There was a painful incident that ended the wedding day as divorce day. The bride had warned the bridegroom not to smash the cake on her. The chunk of the five-hundred-dollar cake was scooped by the bridegroom and was smashed on her face. She later wrote: The cake was ruined, so was my makeup, hair, and my confidence. She just walked out of the wedding hall and decided to live alone. (NDTV 21 September 2023) Respecting women, and treating them with dignity is a Christian value. However, culture contradicts the scripture and treats them as an object or a puppet or a doll.
Moses’ respect for women: Moses had to flee for his life from Egypt. He ended up in Midian. There he saw the shepherdess being harassed by the shepherds. Moses defended the seven girls and helped them to water their sheep. (Exodus 2:15-22) Jethro alias Reuel, a priest and the father of the girls gave one of his daughters Zipporah in marriage to Moses.
Weak: Harassing, oppressing, and exploiting the weak and powerless is common in most cultures. Protecting the weak and vulnerable, standing up for their rights, and helping them is a Christian worldview. Women are also stated as weaker vessels. (I Peter 3:7)
Dignity: Women are created in the image of God as men are. (Genesis 1:27) They have inherent dignity given by God. Hurting the dignity and demeaning others including women is a sin against God.
Choices and preferences: All humans have likes and dislikes. It depends on their personal background, temperament, and lifestyle. However, the bride’s choice and preferences were ignored, even ridiculed, and blatantly insulted. The bride had expressed her wish to the bridegroom much ahead, yet he willfully disregarded her request. The bride felt if the beginning was like this, her life would be a miserable hell.
Dominance: The bridegroom wanted to dominate the bride, dictate what should be done, and disregard the bride’s rights, and desires. Instead of showing love, sensitivity, and kindness, he was demonstrating rudeness. The husband should love his wife in the biblical commandment. (Ephesians 5:25)
Do I respect women and teach that respect to boys?