Oh Really?

The Amazons Defend the Nation

Amazons were warrior women, who are described in the Iliad as "antianeirai", meaning: those who go to war like men. The name Amazon is believed to descend from the word amazoi which in Greek means "breast less", deriving from the legend that says they removed their young girls right breast, so as to facilitate the drawing of the bow, as the bow and arrows were their main weapon. (Makes you wonder about the suitability of women for battle, as they are forced to remove a nurture aspect of the body to enable destruction.) It is believed they resided in Pontus, modern-day Turkey. In medieval times their kingdom was called Femyny(!). Quoted from The Australian, September 28, 2011, under the heading Women win their battle to fight on the front line: General Molan said removing the last barriers on combat roles for women would pose a short-term risk to infantryfighting effectiveness but the transition would be successful because the integration of men and women in forward units was already advanced. "What the government is now saying is that women can go into units that are optimised for killing at close quarters. And if society wants that, then society can have it -- and bear the consequences," General Molan said. Former army commander and onetime head of UN forces in Cambodia Lieutenant General John Sanderson had reservations about the move. "There are experiences associated with this in other parts of the world where battles have been fought. It's worth our while to look at those," he said. Walter Roderick, who served ten years on a submarine, writes in National Christianity and Culture (Examiner.com), February 10, 2012: God has designed men to provide and protect, and He has designed women to support the man in his role. Neither position is more honourable or valuable than the other. Both need to operate together to get the best results, each fulfilling their God-given task with the goal of honouring God in all they do. Egalitarianism says that men and women should be treated as equals - without regard to their created purpose. The Bible says that men and women are equal before the throne of God, but that each sex has specific roles and responsibilities to perform - and it is not proper for one sex to usurp the responsibilities of the other. That does not honour God who made to us to be men and women - unique in sexuality and unique in our abilities. Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, who was seeking his party's presidential nomination when the Pentagon made its announcement to consider placing women in combat roles, opposed the move. He expressed concern that men would feel emotionally obligated to protect their female fellow combatants in the heat of battle. He worries that this distraction would cause male soldiers to lose sight of their mission. Fox News commentator Keith Ablow shared a similar view, saying that women ought to remain a protected class of people. It feels natural to him, he said, that boys shouldnt hit girls, and that the logical extension of that would be a policy keeping women away from imminent danger in the military (www.bestthinking.com/trendingtopic/permalink/359).

The lowest level, to which a man could sink, so I was told while growing up, is to hit a woman. Women were to be protected and looked after by the men in their lives. In our home this was argued from the Biblical understanding the man was to protect, care for her and the woman was to be the helpmeet in the relationship (Genesis 2:1825). In the Western concept of warfare men now not merely are faced with the moral issue of hitting or not hitting women, but rather whether to put bullets in them! While living in New Zealand, I was privileged to partake substantially in the nations Mari culture. We had our meetings on the marae, the Mari meeting place. During such a meeting the women would take their places on the back rows of the seating arrangements, with the men fronting. This was not in order to put women in a place of inferiority, as some egalitarians might surmise; it was done so that the men would be a protective wall in front, should the meeting turn ugly (and, judging from history some tribal confrontations did turn to passionate extremes). If one were to look in other non-Western cultures the same phenomenon can be observed in one form or another. Looking at the State of Israel, it surprised me to notice that there has been a draft for women in the army since the modern states inception. Initially women were not in the frontline, but over time this has become more and more the case. Since the year 2000 women are also entitled to serve as fighter pilots, resulting from a court case won by a woman. However, lately the situation appears to become increasingly problematic as fundamentalist religious men refuse to tolerate women in the army, especially when those women instruct men (No Touching As Israels military becomes more religious, women are having a really hard time showing men how to hold a rifle. By Elana Maryles Sztokman| Posted Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, at 9:30 AM ET). A well-travelled cousin of mine spent considerable time in Israel as part of his engineering studies. He reported that, as he compared Israel with other nations he knew that this nation was the most secular place from all he had visited. It is safe to say that the currently rising aversion to female service is not Torah-based, not on a Bible-centred, creational role-understanding, but rather founded on traditional perceptions propagated by ultra-orthodox rabbis (as per the article quoted). Man is created in Gods image and God has imprinted ethical awareness in terms of earthly stewardship on the soul. Roderick makes the point very well regarding the economic distinction between men and women as instilled by God. Women are not inferior to men; they merely have a different task in Gods vicegerency. It is interesting to read other statements as quoted above which hold no principled world view position, but still maintain that something feels wrong. Matthew Henry makes a beautiful statement regarding the creation of the woman out of the mans rib: She was not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be loved. John Calvin writes (Commentary on Genesis): that woman is given as a companion and an associate to the man, to assist him to live well. For those who take the Bible seriously as the Word of God, the conclusion must be that, if Henry is right, if Calvin is right, then to see women at the front line draw a bead on men to kill them appears to be contradictory to their calling in life. Of course, and the many internet arguments bear this out, if Gods Word is not the guide on such an ethical issue, then there is no reason why only the nations sons should be sent to the front line; the daughters are not to be denied their right to kill and die on the field of battle. And thus the Minister of Defence in Australia declares, "When it comes to

women in the ADF (Australian Defence Force HZ), including in combat roles, an opportunity for women should be determined on the basis of physical and intellectual capacity, not on gender." Should Amazons defend the nation? The answer really boils down to the world view held by the person answering the question. In a nation sadly removed from the authority of Gods Word, the Mari answer and Gods answer to this question will meet with strong opposition in the kingdom of Feminy. The quest for peace begins in the home, in the school and in the workplace. Silvia Cartwright (1943- ), 18th Governor-General of New Zealand

Dr Herm Zandman
12/03/2013