An open letter to my sisters and future daughters: Know your ontological worth in a dangerous world

Dear Obaapa,

I am sure you are busy working, reading, or even considering the next step to go in life. Possibly, you may be worried about your future marital life – social status. It may also be possible that you are being compelled to have your humanity defined along with godless societal expectations. It is possible you are concerned about your physical looks, whether your feminine features are budding the way you want or even brooding over the issue of childlessness.

Obaapa, as your father, and as a man and I have all the inclinations of a biological man. I know the quest that we men have to satisfy our sexual desires – regardless of the approach. Because of my own identity as a mature, biological man, I feel compelled to write to you this letter. More specifically, two things have compelled me to write this letter to you at this time.

The first is the fact that I have become deeply convinced about my Christian faith. What this implies is that my worldviews are now essentially and ontologically Christocentric. Similarly, it means I have cried several times before my God asking for forgiveness for everything I ever did wrong to any woman.

The second reason for writing this is the reconstituting of the worth of human beings in general, but which is putting too much pressure on women.

With the above, Obaapa, let me say the following to you as you go through life. I consider what I am going to list below very crucial and critical for you as you go through life. remember that all the following points are mutually inclusive. Do not separate them.

First, believe that God exists: Don’t be an atheist or humanist. Don’t be anything other than having a personal commitment, relationship and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, believe that God created you. Don't ever believe in any godless theories that masquerade as scientific in trying to explain the origin of the world. Please do know that the origin of the world is not known to all scientists – including Charles Darwin. This is precisely because no scientist was around as an eyewitness when the universe was created. Not only was no sophisticated minded scientist present when the world was being created, but the tools they have invented to speculate about the origin of the universe were also not there. So, we cannot trust both scientists and the tools they use to tell us about the origin of the universe.

Similarly, the world has a long history that precedes modern science. What this means is that the established world cannot be subject to the rudiments of empiricism to uncover its origin. The best any scientist can do is to speculate about the origin of the world. The speculations about the origin of the universe (if you like cosmos) is not better than your grandmother, Agartha Adjei, who hasn’t had any experience with western schooling – yet who is godly and a stronger believer in Jesus Christ. She is wise and a great nurturer because she believes in Christ.


Third, you don’t have to believe in evolution as an explanation of the cosmos because it will lead submerge your body and soul. This is because if you believe you originated from an ape (remember usually they say this to denigrate your "race" as an African), you are downgrading your worth.

If you are an ape, it means you have no inherent value; you have no inherent worth. You have no inherent beauty. You have no inherent status in life. What all this means is that you will be compelled to live to fulfil the perverted desires and expectations of godless and rebellious men and women.

Obaapa, the belief in the banality of evolution is one of the reasons why most women (and also some men) are compelled to use all sorts of body enhancement chemicals and surgeries. Remember that the godless world is syncretic and systemic in routinising godlessness. The industries and so-called scholarly world benefit when you consume all these chemicals and technological predatory practices. So, godless scientists and industries will collaborate seamlessly to abuse your humanity – they enjoy it when you suffer because they make money.

Obaapa, know that over the years, several women have had health complications emerging from their reckless use of carcinogenic substances in the name of enhancing their beauty. But who must see the beauty of women? Is it God or men? The pagan Greeks say that, "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder". This is godless, demonic, and demoralising to human beings. I will explain more on this later in another letter, specifically dedicated to the philosophy of beauty. I will also write to you about pain, the fallen world, and how to live on existential knowledge from Christ.

Dear Ohemaa, now let me tell you why you must believe that God created you. But before I do that, know that your faith as a Christian appears to share the same vision of creationism with other religions.

But, take note of the “but”: your faith as a Christian is fundamentally different from every other religion in the world. Your Lord Jesus Christ and your considered belief in the ontological existence of the Triune God is uniquely, substantially and fundamentally different from every other faith tradition.

The difference between your Christian faith and other religions includes beauty and the idea of womanhood. Impliedly, it includes the visions of creation. Whereas most religions believe that a god created the world and human beings, the Bible – the only true book about humanity and the cosmos – has a uniquely different narrative.

The Bible doesn’t just say God created everything, including human beings, but majestically adds that “God created man and woman in His own image” and that “Everything God created was good and beautiful”.

Obaapa, I plead with you not to treat these majestic statements lightly. I will plead with you to give these two mutually reinforcing statements a considerable thought, precisely because these statements will form the basis of your ontology as a woman. It will indicate your place in God’s creation.

With this, let me tell you the supreme relevance of the above statements. First, “God created man and woman in His own image”. This statement is revolutionary. It has no equivalent in any humanistic philosophy, including humanistic science, or religion. At the risk of repeating myself, let me say it is uniquely Christian.

It is not just unique, it is the best statement for humanity. This is because it means you have an inherent value. You have innate worth. You have what is also called ontological nobility. Keep this big philosophical word in mind. Tell any man who tries to take advantage of you that you have an ontological nobility. Repeat it, ontological nobility. Your nobility is God-given and natural. You don’t need any human confirmation or denial about your ontological nobility. You are naturally, by virtue of God’s creation, of worth.

