Captivating, Chapter Five - A Special Hatred

This chapter starts off by recounting some stories of women who have been abuse. Following these stories the authors write, “The treatment of women down through the ages is not a noble history. It has noble moments in it, but taken as a while, women have endured what seems to be a special hatred since we left Eden.” (80). The whole chapter is about this “special hatred” they believe Satan has towards women, as they say again “It is simply to say that no explanation for the assault upon Eve and her daughters is sufficient unless it opens our eyes to the Prince of Darkness and his special hatred of femininity.” (83) Yet, the authors do not even attempt to provide a scriptural basis for this “special hatred”. Nowhere in the Bible is the faintest idea that Satan hates women more than men. True, Satan approached Eve in the Garden of Eden, but that doesn’t mean that he hates her the most.

They continue, “Satan fell because of his beauty. Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty…But most especially, he hates Eve. Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be…more than anything else in all creation, she embodies the glory of God. She allures the world to God.” (84) There is Biblical support for the statement Satan fell because of his beauty, however, as previously stated, there is nothing in the Bible which indicates Satan hates women more than men, or that his purpose is to assault “beauty”. There is nothing in the Bible to support the author’s belief that Satan hates women because they are beautiful.

The authors continue their attempt at saying “The Evil One also hates Eve because she gives life.” (84) It is true the Bible says that Satan came to “steal, kill and destroy” but I do not think that means that he hates women because they can bear children. If he hated women because they give life, then he would need to hate men because they’re a necessary part of that giving of life! A woman can not bear children without a man being involved.

In a summation of the previous two quotations, the authors say “..Eve incarnates the Beauty of God and she gives life to the world. Satan’s bitter heart cannot bear it. He assaults her with a special hatred. History removes any doubt about this.” (85) True, women have been treated horribly through much of history, but I still have a doubt they claim I should not have. Men have also been treated poorly, men have been abused. Men lose their lives in wars, women usually do not. Men have been killed as a part of genocides; men have died from disease and illness. Men have not been excluded from the result of the evil that entered the world through Satan.

The authors continue to feel the need to distort scripture to support what they observe in the world and what they believe. Would it be too much to simply observe “women have been abused throughout history” rather than trying to force scripture to prove it?

There are some positive moments within this chapter, such as this statement, “You might know that through the thousands of years of Jewish history recorded in the Old Testament, Jewish women were considered property with no legal rights (as they were and are in many cultures). They were not allowed to study the Law, nor to formally educate their children. They had a segregated place in the synagogue. It was common practice for a Jewish man to add to his morning prayers, “That you, God for not making me a Gentile, a woman, or a slave.”” (81) In understanding and interpreting the way in which the Bible describes the role of women, it is crucial to understand the role that women had during that time period. Women were treated as nothing. Taking this into consideration makes it all the more revolutionary the way Jesus treated women, the way he interacted with them. The common Jewish prayer makes Ephesians 3:26-28 all the more ground breaking, “So in Christ Jesus you are all Children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Using the same words that were used in the prayer in this verse ensures that the magnitude of it’s radical message would be quite obvious to the men who had their whole lives prayed that prayer. The authors could benefit from reading this verse as it defies the foundation of their belief that men and women are different to their core, that gender is the most important part of us.

The authors provide examples from movies in which the woman is being attacked by the villain, such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, they say “Think of the great stories – in nearly all of them, the villain goes after the Hero’s true love.” (85). However, the authors appear to forget or overlook the fact that these are stories. They have been created for our entertainment. There would be no story if the woman was rescued from nothing. No, there must be a conflict; there must be a need for a rescue, which is the storyline that has been created and is followed. Additionally, this is an example of the author’s one sidedness in ignoring the contrary evidence (a logical fallacy) for there are also many storylines in which the man is the subject of attack, but the authors conveniently forget to mention those. (Think how many men are attacked at some point in The Lord of the Rings which is a movie the authors so frequently quote…yet when are any women seriously attacked?)

At the conclusion of the chapter the author’s quote Isaiah 62:1-5 which is a beautiful passage that demonstrates what God’s heart is, however, they took it a step too far in adding their own feminized comments into it. I do not think it is necessary to add these comments to make God’s (gender neutral) words more powerful or more relevant. (authors comments are italicized)

² The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory; [your beauty]
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

³ You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, [the crown of creation]
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁵ As a young man marries a maiden, [he pursues her, romances her]
so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you. [you are lovely]

The authors presume glory and beauty to me synonyms once again, they equate a gender neutral statement calling all humans the crown of splendor as they previous called women to be the crown of creation, they interpret marries to be pursuing and romancing, and lastly and possibly most dangerous, they follow "your God will rejoice of you" with "you are lovely" as if to mean that God only rejoices over those who are lovely. Once again, these passage from Isaiah are not written to women and do not need to be "specially" translated to hold value. I believe God's word stands alone, it is real and powerful and does not need the Eldredge's to fluff it up in order for women to ingest it.