193-Abuse, Part 4: I used to "submit"

Here's what is covered in today's episode There are a ton of "submit" verses in the Bible.  They were used to abuse me in my first marriage. I think these also have made men feel that they had the right to abuse & justify their actions with the misuse of these scriptures. But what people don't realize is they are reading the Bible (and even translations of the Bible) through a patriarchial lense. Don't believe me? What does "help-meet" mean? This word which Eve is supposed to be to Adam. Well, it's not the supporting, secondary, servant role you may have always thought. The original word in Hebrew is "ezer kenegedo". Ezer is used 21x in the Old Testament When speaking of Eve 2x in Genesis, it's translated as "help"  Three times it is used to describe a powerful nation that comes to save the nation of Israel from their enemies The other 16x it's used to describe God as a military warrior, the powerful savior, giving  desperate salvation from foes Is that how you see women? Is that how you see yourself? What if more verses are viewed through this patriarchial lense and we just aren't aware? What scriptural references do we KNOW for sure speak of female leadership even in the New Testament (sprinkled among the books including "wives submit to husbands" verses are found): Woman apostle Paul honoring the 10 out of 28 people who have been colaborers Woman deacons As a feminist myself, this material breaths life to my soul   BUT, what if there IS something to this "submitting" thing in the 21st century, Christian marriages with powerful, feminist women...? What if there's an empowering message for both men and women when done "right"? This is a morsel of a much larger conversation, but God-willing it will leave all of us with a bit more of a softened heart to where God may be leading us. This isn't easy territory, but I pray that it is an eye-opening episode for every listener.    -- It was my husband's birthday this week and I'm asking every listener to take 5 minutes to review the show! If you're not sure how, here's a link for delightyourmarriage.com/itunes