God Among Men

            One argument used against Christians that absolutely drives me nuts is misogyny in the Bible. The Bible supposedly demeans wives. Critics point to Ephesians 5:22:

            “Wives submit yourselves to your husbands as you do to the Lord” (NIV).

            This riles the feminists up. Submission? What? This is the 21st century, Christians. Wake up! Why do the women have to submit? Men have it so easy.

            I find it amusing because feminists never get to verse 25. Let’s see why:

            “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (NIV).

            They don’t ever rail against Christians using this verse, do they? Because while wives have to submit to their husbands, husbands have to be prepared to die for their wives.

            Christ is the example for husbands. Jesus was tortured and died a horrible death. In fact, dying on a cross was so painful that the culture of the day had to create a new word to describe it: excruciating. “Ex” means “out of” and “crux” means “cross” (out of the cross).

            Husbands have to be prepared to be tortured. Then die an excruciating death. For their wives.

           I think it’s safe to say both sides have it tough. Women have to submit to faulty men who make a lot of boneheaded decisions. That’s rough, I’m not going to lie. But men have to live up to and submit to Jesus Christ Himself, the ultimate Mr. Perfect. That’s harder.

*If you want stomach-wrenching descriptions of what Jesus went through, go here and here.