Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News

Elizabeth Geitz

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781725252943
  9781725252950
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725252967
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

"Fake News! That's Fake News!" In a few short years, the phrase "Fake News" has earned a place in dictionaries, in national discourse, and in our daily lives. But Fake News is not new. Fake News began when people first interpreted the Bible to advance their own agenda. Commonly-held beliefs about what the Bible says regarding women, LGBTQ folks, slavery, immigrants, and Jews trumpets Fake News that is destroying people's lives. What is the best way to counter Fake News? With the truth. To do so, Episcopal priest Elizabeth Geitz turns to the #1 bestselling book year after year--the Bible. Sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and heterosexism are experiencing an alarming resurgence today. It is time for an accessible book that sets the record straight on what the Bible really says regarding the many "isms" affecting all of us. It is time for the Fake News about the Bible to come to a screeching halt. The 101 eye-opening reflections in Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News are a call to action for people of different faiths or no faith at all. This a must-read for anyone exhausted by the daily barrage of Fake News who is seeking the relief of the authentic.

Women Leaders

“The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.”102

Pat Robertson

“I don’t know if our country is ready for a female president.”103

Dawn Zimmerman

102. Associated Press, “Robertson Letter,” A16.

103. Feldman, “Most American Women,” para. 4.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.

Exodus 1:15–17

“I don’t know if America is ready for a female president.” How many times have I heard this refrain? And the origin of such strongly held belief? The Bible. After centuries of biblical interpretation promoting a patriarchal agenda, women and men alike believe that God created woman as inferior to man, that women are not natural-born leaders.

This Fake News regarding half of humankind is easily disproven with a careful reading of Scripture. Let us walk through the Bible together and learn of the many powerful female leaders within it—women who have defied kings, led armies, participated in salvation history, saved entire peoples, ruled nations, and more. Let’s begin with two midwives in ancient Egypt.

Imagine the anxiety Shiphrah and Puah feel when their king summons them. They are enslaved midwives who are singled out and ordered to kill all male Hebrew babies. Their purpose in life is to preserve the life of mother and child, yet suddenly they are commanded to become murderers.

There is no hint in this story of a struggle with their conscience about whom to obey. Shiphrah and Puah immediately know what to do. Courageously risking their own lives, they defy the Egyptian king’s orders and save the lives of countless male Hebrew babies. Why? Because they know the king’s command is contrary to the laws of their Divine Mother. When the king asks why they have allowed the boys to live, they shrewdly deceive him, and “so God dealt well with the midwives.”

Not only are Shiphrah and Puah brave, they are also perceptive and inventive. When asked a direct question by the king that would have implicated them in a plot to disobey his orders, they know exactly how to respond to save both themselves and the male infants yet to be born.

What inner strength it must have taken for these two women to act so boldly in defiance of their king. Fearlessly challenging unjust structures was a hallmark of the Hebrew prophets and the life and ministry of Jesus.

Could Shiphrah and Puah have been role models for Jesus? Could they be role models for you?

Then Moses’ sister Miriam said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

Exodus 2:7

There are times when our voices can change the course of history. That time is now. The students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida who survived a 2018 mass school shooting are using their voices to begin and continue a grassroots movement to change U.S. gun laws. Their intent is to save innocent lives, much as Moses’ sister Miriam does at another time in history when innocent children are also being killed.

When Moses is born, the Hebrews have been in Israel for generations and are becoming so great in number that the Pharaoh fears they will someday rise against him. As a result, he decrees that all male Hebrew babies are to be killed.

To save his life, Moses’ mother hides him for three months. If she had not been brave enough to do so, Moses would have been murdered along with the other male Hebrew babies. Most certainly, his mother’s own life would have been in danger if her secret had been discovered. Yet she risks her life, unknowingly setting in motion the liberation of the Hebrew people.

After three months, Moses’ mother places her infant son in a papyrus basket in the river as his sister Miriam watches from a distance. While the king’s daughter is bathing in the river, she sees the baby and rescues him. Although she is an enslaved person, Miriam immediately addresses the princess and offers to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Who does this resourceful girl choose? Moses’ own mother. Though only a child, Miriam also saves Moses’ life, forever changing the course of spiritual history.

Have you ever taken a risk and spoken out when others were afraid to do so? How did it feel? If not, what changes might you make to be more like Miriam and the Stoneman Douglas students?

The prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.

Exodus 15:20

Hear what the Lord says . . . “I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”

Micah 6:1, 4

Enslaved in Egypt for approximately four hundred years, the Israelites tirelessly beseech God to hear their prayers and deliver them from the hands of their enemies. In answer to their prayers, God lifts up not one leader, as often depicted, but three.

The belief that Moses alone led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt toward the Promised Land is more Fake News. Moses’ sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron, are also sent to lead the exodus journey. All three of them are identified as leaders, yet only Moses is remembered as such.

Has someone else ever gotten all the recognition for something in which you played a significant role? This is what happened to Miriam and Aaron; history has forgotten them.

Not only does Miriam help save Moses’ life when he’s an infant and assist him in leading the exodus, but she is also designated in Scripture as a prophet, indicating that her community holds her in high esteem. Lifesaver, leader, and prophet—Miriam was indeed a remarkable and versatile young woman.

Miriam is also wise enough to celebrate their exodus victory by leading the women in dancing and the shaking of tambourines; the women all follow her. She was clearly in a leadership role on the long and arduous journey. I have no doubt she listened to many a story and dried many a tear along the way, comforting and cajoling at just the right time. Then, when danger is past, Miriam knows how to have fun and celebrate a victory, something we often gloss over in our busy lives.

Numerous women were in leadership roles over three thousand years ago. How might you share this...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Reader’s Guide
• Feminine Imagery
• Sexism
• Racism
• Heterosexism
• Anti-Semitism
• Xenophobia
• Women Leaders
• Survival
• Epilogue
• About the Author
• Bibliography