at which a lady in the audience asked: Why should we be interested in biblical women? They were concerned mainly with marriage and bearing sons, while we, today, have so many more ambitions for our lives.

But this is very challenging question, is based on a misconception. While the women of the Bible lived thousands of years ago, in essence we are still similar to them in our hopes and anxieties. Hence listening to their voices may have an empowering effect on us.

For one thing, although they lived in a male dominated society, in which they were downtrodden, most of them were strong women. They did not merely sit around, meekly accepting fate. Instead, they took destiny into their own hands and shaped it to do their bidding. What we can learn from biblical women is that women are strong and capable. That, no matter what the obstacles, we can draw on our feminine strength to achieve what we aspire to.

Also, contrary to their image, biblical women were NOT concerned solely with marriage and bearing sons, but also with a whole variety of other issues. In this sense they are particularly close to us today, an era in which we celebrate diversity, and each woman realizing herself in her own way. For instance, Tamar in the book of GENESIS struggled successfully to become a single mother. Deborah in the book of JUDGES "broke the glass ceiling" and became a religious and national leader. And there are many more examples.

Hence, what today's women can also learn from women in the Bible is: "I don't have to fit into a trend. Whatever is right for me, I can achieve it."

I decided to turn the spotlight on these amazing women, and amplify their voices, so that they could be heard loud and clear across the generations. I wrote some of their stories in a manner that is faithful to the Scripture, but makes for light, entertaining reading and can be enjoyed no less by people who have never held a Bible in their hands.

Best,

Eva Etzioni-Halevy
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptyFri Mar 05, 2010 6:53 pm

Dear Eva,
Perhaps you could share a little of one of your stories here. I would like to read what you have to say.

I consider that the women in the Biblical stories are portrayed with honor, spirituality, human-ness, courage, endurance, and a sense of godliness that closely equals that of Jesus. It is remarkable what, in the name of God, churches have done to prostitute and enslave the images of the women in the Bible and reams have been written to support that enslavement as ordained and relevant to women this day.

Do you have a website?
What is the title of your book?
Tell some about your self.

Love,
Betty
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptyFri Mar 05, 2010 9:20 pm

Jexebel was pretty hot.  And Salome.  Lot's daughters!!!!!
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 5:40 am

Dear Lin,
That was their lot in life! hahahahah

Love,
Betty
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alj
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 6:08 am

Betty wrote:

Quote :
It is remarkable what, in the name of God, churches have done to
prostitute and enslave the images of the women in the Bible and reams
have been written to support that enslavement as ordained and relevant
to women this day.

I think of Mary Magdalene.

Eve, in what ways do you see a heroine's journey as being different from a hero's? I am exploring this area myself right now.

Ann
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 7:02 am

The one who stands out to me, and who would make a great novel or movie, is Ruth.  The MAJOR movie-bait in the bible, though--and I can't beleive there hasn't been more literary attention to this character, who makes Macbeth pale in comparison, dramatically, is Saul.
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alj
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 8:23 am

The old testament king, I'm guessing, and not the early Paul?

Ann
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 8:40 am

Yeah, him.  I don't want to derail from the women thing here, but you look at Saul's story, it's amazing. Chosen by God to be the first king, falls into corruption, tries to kill David, his son joins David's rebellion against him and is killed, Saul end up seeing his kid's body hanging from a tree. It's Greek tragic, operatic, Faulknerian, a hell of a saga.  
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 8:43 am

Actually, I erred.  Been awhile since I was around this material.  I didn't mean Ruth, I meant Deborah.  You want a heroine with kickassity, there's your girl.
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alice
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 9:28 am

How about Eve?

She wasn't very smart.
She sure caused enough grief I'd say.
Had to eat.
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Abe F. March
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 9:54 am

I'm not sure how women in the bible can inspire us today. They had all the body parts that exist in a woman today. The difference is the culture then and now.
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 10:11 am

Quote :
They had all the body parts that exist in a woman today

That's a big reason they inspire us then and now, Abe.
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 3:03 pm

Dear lin,
Your choice of Deborah is a good one in my opinion. What a woman!

Here is the Song of Deborah. I loved it that Barak followed her into batttle.

Love,
Betty

Judges 5 >>
New International Version

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Song of Deborah

1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

2 “When the princes in Israel take the lead,

when the people willingly offer themselves—

praise the Lord!

3 “Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!

I will sing to the Lord, I will sing;

I will make music to the Lord, the God of Israel.

4 “O Lord, when you went out from Seir,

when you marched from the land of Edom,

the earth shook, the heavens poured,

the clouds poured down water.

5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,

before the Lord, the God of Israel.

6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.

7 Village life in Israel ceased,

ceased until I, Deborah, arose,

arose a mother in Israel.

8 When they chose new gods,

war came to the city gates,

and not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel.

9 My heart is with Israel’s princes,

with the willing volunteers among the people.

Praise the Lord!

10 “You who ride on white donkeys,

sitting on your saddle blankets,

and you who walk along the road,

consider
11 the voice of the singerse at the watering places.

They recite the righteous acts of the Lord,

the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel.

“Then the people of the Lord

went down to the city gates.

12 ‘Wake up, wake up, Deborah!

Wake up, wake up, break out in song!

Arise, O Barak!

Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.’

13 “Then the men who were left

came down to the nobles;

the people of the Lord

came to me with the mighty.

14 Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek;

Benjamin was with the people who followed you.

