Two hundred years ago Elizabeth Elliot may have been considered to be in the mainstream of acceptable thought when it comes to women’s issues. Nowadays, however, she represents a traditional view of biblical womanhood which some would seek to put down at all costs, for surely, they say, it is born of men.
In her excellent book, Let Me Be a Woman, Elliot addresses issues of biblical femininity. She challenges the feminist agenda, daring to teach that “equality is not a Christian ideal,” and calling Christian women to rejoice in their womanhood and all that means. God could have made us different, yet we were born daughters!
She writes, “As the bird easily comes to terms with the necessity of bearing wings when it finds that it is, in fact, the wings that bear the bird—up, and away from the world, into the sky, into freedom—so the woman who accepts the limitations of womanhood finds in those very limitations her gifts, her special calling—wings, in fact, which bear her up into perfect freedom, into the will of God.”
The feminists encourage us to embrace roles, attitudes and norms that are traditionally male, viewing roles as mere social conditioning, rather than God-given creation mandates. They would have us to believe that no one these days is backward enough to believe in headship and submission, save a few chauvinistic, overbearing men and their cowering, undereducated female chattel. Yet the feminist ideal actually leads women away from what God intends them to be. The “freedom” they offer is bondage.
Elliot represents a resurgence among vibrant, intelligent Christian women who dare to celebrate the fact that we are NOT men. We will not allow feminists to dismiss creation ordinances while we sit idly by! Let Me Be a Woman is a call to arms for women who are not threatened by their God-given roles!
First published on Mentoring Moments for Christian Women.
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