Montalban
Member
1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
When I raised the issue of "Women in Islam" some thought instead to suggest that Christianity is 'just as bad'. I hope to discuss some issues here with regards to women in Christianity (and in doing so note that I am taking the Orthodox perspective as normative). (please also not that Biblical references can be checked at a good non-Orthodox site www.biblegateway.com)
A classic criticism is raised with use of "For the husband is the head of the wife." Ephesians 5:22-24. It should be noted that I accept that there is discrimination because men and women are different.
The idea of submission in this context is not of one party giving and the other taking at all, but of mutual obligations...
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savoir. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[3] 32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
A husband is to love his wife with as much effort as Christ loved us - even to the point of giving up His life for us. That's not a small thing to ask. Mutual obligations are repeated...
1 Corinthians 11:11
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
"Christian women also exercised far more choice in whom they wed..."Carroll, V & Shiflett, D (2002), "Christianity on Trial: Arguments against Anti-Religious Bigotry", p4
It's mutual obligation. "In fact what distinguished Paul from his non-Christian contemporaries was not the patriarchal views he sometimes expressed...but rather his repeated emphasis on the obligations of husbands to wives." Ibid, p5
The Bible emphasises mutual obligations; Colossians 3:18 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Returning to the passage mentioned first;
"1 Peter 3
Wives and Husbands
1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
In other words, wives be a model of virtue, so that should their husbands lose faith, the woman's strength of faith will win them back. Quite empowering, to suggest that women can be the anchor of a Christian family.
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
When I raised the issue of "Women in Islam" some thought instead to suggest that Christianity is 'just as bad'. I hope to discuss some issues here with regards to women in Christianity (and in doing so note that I am taking the Orthodox perspective as normative). (please also not that Biblical references can be checked at a good non-Orthodox site www.biblegateway.com)
A classic criticism is raised with use of "For the husband is the head of the wife." Ephesians 5:22-24. It should be noted that I accept that there is discrimination because men and women are different.
The idea of submission in this context is not of one party giving and the other taking at all, but of mutual obligations...
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savoir. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30 for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[3] 32 This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
A husband is to love his wife with as much effort as Christ loved us - even to the point of giving up His life for us. That's not a small thing to ask. Mutual obligations are repeated...
1 Corinthians 11:11
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
"Christian women also exercised far more choice in whom they wed..."Carroll, V & Shiflett, D (2002), "Christianity on Trial: Arguments against Anti-Religious Bigotry", p4
It's mutual obligation. "In fact what distinguished Paul from his non-Christian contemporaries was not the patriarchal views he sometimes expressed...but rather his repeated emphasis on the obligations of husbands to wives." Ibid, p5
The Bible emphasises mutual obligations; Colossians 3:18 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Returning to the passage mentioned first;
"1 Peter 3
Wives and Husbands
1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
In other words, wives be a model of virtue, so that should their husbands lose faith, the woman's strength of faith will win them back. Quite empowering, to suggest that women can be the anchor of a Christian family.
), I was kinda hoping for a discussion about women in the church...... I'd start one, but I'm not very good at wording stuff in a way that gets people interested in discussing 
