To this day when I go up to the market to have some meat cut into say... pork chops.. I always have a run in with butchers who say to me, "I'm sorry. We can't cut that meat the way you want it. It's prepackaged by the manufacturer/the specialist of that meat isn't in today/or blah blah blah."
However, when my husband walks in the next day and asks for the same thing they can't slice that pig fast enough.
*sigh and shakes head*
I have tried explaining the concept of present day chauvinism to my husband but he just doesn't get it. He sees it. He hears it. But he's oblivious to it.
Thomas 114 is probably one of the most convoluted and twisted scriptures I've yet to wrestle with. But it has good things to say about woman's place in God's eyes! I swear it does! It only took me months of contemplation to rip that wool off my eyes and see it.
Simon Peter said to him(Jesus), "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
Ok, now at first all I kept honing in on was the last line. What, does God want me to wear a tie and suit? Mastectomy? WHAT does he want exactly? What does it mean to make myself male? And more importantly why should I have to do it to enter heaven when my male buddies supposedly have an easier way up to meet St. Peter simply because they possess a penis? God gave them that appendage. Why not me? Why would he make it harder for me?
Months of staring at that scripture only bore fruit after I literally Let Go Of It. I dismissed it. I tossed it aside for a Rainy Day thing to muse because apparently I just wasn't ready for it yet.
The Good God has such a sense of humor. Frightful, really. As soon as I let go of the idea I had to dig my heels in to discover what the scripture meant, it literally hit me between the eyes. Digging in. Decisiveness. Being forceful. These were the very things which are considered manly attributes and the opposite of being female.
Females living in ancient times had no recourse but to bow to the wishes of their male family members. They were systematically trained to be subservient, meek, and tolerant of bad behavior. Men aren't. And weren't. Men voiced their opinions. Let words clash. Discovered new ideas because of their belief that it was the man's job to do all the thinking, not the woman's.
A HA! We have hit upon the reason for Jesus demanding women make themselves more male. Not in the physical sense. But in the intellectually responsible sense. Gnosticism is based on the belief of total freedom. Taking charge of our emotions and our lives. Easier said than done back then. Such actions would get most women killed or at the very least married off to the worst man their parents could find. Typically this man would be thought of as just the person to "fix" their daughter's bad behavior. Like she's a recalcitrant child instead of a grown woman.
So no need for a sex change. I can keep my mammary glands and still enter Heaven. I simply have to keep doing what I'm doing.
Jesus' response to Simon still makes me wonder if Simon ever 'got it'. It almost seems sarcastic. Like he was saying, "You don't want her? Fine. I'll take her and teach her! That way when she teaches others you can have even more women to be pissed off at."
Women not worthy of life... sheesh. Yeah. Jesus smacked Simon on the back of the head.
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