Politics and the identity of self
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell
Why do some people want to dominate women? Or, to control, to manipulate women? Why do some see women as merely means to an end? What spirit lurks behind, what motive force drives them?
Are women mistreated out of fear? Do "they" feel threatened by women?
Curious.
Nell
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I think the short answer is, Yes. Certainly for Watchman Nee, women were a means to an end. I've written repeatedly that women were instumental in establishing the Little Flock network. But because they were female, they could be eliminated as rivals for power. They had to "know their place". Of course Lee & today's Blendeds have followed suit.
But that is in a larger case, beyond matters of gender. We as a species love to place limitations on each other, based not only on gender but ethnicity, socioeconomic class, geography, and so forth.
Let me give an example. In my third grade, we began to have awareness not only of who we were, but that in distinction of who we were not. We began to identify ourselves against others. We of Mrs Smith's class began schoolyard strife with Mrs Jones' class, and Mr Chatworth's. Fourth-graders gave smack-downs to third-graders, and were bullied in turn by fifth-graders.
Later we turned our collective energies against new 'others' our team wore red and black, and we took the field against those in green and white, or purple and gold.
Again and again I see "me" defined in context of "us", which "us" is perforce defined in contradistinction to "them". As I said earlier, "Christianity" began to define itself against "Judaism"; Witness Lee would always say, "Most Christians think . . . " and say some generalisation which he'd then compare himself to.
My point is that we take the easy way out. We create some largely imaginary "other", then idealise ourselves against it/them. But Jesus broke all that. He was a pious Jew; he kept the law and obeyed the Father. He was the fulfillment of all the commands and promises. He was the Word made flesh.
The Bible shows us two ways: the way of obedience and the way of rebellion. My thesis is that Jesus alone kept the path of obedience; he became the Way. He was wisdom personified (Proverbs 8). He alone kept the Word. Now He is salvation to all. The partitions are gone.