Monday, July 30, 2007

Ladies, Your Thoughts Please

I've been struggling with some things for the past few weeks, along with not feeling very well, and that is why I haven't posted lately.

I'm still studying, and pondering about biblical manhood, biblical womanhood, and our roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers. During the course of this study, I came across a review of the book, Created to be His Helpmeet, by Debi Pearl. I read this book about four years ago, and loaned it to someone and never got it back. The quote below, which is found on page 260, has been bothering me since I read the review. This is one of those kinds of books that you either love it, or you hate it. I've read different blogs online, both pros and cons, about the book. There are some very good blogs out there regarding this book. Read the below for me, and let me know what your thoughts are on it.

"You can freely call your husband "lord" when you know that you are addressing the one who put him in charge and asked you to suffer at your husbands hands just as the Lord suffered at the hands of unjust authorities."

"The chain of authority must never be broken, even if it means allowing some abuse."

"first know that a husband has authority to tell his wife what to wear, where to go, whom to talk to, how to spend her time, when to speak or not to, even if he is unreasonable and insensitive."

These three quotes were in the same paragraph (I saw a copy of it at a Lifeway store here), but I think there may have been some other words between those three sentences above. So I am not sure what came after the second sentence about the abuse.

All three of the statements bother me, but the last one is the one I've been thinking about lately, and they disturb me.

I know that the husband is to be a servant/leader and the above just doesn't sit well with me. I do understand that we are to submit to our husbands unless they ask us to sin.

There are different viewpoints out there on submission which conflict one another. I am a complementarian, which suggests equality and beneficial differences between men and women. Although I do like Martha Peace, and her book, The Excellent Wife, I disagree with her view that it's okay to rebuke and correct our husbands. Here is a good article by Wayne Grudem that I found on mutual submission, and I held to this same viewpoint before I read his article.

I'm planning to discuss this with my pastor. I know that I've got unbiblical thinking somewhere in my thought process, and it's causing me undue stress because I'm not sure if what I believe is biblically correct on something. I don't mean that I am doubting my position as a complementarian, I'm not. I'm just confused as to the extent of a husband's rule over his wife I guess.

Anybody else have any thoughts about this?