Women. You have men by the balls.(...)

[Mystical]

Duly noted and confirmed, the bible does not outright say that women are inept. Nor does it say women are adulterers for getting a divorce only, and yes it is clear to me now that just because my dad interpreted all those verses with regards to women the way he did, doesn't mean that that's what it was saying. He is wrong. Doesn't change the fact that my family suffered because of the tenets written in this book claiming to be the word of god, because they are up for interpretation and the bible has no qualms with sexism thus it propagates it whether maliciously or no. If I were god I wouldn't let half that stuff through because I'd know it would be taken wrong or in ignorance. Or that it might just be taken right, in the case of "suffer no witch to live," etc.

I apologize for calling you sexist however, and granted I do have an agenda. Between you and me, I'd say you're the one with an agenda due to your living life per your doctrine but I do have an equal rights agenda yeah.

I am a seeker, I'm open to all views. But I don't agree with your views.
For the record, my issue is not that you're the end all be all of the household. I personally feel that my husband will be as well, and that I will respect his decisions not without question but unquestionably, I will support him in the end. Because I trust him with my life, because I trust his morality, and because I trust him to make the right decision. The difference between you and I is this however, and is what I do have qualms with. For me there will be me, and my husband. For you there is you, your wife, and the bible. In any case that may come up, you can point to this 'other' authority that states that she should submit. It's degrading. Before she even opens her mouth her point is mute. She must live her life knowing she's a lesser authority not by her choice but because a book says so. She may be fine with that, but, does she have a choice? In order to go to heaven and have the family in god that she wants she must submit to all the beliefs of the bible, especially the fine print.

I do know what marriage represents biblically, skewed as my examples have been. Marriage can be just as beautiful without the bible, however. I don't disagree with most of it for the record, just this paramount point written in the fine print which degrades all the rest of the writings with regards to women's value. You can put her on a pedestal all you want, make her feel like the queen of the world, you can say you are both of one flesh, but that doesn't change her status in the hierarchy that her religion proposes as truth. The dichotomy is that she's part of you yet lesser than you.

As for my dad and your advice with regards to speaking to him, I thank you. In his case I am torn between two paths. One path being having an all out debate about the bible and why he believes but not because I care about what he believes as being wrong. He can think all he wants about women and the world, muslims, gays, what have you. I've held my tongue my whole life in my love for him, I can do it the rest of my life too. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm losing him to physical and mental disease and he refuses to go to the doctor for biblical reasoning. The ending is going to be tragic, and it might not just stop with his death. Might go farther, as he is crossing into the land of schizophrenia and his religious gihad gets worse by the year.
Either way I lose him, but I do love him enough to fight for his existence even if it makes me the 'enemy'. Otherwise with the other path, I'm just an enabler and I won't feel right at his funeral. My instinct is telling me to cut him out completely and let what will be, be. But my heart screams something else.