Women have come a long way, considering that according to the comics the cavemen used to drag their women along by the hair.

Now in our Western world they have the right to vote, the right to work, the right to drink and smoke. Simple people like myself cannot help wondering where all this equality business will eventually lead to.

If the ultimate goal is righteousness in man-woman relations, all of us should endorse, promote and applaud such a laudable idea. However, so far women’s rights, women‘s liberation and even a whole year set aside for the purpose of freeing women from their alleged inferior position, have not been too successful. Inequality is often taken to mean inferiority and of course, this throws the whole equality business out of kilter. The old fashioned idea that the man is the head of the family is hotly disputed as being discriminatory against women. After all if men and women are equal, why should not the woman be the head of the household?

Mrs. John Doe resents it when she is addressed as such. She wants to be called Ms. Judy Doe. After all, she is not John‘s property, but an independent person. And so we read and hear about a movement that promotes the idea of doing away with Mrs. and Miss. Are not single and married men alike addressed as Mr.? The title Mrs. reveals a woman’s marital status some say, and after all this is nobody’s business. It reminds them perhaps not of the cave woman‘s lack of freedom, but to some it still is a distant echo of the time of the infamous chastity belt.

Many of us are perhaps hardly aware of all this, but those who do a bit of reading in all kinds of magazines know of the strange and godless desires and philosophies which are widely accepted.

If we may believe the statistics of the social agencies, there never have been so many unhappy and lonely girls and women as there are today. Especially among the younger generation there is a tendency to hate housework. The women envy their husbands who leave the house in the morning and are not pestered by naughty children and everything that goes with it, such as washing, cleaning, cooldng, nursing, etc. Crass is green on the other side of the fence. Once the idea of your own difficult life has itself anchored in your head, you are on a very sad and tricky road.

The husband may have the same problem in his life and before long, a couple is sliding down the hill of self-pity and envy of the other party.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Again and again we see the truth of this Bible text, especially in the relations between the sexes. There are no such things as superior and inferior human beings according to the Scriptures. They are equal in the eyes of the Lord and in my view, no amount of equality movement will succeed in making things better. On the contrary. it is my opinion that women‘s lib and its push for equality may well result in the final analysis, in degrading womanhood to a species of creatures to be used and taken advantage of by men. Listening in to conversations among boys, young men and some not so young any more, this attitude has already taken hold of quite a number. The terminology used in these conversations is not 6t to print, though it probably would enlighten and shock a few people into awareness of the state of affairs.

At one time we had reason to believe that in our own circles we did not have to worry about the loosening of the moral standards. Our men were working hard and were often tired but content in making living conditions better for their families. Our women stayed at home looking after their children and husbands, and took pride in their well organized households. Some helped their husbands in their respective businesses or spent a few hours doing housework outside of their homes, but by and large they were housewives seeing themselves as wives and mothers, loved, honored and respected in the community. The children went to catechism and church organized societies. The younger generation walked more or less in the “footsteps of their fathers,” and the church grew in numbers. Few young men and women married outside the 

Christian church. Those who did so were the exception. Sad to say that most of those have, as far as we can judge “fallen by the wayside” to use a phrase from the Bible.

It seems that gradually things have changed. Mothers have taken on full time jobs, leaving their children in care of others. Marriage with outsiders is no longer an exception and, though not encouraged, is accepted as inevitable. Separation, divorce and common-law living have found the way into our church also.

“What” some may say, “has all this to do with equality of the sexes?”

I believe it has everything to do with it, because it is all rooted at the same stem; the human desire to mold and adapt the will of the Lord to our own insight. In order to do so, we read, re–read and reinterpret the Bible passages which somehow do not fit in with our present view of the new morality and other equality-associated life views. That these ideas have not by-passed our church doorsteps can be seen in the lengthy discussions and reports at our ecclesiastic assemblies. It appears that we have among us, left-and right-wingers and middle-of-the roaders, which makes it almost impossible to come to unanimous conclusions. This does not make a rosy picture of our situation. We can think of a lot of good things to say about our endeavors in Canada. But defending the walls of the city, putting up a heroic battle with the enemies in the gate, may turn out to be a failure if we let the enemies succeed in undermining the city walls and let them tunnel their way in. May the Lord grant leaders who can give directions to the churches.

There is the biblical equality which says, “there is no Jew or Greek, or slave or free” in the church of Jesus Christ. Some take that to mean that the church is like a democracy where the majority rules, and as a result they resent the authority of the head of the church and its officers. “The meek shall inherit the earth” says Jesus. This is one attitude we need more of—Church members who esteem their leaders. Deacons who can see themselves as the Lord’s agents to practise charity. Elders who in humility rule the church, not as men pleasers, but as servants who will take a stand when the occasion calls for it. Teaching elders (ministers) who do proclaim the Word and teach the flock and do not dominate the ecclesiastical meetings, but are willing to submit to the doctrines of the church.

And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph song And hearts are brave again. and arms are strong; Alleluia, Alleluia! Hymn 442:5

Albert Meyer of Brantford, Ontario, submits his article which appeared earlier in the local Christian Reformed Church‘s ONWARD magazine.