Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
2 Corinthians 1:12
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
Confucian Philosophy & Rule.
Understand the basic elements of Tang-Song era Chinese Confucian ideas and rule. Core ideas of Confucianism? Just who were likely to become Confucian scholar-officials, how would they be chosen, what power and responsibilities would they have, and what checks on them?
By 1200 in the settled lands of China, Confucianism had been the basis for rule - much more often than not - for more than a thousand years. Confucianism had at its core the ideas of the man known in history as Confucius. Confucius had lived in China during the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, a period of increasing upheval, which caused him to think long and hard about the nature of order, good government, and human nature. Confucianism is not a religion; rather it is a philosophy concerned with how best to organize and run a stable, fair, successful society. Confucius didn't attack religious beliefs; he simply wasn't very interested in them - his focus was on the life of this world. Confucius believed that the best society and government was one in which each person knew his or her own role, and fulfilled it completely. He thought governing was best done by educated, dedicated gentlemen (not women).
Most of these Confucian gentlemen would be well-born, among other things because in Confucius's day only the elites had much of any chance at a good education. But good birth was not enough, or even an absolute requirement to hold high government office, or even to count as a gentleman. The key requirement was to study the nature of good society and government and then to apply it honorably both in one's individual life (example) and in one's position in government (exercise of power). Confucianists believed good government had to serve all the people, although it expected people of different status to fulfill different roles and responsibilities.
While of course this ideal was not always perfectly fulfilled, by Song times (960-1200s) day-to-day Chinese domestic rule was the responsibility of well-educated, dedicated professional bureaucrats, not conquering warriors or privileged aristocrats with no interests beyond their own privilege. All officials were appointed and paid by the central, imperial government, thus (as long as the system actually worked) keeping central control over the representatives sent out to govern all regions. Starting with the Tang, Confucian governments followed what came to be known as the "rule of avoidance." By this policy no official could ever be appointed to rule within his own home province - another device to keep central power strong for as long as possible. Simply put, it is easier for centrally-appointed officials to do their duty to restrain local privilege when the local elites are not members of their own families.
By Tang-Song times all candidates for government office were expected to be well educated in the Confucian classics, and thus to have expert understanding of how best to rule. Confucian government began at the district level, where one appointed district magistrate served both as judge and general government representative in all civilian matters. This was of course a great thing for China's ruling dynasties (including both the Tang and the Song), which themselves gained power by conquest. Such military conquerors were delighted to take over a system in which their state was ruled well by skilled elites whose highest values required them to serve their state's rulers loyally and well. Of course the governments also built increasingly good systems of internal communication and maintained widespread military garrisons, in part to be able to keep an eye on all their subordinate areas just in case of any revolts.
Another great aspect of Confucian rule in China was the way Confucian officials were chosen. Most of the time by the Song era they were chosen on the basis of their performance in China's great Confucian Exam system. These exams were held regularly (the entry level almost every year, the top level every 3 years usually) by the government, and they were open to almost all men. Of course the only ones with any chance of doing well (think of Olympic try-outs) were men who had devoted their entire youth to Confucian study. It didn't hurt to have the advantages of special tutors, plentiful reference books, and freedom from all chores while one was studying (again think of Olympic training). But it is also true that in every generation there were a few "Abe Lincoln" stories - the earnest, talented young man that perhaps overheard the village tutor through the school window as he sat tending a herd of goats, and had to scratch characters into the dust with a stick. Or at least something fairly close to that. And there were also many stories of stuck up young men with all of the advantages, who didn't work, and who disgraced themselves by not being able to place well on the great exams.
Thus Confucian China developed a system of recruiting its ruling elites that was at least somewhat open to talent, and thus much less likely to fall completely into the hands of privileged idiots, or to drive the best and the brightest poor men into rebellion against a system tightly closed against them. This made Confucianism a very stable basic philosophy of rule. A particular dynasty might be seen to fail to live up to its Confucian obligations, but Confucian method of rule itself remained China's great ruling belief system.
Confucian rule also worked because it matched, and was believed really to represent, the basic structure of Chinese culture and society. Confucianism began with Confucius's idealized description of early traditional Chinese society and how it fit in with (again idealized) rule. Basically Confucianism saw the extended family as the core basis of society, with the senior male as head of the family. Women obeyed men, younger people obeyed their elders, and ordinary people (mostly peasants) willingly accepted the leadership of the educated elites. Domestic government thus could be a very thin layer atop Chinese society because it had only a few major jobs to do. It was there to defend the peace, collect taxes, and settle those (ideally few) disputes that couldn't be settled at the family and local level. The result was a good deal of stability, at least until the end of dynastic eras, when good government and strong borders broke down catastrophically.
