Recent comments from Donald Trump and the public outcry to follow have pushed some important issues regarding the innate value and worth of a woman into the limelight. Sadly, our society is ill equipped to grapple with such issues. I’ve heard countless pundits and high profile people condemn Donald Trump’s comments and actions, as well they should be condemned, but what I have yet to hear is a compelling reason why. We know what he said is wrong, but can we articulate why? This is where the Christian faith steps in. Christianity provides a foundational understanding of what brings value, worth and purpose to life. Here are some compelling reasons, from a Christian perspective, why we are to honor and respect the lives of women.
Innate Beauty
In the Genesis account of creation, everything has an order to it. God speaks forth the existence of the large expansive universe. He creates the sun, moon, stars and their galaxies. Everything narrows down from there as he begins the detail work of designing earth and every living creature within it. The creation story concludes in dramatic fashion with the creation of human beings. God breathes his breath of life into man and the human race is born. One point of significance, however, is that the woman is God’s final creation. If human beings are the pinnacle of God’s creation, the woman is his magnum opus. She is the most beautiful creation.
Throughout the scriptures the innate beauty of a woman is celebrated. Solomon writes the Song of Songs in tribute to the beauty of the Shulamite woman. He speaks of the inner beauty and strength found in the noble woman in Proverbs 31. Paul calls men to love their wives as Christ loves the church and to lay down their lives for them. Jesus describes his church as a beautiful bride worth so much to him he gave His life. The overwhelming tone of the scriptures is that women are to be held in the highest regard and they are precious in the eyes of God.
Innate Worth
Every human being is an image bearer of God and therefore has inestimable worth in his eyes. When sin took the culture of our world in an ugly direction (early chapters of Genesis), men began to murder one another. God condemns these murderers as having taken the life of a person who bears his image. Any act that diminishes, or tarnishes the image of God within a human being is sin.
While both men and women bear the image of God, we do so in unique and distinct ways. As mentioned above, women are precious in the eyes of God. To violate the precious nature of a woman by reducing her to an object of sexual gratification, or to exploit her beauty in order to make one feel more powerful and desirable is a most deplorable act. It is to take the image of God and to drag it through the mud. Thankfully God redeems and heals the women who are victims of such words and actions at the hands of men. As for the womanizers who perpetrate these crimes against the image of God, may God have mercy on their souls!
Innate Value
Ultimately, every person’s value and worth comes from one act in history that has revealed just how sacred and precious the image of God within us really is. God sent his only Son to this earth and he chose to lay down his life to preserve the image of God within us. Every person that you and I have laid our eyes on, whether man or woman, is a person that Jesus Christ has died for. And yes, that includes Donald Trump.