Zoii, I hope you will take the time to read all this....
Everything is wrong here--the whole thing is upside down. It's not your fault, I'm not saying that to you, Zoii. It comes from a culture that glances at the Bible but doesn't study the Bible, doesn't come to church to really learn the Bible.
Well, my church does, thank the Good Lord in heaven. So, you are taking your understanding from what you have soaked up in the world, and you are not to be blamed for that. So did I used to.
In short, in the world the woman has all the blame, responsibility, onus, labor, etc. The woman is lesser. The woman is to submit and the man can do whatever. That's the tinge on the entire thing. The man is the leader and the shine on that is "king of the castle". Did I hit that pretty well?
That's the way the culture understands it, and it is dead wrong.
Here is what the Bible says in Ephesians 5:
Notice that the instructions to the wife are to "submit" and RESPECT (so important), and to the husband they are much longer: love her as you love YOUR OWN BODY. But wait, there's more. From 1 Peter 3, verses 1 and 2:
IOW a godly wife may win her husband to God with respectful and pure conduct. It is very important to a man that his wife is respectful, which is really the biggest part of "submission" to his leadership.
Look further into 1 Peter 3 for a man's responsibility however. The leader has the greater part of the responsibility, always. It's not like the culture sells it. It's not like if she's not "submissive", he gets to whip her up into shape, literally or figurative. Or demean her, cheat on her, etc. Read on:
That's it then. You don't honor your wife, your very prayers are hindered. That's how caught up it all is in spirituality. And note this is for the MAN, not the woman. That's how his leadership is all caught up in how he treats his wife.
So yes. Biblical churches talk about marriage. From the pulpit. All the time. Promote healthy marriage and pray over marriage and take care of unhealthy situations. Churches who stray far from the Bible probably have no idea what they're doing--I don't know. I don't stay in them long, when I find them, a long time ago when we were looking for a Biblical church.
A Christian submitted marriage is actually a wonderful thing, and you're right--my husband and I are very happy in ours, going on 24 years now. However, the culture recoils at the very thought of it. Why would I be "submitted"? Ewwwwwwwwww lol
But it works. Of course it does. The woman gets what she needs and longs for and so does the man. Of course we do. Because God made us, and He knows best. It really is that simple.
