On the heels of its almost-endorsement of Rick Perry last week, David Lane and the American Renewal Project are back at it again. Our female readers might want to sit down for this one.
Lane is up in arms over a question asked of Michele Bachmann at a Fox News Republican presidential primary debate earlier this month:
“As President would you be submissive to your husband?”
It is a bit of a loaded question, but Lane isn’t arguing that the question is inappropriate or sexist — he’s upset that neither Bachmann nor any of the other candidates took the opportunity to make a case for full-blown wifely submission! So he decides to make the case for them.
His arguments are a bit scatter-shot and his grasp of constitutional law is shaky — not to mention the questionable Biblical exegesis — but let me see if I can sum up the gist of Lane’s case:
Point #1: “Women are not submissive to men,” Lane writes. Rather:
“…in God’s economy a wife is to be submissive to her husband.”
See the difference there. He’s just talking to the married women.
Point #2: Submission to your husband isn’t a negative, ladies. Lane quotes a verse from Proverbs explaining that “an excellent wife is the crown of her husband,” which, according to the conservative biblical commentator Lane cites,
“…connotes that she is her husband’s most prominent social adornment and symbolizes her empowering him to rule.”
Feel better now? (Incidentally, has anyone checked with Anita Perry to see if she’s ok with being her husband’s “most prominent social adornment”? But then, according to Lane, it doesn’t really matter if Mrs. Perry objects, since it is Rick’s call.)
Point #3: This whole problem can be traced back to — what else — the removal of the Bible from public schools:
“150 years ago, when the Bible was the primary textbook in American education, elementary school kids could have recognized and discerned this truth rather easily, but no more.”
Since we wouldn’t even need to ask our presidential candidates such an obvious question if we were a truly Christian nation, Lane proposes a remedy:
“… it’s time for Believers to re-institute prayer, The Bible, Jesus, The Ten Commandments and honoring God at Commencement into our public schools.”
And finally, Point #4: The devil is behind this whole thing. Just like the serpent duped Eve back in the day…
“…God leaves Satan to test the fidelity of each succeeding generation of the covenant people (Judges. 2:22) and to teach them to ‘fight’ against untruth (Judges 3:2).”
Always a good answer for any candidate who is unsure how to respond: this is the devil’s doing.
Lane closes his jeremiad with a plaintive cry:
“Will one with an ounce of Biblical faith please stand.”
Since he and the American Renewal Project have anointed Rick Perry as their chosen candidate, perhaps Gov. Perry would like to weigh in on this one. Do you stand with Lane on this one, Governor?
Click here for a look at the full Renewal Project email, or the full text is reprinted here (emphasis in original):
As President would you be submissive to your husband?
Byron York’s question to Michele Bachmann Thursday night in FOX’s Iowa Republican Presidential Primary Debate, “As president, would you be submissive to your husband?”
…and David Gregory’s this morning on Meet The Press, regarding Bachmann’s position on being submissive to her husband in Biblical marriage, “Is that your view for women in America, is that your vision for them?”
…is instructive from the Christian perspective.
Although Bachmann’s answer, “submission means respect” is a little inadequate, but nonetheless scriptural:
“A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them.” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
Even the gentle Jesus instructed that one has to determine who are the dogs and who are the swine, “Don’t give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls to swine. Otherwise, they will trample them and then tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6
Which brings us to Post-Christian America; now that the false gods of multiculturalism and political correctness, along with unelected and unaccountable judicial gods, are firmly entrenched in America…and have stamped out prayer, the Bible, and every vestige and form of righteousness from the public schools, i.e., Abington Township School District v. Schempp, June 1963, and now are doing this to our public buildings…those that are doing this to our country must have their bluff called.
…or we are going to get the picture of the wisdom of the Sweet Psalmist, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3
Genesis 2:18, “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Dr. Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis Commentary, “suitable [negdo]. The Hebrew means ‘equal and adequate’. Men and women differ in sexuality but are equals as bearers of God’s image and in their standing before God.”
Women are not submissive to men
… in God’s economy a wife is to be submissive to her husband, “Wives, in a similar way, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority. Some husbands may not obey God’s word. Their wives could win these men [for Christ] by the way they live without saying anything” 1 Peter 3:1, as a way to win them to Christ.
“Wives, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority. This is appropriate behavior for the Lord’s people.” Colossians 3:18
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:22-23
Proverbs 12:4, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.”
“excellent“, Heb. noble and virtuousDr. Bruce K. Waltke, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, “the shameful wife robs her husband of social standing, and the noble wife strengthens his very being by giving him social honor and empowering him to rule the community.”
Heb. “noble and virtuous“, Waltke, “With respect to women, it refers to spiritual and physical strength, noble character, and competent strength.”“is the crown“, Waltke, “connotes that she is her husband’s most prominent social adornment and symbolizes her empowering him to rule”…”The proverb assumes that her husband is himself pious and prayerful, wise and righteous, kind and generous, sacrificing himself for her good and not self-serving.”
