Eve's story

Greetings to all.  I know you haven’t seen me lately, and I miss all of you too.  It is not that I am not writing.  It is that I am putting my husband through Grad School, and when I am writing, I am working on a much larger project, a book that follows Eve from a modern, new, and more biblically accurate perspective -- though that perspective challenges the very tenants of the traditional churches in North America.

The Bible admits, for example, that men ruling over women a curse.  It is the third curse noted to Eve in Genesis 3:16.  Few know the curse, “he will rule over you,” even exists, and if they ask about it, they may be told the “curse” expresses what was intended.  Few carry out the line of questioning to its logical end, “if ‘he will rule over you’ describes what should be, then why is it expressed as a curse?”

If we Christians recognize and face the biblical expression that men ruling over women is a curse, then we can begin the process of transcending that curse.  And is that not why Christ came? To set us free?

Between the well-known curse to Eve of pain in childbirth and the chilling final curse that the man would rule over her comes another little-known curse, “your yearning will be for the man.”  Few are aware of this curse either, and fewer understand it.  But when we think about it, does this little phrase not express extraordinary truth?  Little girls dream of marrying a prince while little boys are thinking nothing of girls, let alone marriage.  Teen girls hit a crisis if they don’t get asked to the prom, an event for which most teen boys are still shrugging their shoulders and rolling their eyes.  

The story continues, and we’re all familiar with it.  It is a story that is not universal, but common: the teen boy goes, but his true hope has nothing to do with the prom, but the sex he craves after it.  The girl, who we’ll call Eve, gives it, not because she wants the sex, but because she wants to go to the prom.  She keep giving it to keep her boyfriend.  Then she gets pregnant and hopes for what she really wants: marriage.  But the boyfriend doesn’t want marriage.  He wants abortion. 

Eve’s story can take many turns at this point, but it began with something very simple: the girl yearns for the boy.  And she is not yearning for him sexually.  The scripture is very clear: she yearns for “the man.”  The man himself.  The person.  She wants him to complete her because she doesn't feel complete on her own.  Whatever choice Eve makes at this moment in her story, her life is impacted by this seven-word curse in a great myriad of ways she has never considered: the curse steals five hours of her week on her favorite soap opera and twenty hours on other sources from celebrity magazines to romance novels to fashion tips to social networking sites revolving on her obsession with romance.  Much more of her time is also spent on less direct associations with her obsession, including shopping, which steals not only time, but money.  Her wardrobe, her cosmetics, and her hair styling appointments add up to a great deal more money than her boyfriend’s attire.  Were she not living under this seven-word curse, she would likely still spend more on her appearance than her man, but not many times more.

The seven word curse deceives Eve into a relationship before she’s ready, to abuse, to enabling risky behavior, and into many choices she would make differently were not she unconsciously driven by a thread woven into the feminine structure.

Again, Eve’s story is not universal, but it is common.  In my book, I will express awe at the insightful nature of the biblical writer to not only describe – very perceptively -- what has been written into the expression of feminine humanity, but also to call these expressions “curses.”  The biblical writer carried remarkable foresight to state that men ruling over women is a curse, and, remarkably, the biblical writer even perceived that women yearning for men is also a curse.  Today, in our twenty-first century, we don’t even see what has been written in the Bible for what it is, let alone carry the foresight of this biblical author who recognized these two expressions of feminine humanity as curses.

Today, in the Christian scriptures, we also have a solution to our curses: the Christ, the Savior, who came to set us free of our curses.  In Him, can transcend them.  In fact, the clear antidote for a curse that a woman will yearn for her earthly man is by completion of her yearning by her heavenly Man.  In Him, she is complete, and, therefore, her yearning for her earthly man has been transcended.

I hope to post updates on my progress and on the story here along the way, though posting may be less frequent. Meanwhile, feel free to check in.  I’d love to hear from you.  I miss everyone.  Meanwhile, please join me in praying for insight and clarity from the Spirit on the progress of this book.  It’ll rattle a few cages, and that’s giving me some writer’s block.  I’d love your prayers. 

Thank you and blessings, 
Karina

 © 2015 by karina.  All rights reserved.  Please use only with permission from the author.