In light of the recent "holiday," International Women's Day, many thoughts entered my mind as I saw post after post of women thanking other women for their strength and hard work. In my life, I have been influenced by many strong, God-fearing women. In fact, my home church is filled with hard-working, God-fearing women that get stuff done. With that in mind, many thoughts came to my mind about modern feminism and women in general. I personally believe that God created women to be the helper to men as conveyed in Genesis. The whole point behind God making Eve was that Adam was alone and needed someone to help him. After the fall, things got completely screwed up. Below are two myths that some modern feminists would have us believe and what the Bible says about them.

1. Women are better than men

I believe wholeheartedly in women leadership. The Bible supports this in the fact that Deborah was a judge (Judges 4), Miriam was a prophetess (Exodus 15:20) and Priscilla was quite possibly a co-pastor with her husband Aquila. However, the Bible makes it very clear that women do not have authority over men (1 Tim 2:12; the literal translation means that women do not have authority over men. She can preach and teach, but she cannot assume authority over a man). They can be equal to men, because God is impartial, but they do not have authority over them.

I think women are a little too quick to take over things when men aren't getting it done. I can say that because I, too, have a tendency to take things over when I don't see them getting done. I have begun noticing that guys almost anticipate that girls will take over and, therefore, don't do much. As much as it may hurt your pride, it's time we ladies take a step back and let men reclaim their positions as God intended. The Bible states that God designed marriage to represent Jesus and the church. Women will submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:22-25).

Now, this only works as God intended if we submit out of love, not out of obligation. Again, this is a picture of Christ and His church. So, girls, be ready to do what needs to be done, but please let the men do what God made them to do. Yes, you are perfectly able to open the door and carry that bag, but let them do it anyway. You can't complain that chivalry is dead if you don't give them a chance to be chivalrous. Let them serve you and uplift you. Yes, guys do some pretty idiotic things that make us wonder what they're thinking (which I have heard is, "I thought it was a good idea at the time"), but they are making the mistakes and learning from them. By taking over, we are debilitating them. That is not what Christian women should be doing.

2. Women own themselves and can do as they wish

I'll probably get a lot of hate for this one, but I have to address it. With modern feminism, there is a rise of the belief that women can do what they want because their bodies are their own to do whatever they see fit. This leads to arguments such as reproductive rights and even dress code. Yes, women, you are more than your reproductive system. But let me ask you this, since when do you own yourself?

According to the Bible, there has never been, nor will there ever be a time where you own yourself. If you are not saved, then you're a slave to the world and its passions. If you are saved, you were bought with a price, which is the blood of Christ (same goes for men, obviously). The Bible says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (1 Cor 6:19-20).

Men think differently than women do. For the most part, women have a fairly easy time "bouncing" their thoughts from the cute guy in the mall to the test they have the next day. Guys aren't so good at that (at least from what I've heard from my Dad and really good guys friends). My Mom always told me that if you were to spend an hour in a guy's brain, you would probably dress like a nun the rest of your life.

Now, I am not excusing guys for not practicing self-control, which is something given by the Holy Spirit, but I am acknowledging that they have a unique battle that we as women don't fully understand. Yes, guys do need to practice self-control, but, girls, it is not fair to them for us to be walking around half-dressed and expect them to not gawk at us.

Now I'm not putting the blame on the girls and saying you want that type of behavior by dressing the way you do. What I'm saying is that we tend to push all the blame on guys and their behavior toward us, when this behavior has been reinforced as a good thing. Due to the wretched, filthy and sex-filled world we live in, it becomes ingrained in boys at a young age to ogle girls who dress with less-than-appropriate clothing on and respect those who dress modestly (which doesn't always happen as I get a decent amount of looks while dressed modestly).

In today's culture, boys are taught how to act around girls, and it usually involves flirtatious comments and it's usually done in an aggressive manner. Women are portrayed as sexual objects to be flirted with and conquered. When guys see a girl in a revealing outfit, it's really hard for them to look away. There was a study done to see how men reacted to women in revealing outfits versus women in modest outfits. You can watch this video to get a glimpse into this study, as well as history of swimsuits, done by Jessica Rey.

Throughout the New Testament we are taught that we have freedom in Christ, but we should not abuse that freedom. In 1 Corinthians 12:6, Paul basically tells us that there are many things that he is able to do, but he won't do them just so he doesn't cause a brother to stumble. He also talks about it throughout Romans as well. Jesus even said that it would be better to tie a millstone around your neck and cast yourself into the sea than to cause someone to stumble (Matt 18:6). As Christians, we are called to love one another. If Jesus taught us anything, it's that love will require you to sacrifice something, if not everything. I think we can sacrifice our comfort to help our brothers out. Let's sacrifice because we love Jesus and love our brothers.

So there's that. Girls, y'all are powerful, capable, beautiful women of God. Nothing can change that. You are all dreamers and doers. Be confident in that. Don't believe the lies society is trying to sell you. A truly confident woman is able to relent and submit when it is needed. A truly confident woman dresses and acts in a way worthy of the Gospel. She puts others before herself. She knows to Whom she belongs, and that nothing anyone says can tell her different.