White/Male Privilege?

Privilege is a sort of invisible label unconsciously placed on people for various reasons. The most prominent forms of this is "white privilege" and "male privilege": the notions that because one is white they automatically are placed higher on a list than those who are non-white, and one's being a male gives one priority over those who are female.

"White Privilege"
The concept of white privilege is pretty much un-biblical. The only time we see any type of racial privilege is God's blessings upon the Israelites as his chosen people, but this by no means implies that he doesn't love other races as well. The Lord favored people for their faithfulness to him, not based on where they came from. And though the Israelites had favor in the eyes of the Lord, not only were they not the only ones God poured blessings on, they weren't even white! So, while it is important to be aware of white privilege in order to cater to people of other ethnicities and walks of life, it is undeniable that all races are of equal importance.

Among the peoples talked about in the Bible, it does seem that the Jews were destined for salvation and all Gentiles (non-Jews) were sinful heathens. But in Romans 3:24, we see that 
"all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." 
and in verse 9: 
"What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jesus and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin." 
So no one is really more "privileged" than anyone else, because we are all human.

"Male Privilege"
I have seen many people claim that Christianity is a patriarchy and that it teaches that men rule and women are their servants. This seems a bit extreme, so let's see what the situation really is.
In Genesis 2:7, we see that God did indeed create man first, and in verse 15 that he was commanded to care for God's Creation. In verse 18, God says
 "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 
Nothing God had already placed on earth was suitable, so He created a woman from one of the man's ribs. In verse 23, the man says 
"This is not bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 
The implications here are that woman was created solely for man, and that is the case in that she is meant to be his partner, but let's look on.

1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 7, says 
"A man...is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels."

As we read on we see that 
"Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God."
 Although woman was originally created from man, through birth man also comes from woman, so they are in part on equal playing fields. While man was created first, woman is his partner and through childbirth is given honor.

Now there are instances in the Bible, such as 1 Corinthians 7:3-4, where a wife is instructed to yield to her husband, but in the very next sentence the husband is commanded to yield to his wife. While the husband is the "head" of the household, and women are instructed to not be in authority over a man, there is nothing that implies that women are worth less then men, or that men are ultimately better people than women. In fact, throughout Biblical history, there are plenty of accounts of women who did great things and were blessed for their faith and their deeds; not just men. Overall it is a matter of personal faith and character and not one of one's sex.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Abortion: Murdur of the Unborn

On Physical Appearance