Get me my pulpit! RAAAAR!

(A caveat: I have not decided who I am supporting in the Presidential election. I honestly have no real leanings at this point. This is a matter of my faith.)

Huckabee must be putting a scare into those who are not supporting him. He's got people pulling the "intolerant, backward Evangelical" card.

It appears that his support of women submitting to their husbands is something that should be seen as a hindrance to his ability to serve as President should he be elected.

Why is this such a hot topic? Because people misread the instruction given in the passage from which this one phrase is lifted. Ignorant folk see "a wife is to submit graciously to her husband" and automatically think: "ME MAN; YOU WOMAN; GRRRR!"

THAT ISN'T WHAT IT MEANS! Yes, it means to submit to your husband's wishes. But, that doesn't mean you don't have a voice in family decisions, can't have a career, can't have your own hobbies and friends. It doesn't mean that you can't state your concerns, needs, and hurts. It means that what he thinks is best for the household goes, but not without him being responsible for his end of the relationship (we'll get to that when I'm done talking about the woman's role). You are supportive of the decisions and you are there for the outcome: good or bad. Do men make stupid decisions? Yup. Do women? Yup. That's what forgiveness and going forward after learning a lesson from poor choices means. If the best of intentions were there, you can't fault someone. It's life. Crap happens.

If you marry an overbearing thug, that is because you chose to marry him. There are plenty of them not reading the Bible and plenty of them who do. I've known guys that misinterpret the passage and I wouldn't spend two hours with them let alone the rest of my life.

Except for the phrase that bothers so many, there are 10-11 verses completely ignored.

The guy has way more responsibility. He has a "fiduciary duty" to care for his wife (and family) as God cares for us. WOW! That's pressure. If you really believe in God and His power and care, and then see His relationship with us as a model for how you are to treat your wife and family, wouldn't that mean that the guy shouldn't be the intolerant, overbearing Neanderthal that people who do not understand (and those that choose not to) the passage make Christian men out to be?

You have no idea how much the improper reading of the Bible angers me. Not only is it a study in pure ignorance, but also a slap in the face of my faith. You can't read the Bible and just leave out stuff so that your view makes sense. You have to read it in its context, fully, without adding to it or taking away from it.

Here is the complete passage of Ephesians 5:22-33 (NIV):

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Hmm...if read closely, you can see that the respect and love is a two way street and seen as an active form of worship and obedience to God.

1. Christian men need to stop misreading this passage.
2. People who want to paint Christians in a particular light need to stop misreading this passage.
3. Submissive does not mean doormat, uneducated, and not able to have gainful and productive lives. It means doing what's best for your family unit. Forget the haters and realize you married someone for a reason and that relationship and pleasing God through it are more important than what anybody outside of that relationship thinks.

When you are with someone, it is not all about "you," it is about the family unit, whether it be two or twelve.

(H/T: CNN.com)