Mutoria

Preface: I was supposed to be writing my personal statement for my medical school application when an irresistable idea popped into my head. here it is!

There is a world named Mutoria. It has blue skies and green plants, and its inhabitants are human. On it, a body of Christian believers looks for the soon return of the One who created and redeemed their race.

Many years ago, the Christian church on Mutoria had a disagreement about the meaning of equality. They would have said it was about the roles of Women and Men in the church, but in the end, it was really all about the concept of equality. God had created Eve and Adam in the beginning: Adam – the male, had fallen to the temptations of a serpent: and God had said something about Eve becoming the head and leader over him. Female and Male created He them. Everyone seemed to agree that Female and Male were equals, but then they would disagree about what that meant.

One day, in a particularly heated debate, an old mathematician named Euclidia stood up.

“Female and Male are not equal” she said. “Don’t you see the difference in form?”

A young Maleist stood up. “You’re effectively saying that men aren’t as good as women!”

A strongly built man in the audience looked down circumspectly as his wife, with a righteous firmness, stood up and said: “ Of course you’re just as good as us, but the bible says you’re not supposed to educate the children or nurture the sick or prepare healthy food—this is the spiritual bailiwick of Women because Man fell at the beginning.” Many in the audience nodded their heads appreciatively. This was the tradition of the church, and the clear interpretation of Scripture.

“But that effectively excludes us from any leadership in the church!” said a middle-aged man. “What I want to know, is why we cannot be ordained as Eldresses – they are the true spiritual leaders of the church, and I feel that Men have been oppressed by domineering Women.”

Everyone shifted uncomfortably. There was no biblical precedent for a man to be ordained as an Eldress. But God had created Female and Male as equals, hadn’t he? So was it really fair to exclude men from the leadership positions of authority in the church?

Suddenly, an elderly lady stood up and began to speak. “The problem is with our simplistic understanding of equality. Women and Men were created both equal and unequal. We are equal in the sense that God loves us impartially: therefore we are all accorded the same right to loving treatment. And yet, Euclidia is right to state that Women are physiologically different from Men, and therefore we are not mathematically equivalent. I was a biochemist, and I know that function follows form. Two proteins may be of equal importance without having equal function. Doesn’t it make sense that God would mirror this law of physics and chemistry in the macrocosm of human function and interaction? In conclusion, I propose that the church create a special, spiritually ordained role for the men: they would be called ‘Elders’…”

“Yeah, well, what would you expect the ‘Elders’ to do? ‘Serve people?’ ” said a young Maleist with a sneer.

“It would take a great deal of thought and prayer, but I think that would be a good place to start!” replied the elderly lady.

Although some of the Maleists objected that it would be impossible to distinguish between the equality of function as a man or woman and the equality of identity as a person, the body of believers decided to follow the advice the elderly lady. Through much prayer, they eventually were able to establish roles ideally suited to the unique capacities of both Men and Women in their distinct spiritual realms of authority. It worked, because they loved Christ more than they loved themselves.


* Similarities or disparities between Mutoria and Earth may be purely coincidental. Draw conclusions at your own risk.