God's Good Design

I recently had the opportunity to read the book God's Good Design: What the Bible Really Says About Men and Women by Claire Smith. I really wanted to read this book because it just so happens that I am also studying Power of a Praying Wife at this time. It is very rare to find someone who can talk about male and female roles in this time. The word "submission" has a bad reputation. Some women don't want to submit because they don't want to give their husbands too much control. Some men want women to submit just to exert control. But there is a perfect balance that can be found in marriages. Women can submit out of love and respect to their husbands, and do that cheerfully because men are loving women as Christ loves His church. That's the key.

Smith does a great job of hitting relevant scripture to this topic, and talking about the culture when it was written, but also how it still relates to us today.

One statement I loved was this: "One of the fallacies of much feminist ideology is the belief that for two people to be equal, they must do the same thing." I love that. Women and men are supposed to be different. They can be equal and different. You can be different and not be inferior or superior.

Claire Smith goes through scripture that is probably familiar to all of us - believers and nonbelievers alike. We all know people who fuss about the scripture that says women need to be silent in church. We all know people who roll their eyes at the part of the Bible that talks about wives being in submission to their husbands. Smith goes through all these tough scriptures and digs deep when she is studying them. She looks at many Bible translations and the original manuscripts when she is trying to figure out the meaning of these verses.

This was an interesting read, but there were some things I did not like about the book. I do not like how many translations of the Bible are used. I believe that is confusing. I think at most one or two versions should be used, and only the one or two versions that are most like the original translations. That is a personal preference. I also felt that the book read like a school essay at times. It was full of facts, but that isn't always enough to keep me interested.

Where to buy:
God's Good Design: What the Bible Really Says About Men and Women by Claire Smith is available at your local Christian bookstore. You can also purchase it from:

• Amazon (Paperback/Kindle)
• Apple (iBooks)
• Christianbook (Paperback)
• Matthias Media (Paperback/Ebook)

 I received this book free of charge from Matthias Media and Cross Focused Reviews in exchange for an honest review.