It is not good for man to be alone

Sorry, most of this article is written in Bahasa Indonesia, and it's not about finding the right life-partner :D


Sengaja judulnya itu, soalnya pasti mengundang perhatian kamyu-kamyu yang lagi mencari pewahyuan ato sekedar seneng baca sesuatu yang berbau Teman Hidup :D.

Who doesn’t know that famous scripture? Hayo ngacung yang belom pernah denger ayat ini!!!!

“It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him (Genesis 2:18, NLT)”.

Yup, kita sering mendengar kutipan ayat tersebut kalo orang lagi bicara soal teman hidup. But this time, my friend, I will share and unfold something bigger than just finding-the-right-partner context. Eitss..., jangan kecewa dulu. If you bear with me, you will uncover something greater. So, are you ready???

Berawal dari gue baca bukunya Lisa Bevere yang judulnya Lioness Arising¹. And that scripture...sodara-sodara has stirred up an uncontainable and overwhelming thought within me. Sekarang gue kasih resume beberapa tulisan di buku itu yang mengupas tentang Genesis 2:18.

Tidak baik laki-laki hidup seorang diri saja. Keberadaan wanita dalam kehidupan membawa kebaikan untuk laki-laki, wanita, anak-anak, dan dunia tempat kita hidup bersama. Hidup seorang diri itu dikatakan “not good” karena manusia adalah makhluk sosial and  were created for connections to one another, termasuk di dalamnya interaksi antar gender.  Male and female are joint heirs. Bahkan ya, extensive alliance of only males appear to be a source for potential disaster¹. Hmmm, kalo dipikir-pikir emang bener sih, di society yang prianya dominan dan wanita cuma jadi warga kelas dua, biasanya banyak masalah, either konflik, poverty or illiteracy. But long before there was a world problem, Tuhan punya solusinya: wanita, seperti yang Tuhan firmankan di Genesis 2:18 tadi. Nih, coba baca sekali lagi.

“It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him (Genesis 2:18, NLT)”.

Wow, can you imagine? So, ladies, we are the answer. Women are God-answers for humanity. Bisa kita liat dan simpulkan juga dari beberapa study yang dilakukan di dunia ini bahwa dominant male-driven cultures are unhealthy on multiple levels. Sebaliknya, keberadaan wanita di tengah-tengah society akan membawa dampak positif. Coba baca beberapa study di bawah ini:

More consensus of global studies points to gender equality as the missing link to stem the tide of world poverty and even terrorism. In 2001 The World Bank produced an influential study, Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voices, arguing that promoting gender equality is crucial to combat global poverty. “ Investments in girl’s education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world. The question is not whether countries can afford this investment, but whether countries can afford not to educate more girls” (Lawrence Summers, was the Chief Economist in World Bank)².

The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) also conducted a study that concluded “Women’s empowerment helps raise economic productivity²”.

Bahkan yang lebih dahsyatnya lagi nih, soal terrorism, hasil study dari beberapa security expert menyatakan bahwa: “The reason there are so many Muslim terrorist has little to do with Koran, but a great deal to do with the lack of robust female participation in the economy and society of many Islamic countries. Empowering girls, some in the military argued, would disempower terrorists²”.

Woow, I don’t know about you, but gue excited banget knowing the fact that a collective power of women who know who they are would bring solution to this world. Ladies, we were not created as a second-class citizen, we are joint heirs with our fellow, males. 

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life (Proverbs 31: 10-11, NLT).

Kalo kamu mikir itu cuman untuk konteks your spouse or boyfriend, you are missing something greater here, darling. It has a greater context, for us as women, collectively, to enrich the lives of the men around us (brothers, friends, boss, colleagues, etc.), and it also has the greater context of the Church and her groom, our glorious Jesus Christ. We have to be both virtuous, and capable. Let’s ask God to give us strategy so that we can play our part, individually, and collectively, together we’ll bring solution to this world.

So, lovely ladies, will you dare to believe that you might be a part of this revelation and a part of something bigger than yourself?

 I dare to believe. You?

And for men, would you be our partners, to promote gender equality and therefore become joint-heirs with women to make this world a better place to live? 

¹Lisa Bevere, Lioness Arising (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook, 2010).

²Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (New York: Knopf, 2009)