From Makir captains came down,

from Zebulun those who bear a commander’s staff.

15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;

yes, Issachar was with Barak,

rushing after him into the valley.

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

16 Why did you stay among the campfires

to hear the whistling for the flocks?

In the districts of Reuben

there was much searching of heart.

17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.

And Dan, why did he linger by the ships?

Asher remained on the coast

and stayed in his coves.

18 The people of Zebulun risked their very lives;

so did Naphtali on the heights of the field.

19 “Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,

but they carried off no silver, no plunder.

20 From the heavens the stars fought,

from their courses they fought against Sisera.

21 The river Kishon swept them away,

the age-old river, the river Kishon.

March on, my soul; be strong!

22 Then thundered the horses’ hoofs—

galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.

23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord.

‘Curse its people bitterly,

because they did not come to help the Lord,

to help the Lord against the mighty.’

24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,

her right hand for the workman’s hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple.

27 At her feet he sank,

he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell—dead.

28 “Through the window peered Sisera’s mother;

behind the lattice she cried out,

‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?

Why is the clatter of his chariots delayed?’

29 The wisest of her ladies answer her;

indeed, she keeps saying to herself,

30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:

a girl or two for each man,

colorful garments as plunder for Sisera,

colorful garments embroidered,

highly embroidered garments for my neck—

all this as plunder?’

31 “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!

But may they who love you be like the sun

when it rises in its strength.”

Then the land had peace forty years.
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 3:39 pm

Where did you find this song, Betty?
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 3:41 pm

Book of Judges
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alj
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 4:25 pm

alice wrote:
How about Eve?

She wasn't very smart.
She sure caused enough grief I'd say.
Had to eat.

And Adam ate what she offered. "Who is the bigger fool, the fool or the ones who follow him" What's that from??

Ann
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 4:48 pm

Dear Shelagh,
Judges 5.

My foster mother knew the Bible by heart, almost every word. She taught me the beauty of ideas written years ago, whithout prejudice. She was a true beaut of a spirit. Her greatest wish was to be able to speak in tongues. She could not, she did not try to fake it. We went to speaking in tongues symposiums. She was baffled and believed that God found fault with her and with-held this ultimate communication with him. At the time, I was 16 and though that she was a screw loose upstairs. What a kind and genuinely searching soul she was. What a kindness she was to this world and to me. Funny how people can save you and build you up to be. It takes great love that does not involve self. Barbara Bledsoe Anderson. God rest her soul.

Love,
Betty
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lin
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 4:56 pm

Before being incarcerated in Vacation Bible School, I thought the book of Judges was the one they throw at you in court.
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 5:17 pm

Dear Lin,
Youth has a way of sorting through the propaganda. After a few 20 years of living, they invent a new version of the old story that people buy as a new vision. It makes some sense of the old words to them. It is an ever going interpretation of old words. Everyone attaches their own agenda and ego. Perhaps that is the beauty of religions. It is the all encompassing excuse for man's war with the god of their choice. And the god's are always political, just as they were in 12 BC. there is no new thing under this old sun. Just a few new words to make it contemporary.

You are a smart, smart man.

Love,
Betty
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Abe F. March
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySat Mar 06, 2010 10:57 pm

Betty,
You have good insights.
I think many of us as children lived through a strict religious experience, and then we evolved.
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Carol Troestler
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySun Mar 07, 2010 12:18 am

I agree Betty and Abe. My family was very religious, not just in beliefs but the church was the center of their social life, which was a very good thing. I have a friend who shared that social life of the church with her family as well, and they are good memories we share when we are together. But what I realized later was that it was a very democratic church where there were beliefs established, but discourse was encouraged, and discussions on issues, especially during high school, were frequent.

I realized later, much later, that my husband's church was/is very autocratic, tells people what to believe, how to vote, what to do, etc. Now there is discourse as people disagree greatly with this church's actions. We have some people where we have good discussions, but others still believe they have to believe what is told them to believe.

Yes, we evolve. Spirituality is greater than religion in my life, but I still have much I do not understand, much to figure out. Some will just have to be acceptance and surrender, but that is the most difficult.

Women of the Bible, a very good topic.

Carol
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySun Mar 07, 2010 6:57 am

Carol..

I like the way your church was when you were growing up. Mine was not that way. Ours was so dismal and one had to be perfect to go to heaven. Even a wrong thought would keep you out. If I questioned anything about the church, Mom would say, "I sure hope you make it to heaven."

It used to upset me. Finally I grew up and realized she was only my mother--not God.

Ann,

Adam was just as bad as Eve. In my view. He ate also.
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Betty Fasig
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySun Mar 07, 2010 8:13 am

Where would we all be if someone had not eaten the fruits of the tree of knowledge? In my opinion, when God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which bears fruit yielding seed; to you it shall be for food," the tree of knowledge was right in the middle of the garden. It was a booby trap.

Love,
Betty
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySun Mar 07, 2010 8:18 am

Ah, but there is the "Doctrine of the Fortunate Fall". If mankind hadn't fallen, and come to know good and evil, would be bots with no will of our own and therefore neither eligible nor aware of God's full glory.
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PostSubject: Re: Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today   Women in the Bible - How they can inspre us today EmptySun Mar 07, 2010 10:37 am

Mary Magdalene
Gospels continue to be discovered. There were many more than the four gospels that the church decided to put in the bible.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is still being worked on, but you can read some of it here:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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