Lolly

Years ago, I read a book that helped me become an egalitarian.  It’s called “Why Not Women?” by Loren Cunningham and David Hamilton.  I have heard other women say that this book really helped them, too.  Cunningham and Hamilton take the line that Adam was guilty of faulty teaching.  God told Adam quite specifically to not eat from the Tree of the Knowlege of Good and Evil.  There is nothing in the text to indicate that He spoke to Eve.  And indeed, when Eve speaks she does not specify a tree but is rather vague (“the tree in the middle of the garden”) and adds a prohibition (“not to eat or touch”).  Therefore, it’s perfectly plausible to me to believe that she was trying to remember something Adam had told her but didn’t get it quite right.

C & H say that this ties in with Paul’s words about women not teaching men.  In the specific context of the Ephesian church, Paul was worried that a particular woman (whom he does not name) might teach wrong things.  Since women were mainly illiterate back then and could only learn from men, the men would implicitly be responsible if they allowed this woman to get up and teach these things.  That would reflect badly on both the woman and the man who taught her.

As for the claim that “this means all men must be” I find that to be as spurious as the comp claim that “all women must be…”  The Bible nowhere makes generalizations about either gender.  Rather, it says that a specific woman made a mistake and listened to the serpent, just as a specific man made a mistake by not speaking up and mutely following his wife.  Throughout scripture, both men and women are praised for speaking well and rebuked for speaking unwisely.