Roles & Responsibilities

I think that there are some important things to consider when looking at the creation of man and the roles and responsibilities of man and woman as they were created. God created man. God instructed / blessed man saying "(1) be fruitful and multiply, (2) fill the earth and subdue it, (3)have dominion over..." These were the instructions that defined man, gave him a purpose, and gave him direction in his life. Later God created the garden, placed man in it, and instructed him that he could eat of every tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This instruction was simply that; an order, instruction.

In time God took sections / key parts of man from himself and formed woman from them. He than brought the woman to man and presented her to him. Notice that God did not instruct the woman as He had man. I believe that he did not instruct her to be fruitful and multiply, etc. because these were ingrained in her. They were a core of her purpose. However, the instructions not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not as ingrained in her. It was a later instruction not a purpose. He simply presented her to Adam. It became Adam's role to teach, instruct, and lead her above and beyond their ingrained purpose. Which he succeeded at in part, but only in part.

It's interesting to me, not surprising, just interesting, that marriages tend to work better when one spouse has the final say. If in the marriage both partners have completely equal footing, it creates problems. When a disagreement occurs and a decision has to be made, democracy doesn't work. One spouse has to give-in, which in turn tends to create anger, bitterness, and resentment. When the couple decides ahead of time that one spouse will have the final say and make the final decision, that anger and bitterness may still occur, but it does not as easily spiral out of control and destroy the marriage. As a result the person who has the final say also has the responsibilty for the ultimate consequences of the decisions as well. So the responsibility of final-say is a two edged sword. It carries with it the decision and the responsibility.



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