Do husbands rule their wives and households by Divine Right? Do men rule the church by Divine Right?
In 1 Samuel Chapter 8, we read about the elders of Israel asking Samuel to appoint a king to rule over Israel. The Lord answered Samuel’s prayer by warning about giving a man such authority. Kings would not always rule wisely. Then the Lord told Samuel to give the people of Israel a king. Kind of a “if that’s what they want, then let them have it.”
Kings and emperors became the standard head of state in the Christian world until the newborn United States of America decided they did not want a king. The kings of Europe claimed that they ruled because God had put them on the throne. Disloyalty to the king was treated as blasphemy.
It is a claim of the “male headship” theology that God has placed the husband as king of the household. This theology has been nurtured by the men who say that God has placed them in charge of the church.
This is strange to me, a man myself, who looks at history and reads the newspapers and watches news on television. In my estimation, men are responsible for 90 percent of the evil in the world. I am not saying that 90 percent of men are evil. I am saying that a number of men contribute to the 90 percent figure.
When these preachers get to Heaven and see that men are in the minority there, will they apologize to the female saints?
Thanks to my husband, Don, who is filling in for me in this post until I return on Sunday. Monday’s post will let you know what happened!
bWe Baptist Women for Equality's Blog 
You know, Don.
I’ve said this before, to men who hold the comp view.
I’ve said, basically, that this country was founded on the idea that men did not want to be ruled by a king but that all men are created equal and that there should be checks and balances between our branches of government and no one branch should hold all the power.
I reminded them that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That this holds true in government, church government, and yes, even in the family.
And all these things go in one ear and out the other. Their fight to maintain their delusion of Divine Right tramples all over the golden rule, “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”
Men have fought to get rid of kings over themselves. Now men fight to make themselves little kings in their own homes.
What they don’t want done to themselves, they turn around and do unto others, thus breaking the very words of Jesus Christ, Himself, in order to enforce their warped view of the words of Paul, a man who said, “Let God be found true and every man a liar.”
To these men, the golden rule is not, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but rather “Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you,” or “Whoever has the gold, makes the rules.”
These men are void of the heart of God and full of a themselves, teaching the doctrines or men in place of the gospel of Jesus.
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Very well said, Don!
Something frustrating to me is that now many have changed the label of “king” to “servant leader.” And they still see that newly labeled position as their divine right, which they believe is supported by their interpretation of scripture. With the change of terminology, many have deluded themselves into believing that leading and making final decisions for their wives is a service to her. They don’t understand that “ruling” and “leading” are still the same thing just repackaged into nicer sounding words.
As Mara pointed out, this leads to them trampling all over the golden rule. Unfortunately, they are too blind to see what they are doing. Hence all the trampling. I think that many of them sincerely believe that they are helping and serving their wives. Unfortunately, they can’t see that their wives do not need this type of “help.”
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Hello Don! And thanks for a good post and being a helper to your wife while she is gone defending the message of equality!
Trying to point out the double standard to complimentarian men and women seems to go nowhere fast. Now, I love my KJV but I have learned through study, that the Translators commissioned by King James stayed loyal to his ideas about Kingly rights and authority. Even if they had to ‘fiddle’ with words to maintain the principle of some Christians rights to ‘have power over’ others, then so be it, they did what they had to do to keep the favor of the King. ( A good example is Hebrews 13:17 where they translated the word lead as rule…..;)
Servant=Leader Philosophy
The servant-leader was to be first of all a servant, who was intimately concerned with the welfare of those whom he or she was leading, and only secondarily a leader. But alas, when the church got hold of the concept in an effort to polish its tarnished image, the servant-leader was to be first of all a leader and only secondarily a servant, for the Christian servant-leader was seen as serving when leading instead of leading when serving. And that was the beginning of the end for the transformation of Christian leadership, for instead of motivating people to become genuine servants, people became motivated to find a servant whom they could lead. Come to think of it, we should not use the word “people” for the Christian servant-leadership is reserved exclusively to men. Women have never been encouraged to become servant-leaders; instead they have been expected to remain servants, for the leaders of the servants need servants to lead.
And on the topic of Evil. We are constantly reminded on the late night news and programs such as cold case files, etc. of just how much evil is perpetrated against women. Even the fictional CSI files showcase far more murdered women than men. And it seems like the appetite for shows stemming around dead womens bodies is increasing. I have gotten to the point that I just cannot stomach much of these anymore. The preponderance of women victims and the brutality and abuse which they suffer BEFORE THEY ARE KILLED is incredible. And what shows like these often do is give misogynistic men more freaked out ways to abuse and kill women.
Mara and Sonnet, like your response and totally agree. 🙂
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