I knew a pastor who felt that women shouldn't hold positions of responsibility in church because he felt that women were ethically inferior to men. He based his view on the following flawed argument:

1. In the Garden of Eden story it was Eve that ate the apple first. And because she ate it before Adam, she must be ethically inferior to Adam.

2. He then generalized and claimed that ALL women are ethically inferior to men.

3. He then concluded because of female ethical inferiority that they shouldn't hold positions of responsibility in church.

At the time that he told me this argument, I felt totally disgusted by it but I couldn't think of anything to respond to it. But now I see that his argument has lots of logical flaws in it. First of all why is Eve ethically inferior to Adam simply because she "sinned" first. Think of this: Suppose 2 murders are committed on the same day; one in the morning and one in the evening. Does the legal system punish the morning murderer more simply because it is earlier in the day? Of course not, that would be completely arbitrary.

Secondly, even if Eve was ethically inferior to Adam, it would not mean that ALL women are ethically inferior to men.

Thirdly, who tempted Eve to eat an apple; it was Satan, a most evil creature. It is not too surprising that Eve fell victim to his tempting. But what about Adam, who tempted him to eat an apple; it was just an human being (Eve). If anything I would say Adam was ethically inferior to Eve because he gave in to a weaker temptation.

We all have bones; they're just not visible very often. If we had transparent skin, we'd think a lot differently about our bodies. Think about the body parts we can see: Fingers, elbows, eyes, noses, ... No one thinks these are gross. But ask people about body parts that's can't be seen like a heart or liver or spleen; often they'd say pictures of these body parts are gross. This seems like a pretty arbitrary classification to me.

This reminds me of the way people look at abortions; if women had transparent bellies and fetuses could be easily seen, I'd think people would tend to have less support for abortions. I am not trying to persuade anyone to change their views about abortion but the fact that fetuses are not visible does make a difference to the general perception of them.

If you -do- do this, please be 100% honest with me...I won't be angry or sad or ... about what you say. Thank you!

+WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF I...+
I committed suicide:
I said I liked you:
I kissed you:
I lived next door to you:
I started smoking:
I stole something:
I was hospitalized:
I ran away from home:
I got into a fight and you weren't there:

+WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT MY...+
Personality:
Eyes:
Hair:
Family:

+WOULD YOU...+
Be my friend?:
Keep a secret if I told you one?:
Hold my hand?:
Take a bullet for me?:
Keep in touch?:
Try and solve my problems?:
Love me?:
Date me?:

+HAVE YOU EVER...+
Lied to make me feel better?:
Wanted to kiss me?:
Wanted to kill me?:
Broke my heart?:
Kept something important from me?:
Thought I was unbearably annoying?:

+AND MORE...+
1. Who are you?:
2. Are we friends?:
3. When and how did we meet?:
6. Describe me in one word.:
7. What was your first impression?:
8. Do you still think that way about me now?:
9. What reminds you of me?:
10. If you could give me anything what would it be?:
11. How well do you know me?:
12. When's the last time you saw me?:
13. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?:
14. Are you gonna paste this to your journal see what I say about you?

I have a video of some of my body parts. Ha, ha! It's really cute and I promise it is not vulgar in any way. If you want to see it, send me a private note asking for it and give me your email address so I can send it to you.

What is beauty? I saw a young woman, aged about 18 in good health with a busty figure. In many men's minds she would be considered nearly the ultimate in beauty. But before I saw her, I encountered a more wonderful vision of beauty. I was sitting on the bus and a bright eyed girl aged about 3 or 4 was sitting about 2 meters away from me. She smiled at me several times. I summoned up courage and I asked her if she wanted to see a magic trick. I wanted to show a trick I can do with my hands. She smiled and softly said yes. Then I said watch my hands. But she kept looking at my face. I felt as if, for her, the attention I was giving her was more important than the trick. That made me feel so important. She got off the bus shortly before I did and as I was watching her get off, I wondered how she would react as she left. And sure enough, she waved at me and softly said bye as she walked past me on her way to the exit. I am misty-eyed thinking about this beauty. This is the second time a child has been mesmerized by me on the bus. It is such a wonderful feeling; these connections are lovely despite being short.