65 Paula,

I disagree that men and women have to be different or one wouldn’t be needed.

I don’t know but it seems to me that God said that the man alone was “not good”. Instead of creating another male he chose to create a female to fix the “not good” state. That celebrates our differences and proves that women are needed.

This very idea is what drives the Eternal Subordination of the Son movement, because they claim that hierarchy in the Trinity is required in order to distinguish the Persons.

I wouldn’t be right to compare my words about male/female in humans with the Trinity. The Trinity is not comparable to humanity and since I did a major DVD work disproving the Eternal Subordination of the Son argument, my words could not possibly be the same as the ESS argument.

The only difference in humans that’s truly **needed** is biological.

A biological difference also brings a difference to the way we think, the way we process problems, etc. Biology is a hormonal chemistry that affects our bodies quite dramatically. Women who are much like men are still very special additions given by God. We are needed as women bring balance that God intended all along.

So the presupposition of a non-biological gender-based difference is flawed because there is so much evidence to the contrary.

God-created hormones affects every areas of our lives. However where we can all agree (I hope) is that spiritually there is no difference between male and female. Inside each of us is our spirit that is neither male nor female. Hormones do not affect our spirits and our spirits should never be judged as male or female. We are equal heirs in Christ. In the natural we are a needed part of humanity since ten males together will never be as well-balanced as 9 males and 1 female. Even the addition of one female brings balance as God intended.

They read too much into the “help meet” thing, presuming a spiritual or emotional bond beyond that which any two friends could have, even though the first two humans **had** to be of opposite sex or there’d have been no other “friends” to come.

I read it as the female was necessary to bring a completeness and a balance. I see females as completely needed and that God planned it that way. When the church excludes the leadership of women to the body of Christ, they are saying that they know better than God knows. Women are not an after thought by God. We are a special thought by God as we are needed. Perhaps some egals think that I give women too much credit as special. Then perhaps we just need to agree to disagree.

There is a good reason scripture calls only the male/female sexual relationship “one flesh”: it’s about the flesh.

Hormones play a part in who we are as people past just our sexual function. My femaleness is not just about my sexual function. I see that God has given me as a gift and that I can bless men with a way of thinking that is needed. Scripture has helped me to understand that I need not fear serving and giving my best to the entire body because I am needed.

I will have to find some current studies, but those I’ve read in the past showed that while hormones affect the development of the brain, this does not result in any clear advantage in intelligence of one sex over the other, or in particular emotional or spiritual traits.

Hormones certainly do affect the development of the brain. It is not to say that women are better than men or vice versa. But they are different. And those differences are needed. Men need women. That is the bottom line. I have never said that women are more intelligent than men nor have I said that there is a specific emotional trait or spiritual trait that belongs to women. But I have said that women were created different. Different means that we can be truly complementary because we are needed.

I, for one, am very glad that God made me this way. I am glad that God made me needed. If I felt that I was no different than a male, I would likely have an inferiority complex because men tend to have a more forceful ego and that can be very intimidating. But while I am a female who is one of many who is disadvantaged in society at large because of my gender, God has freely given me gifts that are influenced by who I am as a female. I can know for sure that I am needed. God made me this way.

If any egalitarian who is female disagrees with me that they as females are special gifts to the church because God made them female, then God bless you. God can make this known to you in some other way. I won’t argue with you. But I will continue to take the place that God has prepared for me. And it is so wonderful to know that I am needed and my being a female is special.

For those of you who are different than what you see other females to be, I want you to know that you are special. You are exactly what God created you to be. You are not the same as a man. You are equal but different but you have no rules that prohibit you from functioning in the same field as the men. Different does not mean that you cannot function with freedom anywhere that God places you. It just means that you are special. You are unique and you are God’s gift to the church just the way you are.