“she who shames him”, Waltke, “connotes that her husband risked himself in marriage to gain dignity and the full measure of his stature but instead experiences the opposite of what he had hoped for (see 10:5). She undermines him by being unfaithful (2:17), contentious (19:13; 21:9, 19) and/or impious and incompetent.”
Waltke, “Marriage is no light matter; the wife either makes or breaks a man in his home and in the community (see 14:1; 18:22; 19:14; 31:10-31).”
150 years ago, when the Bible was the primary textbook in American education, elementary school kids could have recognized and discerned this truth rather easily, but no more.
American Founding Father Fisher Ames, who suggested the language (and Congress adopted) for the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”, later wrote:
“We have a dangerous trend beginning to take place in our education. We’re starting to put more and more textbooks into our schools…We’ve become accustomed of late of putting little books into the hands of children containing fables and moral lessons…
We are spending less time in the classroom on the Bible, which should be the principal text in our schools.”
As the philosophy of education has moved from the Early American biblical education Model (Hebrew) to the Greek Model, it’s time for Believers to re-institute prayer, The Bible, Jesus, The Ten Commandments and honoring God at Commencement into our public schools…
What is the Biblical definition of “smarts“? Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” “What the alphabet is to reading, notes to reading music, and numerals to mathematics, the fear of the LORD is to attaining the revealed knowledge of this book.” Bruce K. Waltke
“Jews were interested in building the character and Greeks the mind”…
“The Greek model of education shapes our modern American educational theories. Greek education focused on content. Hebrew education focused on relationship. Greek teachers tried to shape students’ minds. Hebrew teachers tried to shape students’ hearts. Greek students were to learn what their teacher knew. Hebrew students were to become what their teacher was. The notion that one can merely teach the mind and body of a child without involving the heart and soul is the method of the Greeks. We see no precedent in Scripture for the teaching of children’s minds for the sake of academia. We are to bring every thought captive to Christ. The mind of Christ is what we are to model and teach.” Paul Schutte
Two world views (Biblical vs. the false gods of “godless humanism“, “multiculturalism” and “political correctness“) are at war with one another in America, and our Team refuses to take the field.
Pat Buchanan writes in Day of Reckoning:
“The real revolution of the last half century began in the 1960s and drove wedges through society that endure today. This revolution involved the repudiation of America’s past as racist, sexist, imperialist, and genocidal in its treatment of women, Indians, Africans, and all peoples of color.
This revolution involved the rejection and overthrow of traditional Christian morality and Christianity itself as bigoted and repressive, and the conversion of the young to a sensuality, self-indulgence, and promiscuity condemned by all Christian faiths.
This revolution involved the overturning of all laws rooted in Christian doctrine regarding divorce, homosexuality, abortion-and the purge of all Christian symbols, books, and practices from public schools. This revolution was about de-Christianizing and secularizing America.”
David Gregory’s question, “Is that your view for women in America, is that your vision for them?” is only irrefutable in a Christian nation…America is no longer a nation with those values or a culture of faith; we’ve played dead for 60 years.
- 50 years ago the judicial gods, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in Abington, Schemp that the Bible was unconstitutional in public schools
- 10 years later (1972) these gods ruled that “the distinctiveness of marriage has been abolished (Baird v. Eisenstadt)”
- A year later (1973) these judicial elites ruled, “the mother’s womb has become the most dangerous place for a baby (Roe v. Wade)”
- “the Pledge of Allegiance is forbidden; the Boy Scouts are under attack; and Christmas carols are banned. Pornography is everywhere. The structure of American society is being demolished brick by brick.”
Let’s take a quick look at a biblical, valiant wife:
Dr. Bruce K. Waltke, Proverbs Commentary, “Greek literature prizes the silent, ‘homebody’ spouse, unlike the ideal wife in this Hebrew heroic poem, who is diligent, ‘takes charge’, is engaged in profit-making ventures, and is also a wise teacher and philanthropist.”
Dr. Waltke, “Wise daughters aspire to be like her, wise men seek to marry her, and all wise people aim to incarnate the wisdom she embodies, each in his own sphere of activity.” Proverbs, 31:10-12, “”Who can find a wife with a strong character? She is worth far more than jewels. Her husband trusts her with [all] his heart, and he does not lack anything good. She helps him and never harms him all the days of her life.”
“Her husband trusts her with [all] his heart”, Waltke, “which entails that his well-being stands or falls on her reliability, is remarkable…elevates the valiant wife, who herself fears the Lord, to the highest level of spiritual and physical competence.”
“She helps him and never harms him all the days of her life.”, Waltke, “Her commitment to her husband’s wellbeing is true, not false; constant, not temperamental; reliable, not fickle; and discerning.”
We have been duped.
The wisdom of Peter Leithart, Brazos Theological Commentary on 1&2 Kings, “Christian capitulation to secular politics–more the rule than the exception in the modern church–is nothing less than apostasy, a denial of the gospel that announces Jesus as Lord.” is becoming self-evident.
Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any other beast of the field…”
Back to Waltke’s, Genesis Commentary, “Here the serpent is a symbol of antigod. Although not named here, he is the adversary of God and humanity, called the Satan in the Old Testament and the devil in the New Testament…Satan’s craftiness is seen in his cunning distortion of God’s words…The serpent perverts language, using it to bring confusion and to draw Adam and Eve under his control.” Genesis 3:14, “So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.”
“as long as you live”, Waltke, “The serpent’s final defeat under Messiah’s heel (3:15) is delayed to effect God’s program of redemption through the promised offspring. In the interim, God leaves Satan to test the fidelity of each succeeding generation of the covenant people (Judges. 2:22) and to teach them to ‘fight’ against untruth (Judges 3:2).”
Will one with an ounce of Biblical faith please stand.
David Lane
Founder
American Renewal Project
Typical right wing, pseudo-Christian rhetoric. Totally nonsensical
I guess it’s good to “believe in the literal word of the Bible” if you have no experience of the Living God.
You will notice that it was all about what the Bible says and nothing really about following Jesus and loving your wife. All you really have to do is look at the character of Jesus. How would Jesus treat his wife today?
We can start with, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How about it guys? How many of you would like to follow the Christian fundamentalist rule book approach, which was abolished by the way when Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament covenant, if the tables were turned and you were the wife. How would you like to live out all your days as a subserviant, pudding-brained Stepford wife? No matter what the Bible might say, that is the REAL Christian fundamentalist and right wing evangelical ideal for marriage—STEPFORD WIFE.
I had an aunt who followed the rule book and lived most of her life like this. The last two coherent words she uttered to my ears were “day lily.” About a week later, we visited her at the nursing home at lunch time. When they placed the food in front of her, she started eating her napkin. I saw the slow onset of the dementia begin many years before this when no one else noticed but my wife and me. She was in her 50s then. We would go to visit and she would weave maddening conversations about things like Bic disposable razors, the durability of washcloths, and other such nonsense. Being a Stepford wife literally ate her brain up from the inside out within the walls of that house—all day—every day.
And that was sad too because she was a very smart person. If she had had a good education, she could have easily been the CEO of Dell or Apple. You see. I knew her before the brain rot set in. She was one tough, smart, and creative momma!!!! I loved her so—and still do.
Oh, and one final Biblical thing: The Force of Evil in the world would love nothing better than to have 53 percent of the American population (its women) taken out of commission and relegated to puddin’ head land. He knows that women were officially appointed to crush his head. This is just one more place where “duh old debbill” has a step-over toe hold and hammerlock on the fundies. The last thing he wants is 175,000,000 Hillary Clinton’s breathing down his neck.
Charles, you are a refreshment to my spirit and a constant encouragement. Count me among the Christian women who refuse to be “puddin’ heads”.
Hear that? It’s the sound of my teeth grinding, at least what’s left of them. Hang on, folks while I rant and rave about this NOT BEING A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY AND NEVER WAS. The founders had the opportunity to SAY it was a Christian country, instead, they gave us FREEDOM OF AND FROM RELIGION.
Paul, the apostate Jew, was a misogynist. He was the one who came up with all the garbage about women being submissive to their husbands. He wasn’t even married! But he hated women and thought them to be fourth class humans. That thought was never expressed in the Jewish scriptures; Paul was inventing a new religion.
The bible was not the textbook of the schools way back when…McGuffries <sp?" Reader was the primary book for English, I don't know what they used for math. But the bible was pretty much left to be read in church.
Perry, Bachmann and the rest of the Wing Nuts are Dominionists and if you don't know what that means, go look it up in Google. Essentially, they would love to scrap the Constitution and replace it with a Christian Theocracy. Anyone not willing to fall in line would be executed. Hey, don't believe me: Look it up. Those folks are dangerous.
I do not pray to Jesus or Mary, I pray to GOD.
Jesus did NOT FULFILL what Christians call the Old Testament. Try READING the NT instead of jerking out a verse or two out of context. He clearly said, "17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
That's Matthew 5:17 to 20. He did not FULFILL…he kept the law and told people to continue to keep the law. STOP CHOPPING UP YOUR BIBLE IN ORDER TO PROVE SOMETHING YOU CANNOT PROVE! Also, Jesus didn't say "do unto others…" he quoted Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
But what do I know? I've only studied both the Jewish scriptures and the Christian scriptures in their original languages. It's too bad that the writers of the Christian books didn't write in Aramaic, that was the language that Jesus spoke.
If people like Perry and Bachmann had their way, they would kill any person who is NOT a Christian who thinks EXACTLY as they do. Again, I'm not making this up, research it for yourselves.
I have no boat in the presidential race this time around; I'm not voting.
Dang it, I forgot something. THERE IS NO DEVIL. There is the Satan who takes orders from God; the Devil of Christianity is an independent critter who does as he likes and can fool people into believing that what he says is the word of God.
That would have to make him GOD.
There ain’t no such animal, nor are there demons.
Pious women are not allowed to be horny, but they can be so SUBMISSIVE that it aches.