Tuesday, April 15, 2008

wifely submission

and here is another post I wrote on the same forum, commenting on the view that a wife's submission means she is to give up on her own hopes and dreams and only have her husband's hopes and dreams (I question whether, long term, that is even truly possible except by massive repression), I said:

There are several problems with the traditional assumptions, apart from it being a grand invitation to abuse (all good things can be abused, so we always have to tread carefully around that one)

** it is an invitation to idolatry, calling the wife to put her husband in the place that belongs solely to God

** It ultimately makes the husband mediator between God and his wife -- usurping the place that belongs only to Christ

** by creating a male-only 'priesthood' within the home, it denies the priesthood of all believers

** the wife becomes the husband's servant/employee/inferior instead of his true counterpart

** it denies any concept of the wife having any gifts, abilities, insights to be used in the Kingdom. Did all those parables about talents and service to the kingdom etc rerally only apply to half the human race?

Ultimately, while it sounds very spiritual, it does nothing for the sanctification of either husband and wife. The one is delivered from accountability, the other is stripped from true moral responsibility ..

Sometimes it's hard to wrestle through the fog of all this stuff, especially when you still carry some of those hierarchalist (is there such a word?) guilt trips inside your head ..

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Suzanne R said...

Being raised as I was, I was taught that men held a literal "priesthood" that was given to them, some said, to counteract the power that women had as mothers. I heard many talks in meetings about how a wife was supposed to honor and be accountable to her husband and his "priesthood," (at which point, my late husband would elbow me, which made me very angry). Inevitably, the next part of the talk (we didn't call them sermons) would be about the husband being accountable to the Lord, and guess who got elbowed? In retrospect, we both acted very immature but this religious set-up was certainly not conducive to happy households without a lot of squelching of emotions and at times, yes, abuse. So I recognize my situation of longer ago in what you write.

Patchouli said...

Bravo--and too bad this discussion is STILL needed!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.