Song Chinese Economics and Society.
This stability was also both the cause and the result of growing internal Song era Chinese prosperity. Social and political stability plus increased communications all helped build conditions favorable to economic growth, especially by increasing technological invention. Over the many centuries of Tang-Song Chinese history, the overall Chinese economy blossomed to previously-unknown heights. Many farmers grew specialized crops for sale (many the result of improved seed and agricultural techniques); many crafts specialists produced very valuable goods of all sorts, with silk continuing to be the most valuable. The invention of techniques for producing large amounts of paper and ink plus the development of block printing meant books could be created in relatively large quantities and relatively inexpensively. This greatly increased the percentage of the population which was literate. By the Song era, 960-1279, paper money was being used which greatly increased internal trade exchanges. Coastal sailors used the maritime compass to find their way, and sailed great ships made much safer by watertight interior compartments. The great internal Grand Canal (see above map) carried huge amounts of goods north and south across China, as did the navigable parts of China's great east-west flowing rivers. Dozens of cities flourished, with the greatest ones having populations in the millions.
Unfortunately this Song era prosperity did not improve Chinese women's status and lives. Confucianism had always seen women as subordinate to men, and believed that no woman belonged in the public spheres of warfare and government rule. Women were never allowed to hold any Confucian government office and the few women who held visible power within royal courts usually ended up being criticized by later Confucian historians. But through the Tang era (thus, to 906), both ordinary and elite women had moved about some in the public areas of their world, with Tang ladies (for example) playing polo while mounted astride their horses. In the Song this began to change significantly, with the appearance of the custom of footbinding. Practiced by increasing numbers of prosperous elites during the Song era (960-1279), footbinding permanently crippled those females undergoing it. At about age 6, a girl's feet would begin to be wrapped tightly in long strips of cloth. Her big toe would be left out for balance, but her small toes would be turned under and bent back towards her heel. Such wrappings literally stunted her feet's natural growth, producing a dainty-sized maimed stump. The resulting "golden lily" ideally would be only 3 inches. and was usually regarded as a failure if the part of the bound foot touching the floor was more than 6 inches. (Footbinding would continue to spread in China from the Song era on, only beginning to decline in the later 19th century, and finally ending completely after 1949 when all of China came under Communist rule.)
Scholars often try to figure out why such a (to today's eyes) horrible custom developed. Such women were definitely seen as more physically desirable to men. Writings of the time describe the resulting halting boundfoot walk as lilting and especially feminine in its hesitency and delicacy. Some scholars have reported a belief that the peculiar bound foot gait strengthened women's thigh muscles, thus making them more desirable sexual partners. Others report writings that saw a girl's ability to withstand the rigors of footbinding (it was very painful while the feet were growing) as a kind of female character-building exercise - girls withstood this pain just as boys studied or learned warfare. The girls with the smallest feet thus might have the strongest characters. Finally, many scholars note that while most societies didn't develop footbinding, many (although not all) traditional cultures became more restrictive of their women as the culture aged.
Although Confucianism dominated official life and its expectations of society, it should be noted that many religions existed in China, and were accepted as long as they did not threaten the dominance of Confucian power over society and government. By far the two most important of these were native Chinese Daoism (based in good part on a oneness of understanding with nature) and Mahayana Buddhism, which came into China from India mostly during the period of Chinese disunity during the 3rd-6th centuries CE. Both Daoists and Buddhists had monks, nuns, monasteries and temples, both had emotionally-appealing teachings offering alternatives to tough, this-worldly Confucian expectations. But neither played anything like the core cultural role played by Islam in the Near East (or Chistianity in Medieval Europe or Hinduism in much of India).
Jesus has set us all free and yes women (My Sisters) too! The above article is to show that putting or keeping women under men or restricting there Full Participation in Ministry are following the ways of this sinful world. Resticting Women because of there gender is Sinful & Pagan! Just look at what God's word has to say about this! As I highlighted key points in this article the Holy Spirit brought lots of scriptures to mind! Also a good book to read is by Gilbert Bilezikian called "Beyond Sex Roles". Putting Men and women in roles is just another form of worldly pagan bondage. Who will you pick: Mans rule/Confucian Rule or Jesus/God's Rule? I Pick Jesus/God's Rule!
1 Timothy 1:4
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith.
1 Timothy 4:7
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
2 Timothy 4:4
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Titus 1:14
and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.
Galatians 2:4
And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
Galatians 4:3
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Galatians 4:9
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
1 John 2:16,17
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Matthew 20:25,26
But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Matthew 15:3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Matthew 15:6
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Psalm 118:8 (King James Version)
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
