(August 30, 2017 at 3:30 pm)Longhorn Wrote:(August 30, 2017 at 2:30 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: What you mean men and women are different!?!?! I'm shocked. Shocked.It's not about being the same, it's about being equal partners in a relationship. If someone wants it another way, that's perfectly fine. The problem begins when that person wants to impose their preference on other people who might not agree. If you are trying to infer all women are naturally submissive and want to assume such a role in a relationship, well, that's a pretty bold blanket statement.
A equal partnership does not necessarily mean equivalent roles. I believe the OP was reacting against the notion of a "complementary" relationship. There is a lot of misunderstandings about what is promoted (not imposed) by evangelicals (whom I respect but with whom I do not necessarily agree, doctrinally or culturally).
Outsiders tend to latch onto the word "submissive" but if you dig a little deeper you'll see what they really mean is that women are advised to defer to their husbands. At the end of the day someone's got to decide, right? What outsiders also fail to see is the biblical role of a husband is to "love your wife as Christ loved His Church." That means he must be sacrifice himself to uplift and protect her even if that means being prepared to die for her. That sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. I'll defer to you so long as you are willing to put your family first and sacrifice yourself to provide and protect us.
Let me give you an example from my own life. Most of the times my wife and I make mutual decisions and I am happy to let her have her way most of the time. Happy wife, happy life. But that all changes on the street. She gets to walk along generally care free, check out houses, look at flowers etc. Me, I'm looking for threats and she knows not to ask why if I tell her to "cross the street" or "walk faster." She obeys. At the same time I put myself between her and whatever potential threat I see, whether it is a suspicious character or careless driver. I protect what I love. That is what Ephesians 5:22-23 looks like in practice.
