Ok... I just read this and now I ask you (who are interested), to read this ALL the way through and then answer, if you are so inclined. I found this fascinating; obviously, I'm going to have to study this out to the end but I thought I'd post it here to see if anybody agreed with him!!

-------------------------

Myth # 32 - Husbands are the Spiritual Leaders of Wives.

This is a destructive and cultish concept. JESUS is the leader of both man and wife directly, and the two have equal partnership in marriage and ministry.

The myth that the husband must lead the wife goes against greater New Covenant principles. Jesus said not to name a human spiritual leader. All believers are The Bride, adult sons, priests, and kings. Scripture tells us that we can have unbroken fellowship with God without any middlemen.

The Bible does not say that men are to be the heads of wives. The sentence doesn't stop there. The Bible says that men, who were already heads of wives in secular culture, were to express their secular headship AS Christ is head of the Church, WHO died for her and gave her His own position of sinlessness before God! He is not saying the man is to wash his wife. Christ has already washed the entire Body from all sin, both men and women. Paul is saying that men are to remove the cultural shame of womenhood from their wives and treat them as equals, as Christ did on a much larger scale for His Bride.

Christianity is NEVER about the assumption of power over people, even by God. Christianity is ALWAYS about the relinquishing of power from stronger to weaker, the equality of all believers in Christ, and mutual servanthood. This is what God Himself modeled to us when He walked the shores of our planet in human form.

No human can assume the spiritual responsibility of another. To attempt this breaks a person down by placing him on an impossible pedestal whether it is a husband or minister. Likewise, no person can bury the voice of God within and everything they were made to be and follow a human without being shipwrecked.

This myth causes men to become shallow, macho, driven, and arrogant. It causes women to become mousey, retiring, and manipulative. The men bark that the women don't submit, and the women whine that the men aren't strong enough leaders. This myth eats Christian marriages up from the inside out by the millions. Relationships that are unequally yoked will suffer. If the God of the universe can say that He came to call us friends, not slaves, then obviously, He would not place some as rulers and some as slaves within the Body.

The Bible tells us not to live by the flesh. Patterning life according to imagined gender roles is a deeply entrenched form of living by the flesh.

The myth, based on errant translation and misunderstanding of Scripture, feeds two aspects of fallen human nature - the desire to control other humans, and the desire to abdicate responsibility for our choices. This is precisely what God told Eve after the fall - that women would reach toward their husbands instead of God, and their husbands would rule them instead of loving them. Both responses are unhealthy. This is what happens when humans live without God as number one. But we have now been freed from every aspect of the curse and offered unbroken friendship with our Creator and Parent. When our relationship to Him is restored, our relationships with each other become healthy. We reach for Him and are satisfied as only He can satisfy. Then, from our rich resources, we love and serve each other.

Paul the apostle told us all to stand fast in the freedom which we were given. No marriage is richer than one where both people are adults, whole, functioning uniquely as they were created to be, with each one hearing and responding to God. Many churches attempt to homogonize all marriages with gender roles, yet God makes every snowflake different. Every marriage is a new combination, and every couple has the freedom to express their union in a unique way as God leads.

-------------------------
From ~ Religion Mythbusters ~

http://www.rockymountainministries.org/Articles/MythBusterArticles/Myth32%20Husbands%20are%20the%20Spiritual%20Leaders%20of%20Wives.html

_________________
Lisa

This is not sound doctrine!! GOD has
intended for man to be surrendered to
HIS LORDSHIP and yielded to HIS Will.
The woman's role in marriage is to
help and support her husband in
following and serving GOD. The
husband is to cherish his wife as
Christ loved the Church. The man
is responsible to be head of the
family and his house. This is what
scriptures teach!

_________________
Martin G. Smith

_________________
Michelle

1 Peter 3:3-8

3Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;

4but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.

5For in this way in former times the holy women also,who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;

6just as Sarah obeyed Abraham,calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

7You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;

_________________
Travis

There are several straw man arguments being set up here, whether intentionally or not.

Michelle's verses contextually deal with Christian liberty in regards to law, God, and systems of man, of which marriage is not. Marriage is a God-ordained institution. So arguing Christian freedom from the law doesn't really apply. It's like saying we are free from the Body of Christ, families, and governmental authorities, or even God, because we're free in Christ. The arguments are on different levels and therefore do not apply specifically to each other.

As for the original argument, it's interesting not one scripture is cited. Without trying to point for point debate it, I will submit some scriptures from whence the teaching arises that the original article was against. Theologically, the terms used are egalitarianism and complementarianism. The original article argues from an egalitarian view, that says men and women are equal in spiritual authority. The second view says that while they are equal in Christ as redeemed sinners, they are not equal in spiritual authority; man has precendence.

Here are some scriptures:

Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Ephesians 5:22-33
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Peter 3:1-7
1 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. 3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.

7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Colossians 3:18
18 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Their exegesis of Ephesians 5 seems to be more reading what they wanted it to say. If the texts speaks for itself, it seems to point towards a sort of "headship," which also finds support by 2 or 3 witnesses. And, as always, the fact that people abuse truth doesn't nullify the truth. As Paul made his case for grace at the end of Romans 5, he states that where sin abounded, grace much more. He immediately addresses the issue of abusing such knowledge and says that 'no, we should not therefore sin that grace may abound.' When the truth is abused in this way, it merely demonstrates the abuser does not fully grasp it nor have it formed within him, not to mention his soul is probably in a precarious position.

If you wish to understand a biblically centered position in favor of complementarianism, here is a link:

http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_bbmw/bbmw.pdf

_________________
Paul

_________________
Sandra Miller

I checked out the rockymountainminitries.org website and I am finding red flags all over in their Myth Busters section. I would warn anyone to not even go there to get any reliable interpretation of what the scripture says on issues. The few I looked at are so bad it is not worthy of any consideration!

ginnyrose

_________________
Sandra Miller

It doesn't take much to see how twisted this article is.

They have aluded to scripture without really using any, and then twisting the meaning to say what they want it to mean.

If only we could accept what the word of God says, without resorting to self-deception.

_________________
Michelle

I want to be careful how I say this, but I visited this website and it is by Christian musician Don Francisco. I really like his music, but I think when we discuss some of his theology, particularly pertaining to marriage and divorce, it is important for people to understand that Don Francisco himself was divorced and re-married (to someone else) while in ministry.

I dont know the details of why, so we can NOT pass judgement on that, but it may explain some of his more "liberal" thoughts and exegesis on this particular topic.

And I have to say that the article posted here is very unBiblical.

Some may attack me for bringing up Don Francisco's divorce and remarriage, but the fact is he has put articles like this out there for public consumption by the church and therefore everything needs to be fully disclosed so that when reading his material we can have a full understanding of the context in which he developed his thoughts and theology.