JayJayDee
Avid JW Bible Student
Getting back to the original question......
Genesis 2:15-24 (CJB) "Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it. Adonai, God, gave the person this order: You may freely eat from every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die. Adonai, God, said, It isnt good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him. So from the ground Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. S: iii So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him. Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. The man-person said, At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman , because she was taken out of Man . This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh."
The woman was to be a 'companion and helper' for her husband. The roles that God ordained for each person in the family unit was designed to create harmony and fulfilment, not rivalry and strife.
"Genesis 3:16-19 "To the woman he said, I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you. To Adam he said, Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, You are not to eat from it, the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.
There was no such thing as sexism until those in their God-assigned roles, rebelled. As a result of sin, dominance came to the fore and put a cloud over God's original arrangement.
Just as a vehicle has one driver and perhaps a passenger or two, all allow the driver to get to them safely to their destination. If the front seat passenger suddenly grabbed the steering wheel because they felt that the driver was going in the wrong direction, what would likely happen?
Better to advise the driver calmly and wait for them to pull over and discuss the route. What would happen if automobiles had two steering wheels and two sets of controls? Chaos!
The buck stops with the assigned 'head', just like it does in other areas of life. Someone has to take responsibility. Man invented the idea of sexism, but only because man himself had turned his headship into a dictatorship. The wrong kind of headship made women feel like chattels, completely undervalued and often abused. Some cultures still treat women this way.
Marriage is a partnership and all within the family unit have assigned roles. Love was to be the predominant overriding quality that was to smooth the waters if there was disagreement. Legitimate compromise or a meeting in the middle somewhere, usually keeps the peace.
If family heads put the needs (not necessarily the wants) of other family members first, hopefully those other members will return the favor and also yield to the needs of all in the family. Selfishness should never drive any decision, inherited imperfection is always at odds with what is right.
God assigned the roles but when someone steps outside of their role, trouble usually follows.
It's all about the balance.
