My first round of exams starts friday. I feel so unprepared . . .
I thought I lost my wallet. I drove back to school to find it only to figure out it was wedged inbetween books in my backpack. Sometimes I am such a ditz.
I've been thinking some about the role of women in the church. It's kind of been bothering me somewhat because my home church is very conservative and is really big on the whole "women should be submissive to men" thing. I know that I used to agree with them but lately I can only see the "SUBMIT" side which is SO one-sided. This past year in AACF, one thought crossed my mind SO many times. "If I were a guy and was trying to do all this stuff, it would be received SO much better." Recently one of my friends (guy) asked, "What do you think of the woman being the follower of the man in relationships?" and immediately another friend of mine (girl) said, "I LIKE IT." And while I do think that it's important for men to be leaders, what does that really mean for women? Blah. It's been bothering me a lot.
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Submitting in general can be a hard thing to stomach, and while the Bible clearly states in Ephesians 5: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord" (v.22), I think it's important to notice the verses around it for context:
ReplyDelete23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.
The wife's submission to her husband is analogous to the church's submission to Christ. That's a tall order for the guy, who is called to love his wife as Christ loved the church. Also, just because the wife is supposed to submit to the husband, that doesn't mean she's going to agree with everything he does or says. She's allowed to have her own thoughts and opinions (aren't all humans?) - but her obedience is seen as an act of good faith. Just as we trust God to help us through the rough patches, the wife trusts that hubbie has her best interest in mind.
And if he doesn't...well, that's a different story for a different time.
Let me know what you think about this.
Hm. Yeah I remember hearing a sermon about that at BCEC this year. The pastor talked about how wives should submit to their husband and the husband, in turn, should love the wife. And I guess relating the relationship of Christ with the church helped a lot. But I still don't fully understand what that looks like. What if the relationship isn't equal? Do husbands love their wives regardless of whether or not their wives submit? Or do wives submit to their husbands regardless of whether or not their husbands love them?
ReplyDeleteOn another note -- what does that mean outside of the marriage/relationship context?
e.g. 1 Cor 14:33-35
"As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. THey are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says, if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
Ah, I see what you mean but I can't really answer for the outside-of-marriage context. I'm going to have to pass the buck on this one!
ReplyDeleteMen are to be leaders. But that doesn't mean women can't or shouldn't be. God created us in different ways but that only means we lead in different ways.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the insight to go in more depth but I did find something that might help. Look for that in my next post.