depth of our interpersonal relationships, our equality and differences in mar-
riage and other interpersonal relationships, our rule over the rest of creation,
and in other ways. All of these aspects are distorted by sin and manifest them-
selves in ways that are unlikeGod and are displeasing to Him, but all of these
areas of our lives are also being progressively restored to greater God-likeness
through the salvation that is ours in Christ, and they will be completely
restored in us when Christ returns.
- In 1 Corinthians 11:7 Paul says, “A man ought not to cover his head, since he
is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.” He is not deny-
ing here that woman was created in the image of God, for that is clearly affirmed
in Genesis 1:27. Nor does he say that woman is the image of man. Rather, Paul
is simply saying thatin the relationship between man and woman,man in particular
reflects something of the excellence of the God who created him, and woman
in that relationshipreflects something of the excellence of the man from whom
she was created. Yet Paul goes on almost immediately to say that men and
women are interdependent (1 Cor. 11:11-12), and that we could not exist with-
out each other. He does not say in this passage that man is more in the image of
God than woman is, nor should we derive any such idea from this passage.
- A tragic example of male dominance was reported on the front page of USA
Today: International Edition(Sept. 6, 1994): “No Girls Allowed: Abortion for sex
selection raises moral questions” was the caption on a photo of a doctor per-
forming an ultrasound on a pregnant woman in India. The cover story, “Asians’
desire for boys leaves a deadly choice,” reported that according to Dr. Datta Pai,
a Bombay obstetrician, “99% of those found to be carrying female fetuses
aborted their unborn children” (2A). The story explained that “modern tech-
nology, the strong cultural desire for boys and pressure to reduce population
have joined forces in a deadly combination in India, China and much of Asia
to produce a booming business in sex selection.... [T]he practice of aborting
female fetuses appears common judging by emerging statistics that show lop-
sided sex ratios throughout Asia and into North Africa. Nor is the practice of
sex selection limited to abortion. Female infanticide, the abandonment of baby
girls, and the preferential feeding and health care of boys contribute greatly to
the imbalanced ratios” (1A-2A). The story goes on to quote Harvard professor
Amartya Sen as saying that there are now more than 100,000,000 women
“missing” in the population of the world, including 44,000,000 fewer women
in China and 37,000,000 fewer in India than should be alive according to nor-
mal sex ratios at birth (2A).
This is a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. In addition to the harm of
these lost lives, we must think of the destructive consequences in the lives of
those women who survive. From their earliest age they receive the message
from their families, and indeed from their whole society, “Boys are better than
girls,” and “I wish you were a boy.” The devastation on their own sense of self-
worth must be immense. Yet all of this comes about as a result of a failure to
realize that men and women, boys and girls, have equal value in God’s sight
and should have equal value in our sight as well. The first chapter of the Bible
The Key Issues in the Manhood-Womanhood Controversy 79
