However the key suddenly changes as God, after creating man, declares that it is not good for man to be alone.
It has been observed by others that God creates 'man' in his own image, male and female and then later separates them from one being into two. The implication being that man or Adam was in some way both male and female before God divided 'him' into two distinct genders.
Why was it better that man was divided into two distinct beings? Does this mean that incompleteness is better than completeness?!
I think the key is that man was no less complete as two beings than as one, however, this completeness was one that required, even forced, relationship, communication, discussion, concensus and compromise and this was better than completeness that did not require all these things.
The truth is that two heads are better than one; a good team is worth more than the sum of its parts... four legs good two legs bad (or was that something else?!)
This is not new truth, but what's worth noting is that this is the biblical introduction to humanity, the first thing we are told. To gain such a prime slot, this must be a pretty significant truth... and though it's not new, it's a truth that our culture is slowly allowing to slip away...
We need to take a stand!
Interesting... I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on this:
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think are some of the implications of this picture of co-operation/interdependency for our culture? What bit of this revelation do you think is being lost? Are you referring to the prioritisation of individualism over collectivism in our society? Or am I on the wrong page?!
If I may extend your musical analogy further, it is like God composed a harmony not a melody. As a frustrated pianist, I know how hard it is to play more than one note at a time. The more complex the piece of music, the more likely the performance will go horribly wrong. But get it right and the rewards are plain to see!
ReplyDeleteCreation is arguably more complex and diverse than it really needs to be. In fact, God would have saved himself a lot of bother if he had not created the physical universe at all, or had at least stopped short of the human race.
But evidently God's love of beauty and harmony made it worth the risk. Relationships are messy and sometimes destructive but they somehow enrich our lives. Community is so difficult to understand, let alone practise, and yet it is how we are designed to live.
Nathan, good questions!
ReplyDeleteHere are just some spontaneous thoughts:
"What do you think are some of the implications of this picture of co-operation/interdependency for our culture?"
I think our culture shies away from complexity in relationships. The divorce rate would be an example of this; people think that when relationships get difficult, something is somehow wrong and they feel justified in giving up or moving on.
Another example would be hostility towards (or even just indifference/avoidance of) different cultures. I think the division of man into two distinct genders is one of many affirmations of diversity in the bible.
This may seem a little far fetched, but I think you could argue from this that the biblical worldview advocates heterogeneity in human society. I'd be more wary of making specific applications from this without a bit more thought/study but a few suggestions might be the support of women in leadership or advocating mixed tenure housing developments or even mixed sex schooling (just a few spontaneous ideas, I'm not saying single sex schooling is unbiblical!!)
Stephen