The church must take some responsibility for men who violate women. For centuries we have misinterpreted Gen. 3:16-18, which lists four curses: weeds, sorrow in childbirth, man ruling over woman, and a woman believing she needs a man to be a whole person. We pull the weeds and declare childbirth to be a time of joy, but we have said it is normal for a man to rule over a woman and it is normal for a woman to believe she needs a man to be complete. God reversed the curse of male domination in the virgin birth of Jesus. When doing his greatest work in all of history, God did not even use a man (Matt. 1:20). And he recognized a woman’s worth apart from a man (Luke 1:48). We ask violators to repent. Are we willing to repent for our misinterpretation?

Nathan B. Hege
Lititz, Pa.