This also means that you are already beautiful without the use of any chemical. You don't need body enhancement surgeries to look beautiful. Don't impress any man, not even me. Don't impress any woman, not even your mother. This is because while you were born by us, birth alone doesn't necessarily define your value. So, like your parents, we cannot take credit for your value. We cannot and couldn’t have aborted you. We cannot define your sex. We cannot determine your worth. You are uniquely, unique and of value to God, your sole creator.

As I keep saying, your value lies in the fact that you are a creature of God. You are already beautiful without the approval of any man. You are already beautiful even if no one sees you. You are already beautiful even if you think you are not. You don’t define your beauty. So, your beauty is independent of both you and any other human being. Your beauty is because God created you. It is only God who determines your beauty. And graciously, he has already declared that you are beautiful and of worth. You have self-worth, based on God. You don’t have to look into the mirror and be enraptured by it to know your beauty. You are in the image of God, not in any human being.

This leads seamlessly to the second statement: "And God saw and declared that everything He made is good and beautiful". I know taking over from me, as a philosopher, you may be wondering, if God is good, can He create anything form of a defect – such that He has to say what He has created is both good and beautiful"?

I had a similar lingering question until I learned the sublime truth about God’s majestic statement. The statement isn’t about the slightest hint of divine ontological contradiction. It is God’s communication to the world that He has already declared His creation, including you, beautiful.

In other words, the Triune God is communicating to everyone that He has not left it to any man or human to determine your worth and beauty. It also means that while of all creations, it is only human beings who are discontent with their looks and who they are, God says you are already beautiful.

Good enough what this also means is that your worth is not an acquired one. You have innate worth not acquired worth. Obaapa, please pay attention to this. That you are a creature of God; that you have inherent worth means you are complete without both marriage and childbirth.

Marriage is God’s creation. Children are a gift from God. But both marriage and childbirth are not necessary and sufficient for two things: First, defining your worth and second, your salvation – which is very crucial to your life on earth.

Let me say a word or two about marriage, but I will say more about this in another letter. First, marriage from our common shared faith in Christ is solely heterosexual and monogamous. What this means is that you are ontologically a woman. You are biologically a woman and you cannot marry someone who shares the same sex with you. That divine-inverted practice of two persons of the same biological sex marrying is called same-sex marriage. Remember that same-sex marriage is a rebellion against God. It is unacceptable, anti-divine ontology, and counter-human. It is meant to destroy the human race. It is not from the Triune God.

Second, marriage is solely monogamous. Don’t marry any man who is already in a marriage. Don’t be in any kind of amorous relationship with a married man. Don’t be pushed by wants – which appears as needs – to enter into marriage or any form of conjugal relationship with any man who is already married or in an existing relationship.

Remember men want more sex, not more responsibility to take care of the women they have sex with. Also, remember that most men want to discharge and free their waist without taking care of this discharge by emptying their pockets to take care of you and your children.

But in all this, know that marriage is God’s creation. And because God created marriage, He alone defines the boundaries of marriage. It is what God says about marriage that you should consider as true, virtuous and worthy of acceptance. Reject, without apology, any other contrary view from any human being, including your professors or religious leaders about marriage. I allow you to rebel intellectually on this point.

Having said all this, Obaapa please know that much as marriage is God's creation and necessary for repopulating the world, through procreation, children are a gift from God. It is God who blesses us with children. If children are a gift from God, it means we don’t force a gift from God. A gift is a gift. No human being has the power to give you children. On their own, every human being must depend on God for the promise of children.

This means that a doctor or religious person cannot ontologically give you children. If for any reason a doctor promises to give you children, read that to me he or she is also trusting God to give you children. If a religious person promises to give you children, know that he or she is also trusting God to give you children.

All this means that you don’t have to be desperate about having children. You don’t have to allow yourself to be seduced into and reduced to sexual, physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional torture because of childlessness. This is fundamental because you have an inherent dignity with or without children.

Obaapa, I have a lot to write about, but let me end here since my letter is already long. But to summarise all that I am saying: "God created you, so you have inherent worth. You are naturally beautiful. You don't need children to be a woman. You don't need marriage to be a woman. You rather need Jesus Christ to be human and to be saved for a better world to come".

Read my letter, slowly, carefully, meditatively, and read your Bible for more information. Know that when you live these teachings of the Christian faith, the world will reject you and consider you insane. Your friends will laugh at you; you may become a laughing butt; your teachers may fail you if you write this in your exams about beauty and human worth. But stand firm, for Christ was also rejected because of all these.

Remember you are different from all non-Christian, even as you live cordially. Remember you must rule over your world, including godless philosophies, not the world ruling over you. Stand strong as a woman; stand strong in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Your brother, father, and fellow Pilgrim in Christ


Satyagraha


Charles Prempeh