Can I be entirely Christian and still posess the feministic mindset that I have? I thought so...

[janedoe4612]

There's a million things going through my head right now. I just got back from bible study with some girls and we're reading this book about women in the bible. Today was very interesting though because the leader and I got in a very long discussion about an issue that I felt VERY strongly on. If you know me then you that I really don't like arguing or conflict. Today was no exception and I chose my words wisely as to not offend but merrily state that I was bringing up an opposing side. For the most part I couldn't believe how all these girls felt about subservience to men and that they were the sole leaders. Well another girl later took a somewhat common ground stance between the two and I agreed with her entirely. I strongly disagreed with one girl(the leader) who had taken the stance that we did come from men and thus are meant as company and can give advice but not make most of the decisions. She said that the bible stated specifically that we are to be controlled by our husbands but that they are supposed to treat us as jesus treated the church. Given, but I don't believe that it was meant in the sense that we are to be subservient creatures. In fact I would go so far as to say that I believe that men are in no way leaders more than women. I believe that we are equal and thus, have equal leadership roles. The only reason God might have said that the women were to acquiesce with their husband in his decision making is that back then they were the ones who brought in the finances and dealt with the politics of living in the town etc. Yet I asked her about that- (most of my disagreement I brought up in questioning her because I didn't want to take a real stance in disagreement with her entirely when it is HER bible study so I didn't feel it would be appropriate to blatantly say "No you're wrong because..") asking her "well wouldn't you say that had to be in part by the social parameters set up by society back then I mean it also states in the bible that you shouldn't eat most animals (no animals with hooves etc.) but do you think that's necessarily applicable today?" She said that she thinks that's an entirely different issue, but I don't see how. I also felt somewhat blasphemous when I stated that the bible was also written predominantly by males so I think that the overtone could have been influenced by their way of thinking. I mean I'm not saying that the bible isn't "God's word" in essence but I don't believe that it's verbatim straight out of his mouth and thus other factors must be considered. I don't think that either partner should be more submissive than the other because we are equal partners in a relationship, is that so wrong to think that? One thing that I found quite enlightening though was when Holly brought up the fact that if a woman had a husband that treated her like Jesus treated the Church (which is how the bible says a man should treat his wife) then the woman would want to be submissive. This I do agree with.. I mean anyone would want to reciprocate kindness and back up someone they truly cared about. But I think that women should not HAVE to be submissive to the husband. That definitely exudes the idea of "do as your husband says regardless" which translates in many horrible ways such as "oh.. your husband hit you? What did you do to deserve that,it must've been horrible?" No woman or man should ever be beaten by their spouse and will ever deserve it. But back to the issue of how a husband should treat a wife... this made me think about how great this one person is, he's the epitome of respect, honor compassion everything. It's funny because there's a select few people who in my mind are relatively comparative with that of angels and he is one of them. I've realized that in the end I know that I want to end up with him, end of story. Now I still want to continue my life and continue to experience things and maybe I'm psychotic and he's not specifically the one for me. However I now know that if he's not the one I'm going to marry I want someone completely equivalent to that standard and will settle for nothing less. This may make me the crazy unmarried lady on the corner with 50 cats but at least I know what I'm worth. This person means so much to me and I just hope that he feels the same. The way I see it the idea of soul mates is one of two things: positive when in context to your husband/wife or person you are seriously connected with because it binds you to the person and you would not seek anything elsewhere when knowing that you've found the best person for you. However this is much to idealistic and there's always the other end of the stick (where I'm much afraid I might be at) where one thinks they have found their soul mate but since love is basically all in one's own mind this obsessive mentality could have come entirely from the person's mind and have no actual validity, being that the counterpart does not reciprocate the feelings. Then this would be just another form of emotional mastication, which past proven I'm all to fond of. Hopefully, I will continue to grow and everything will work out in the end (I tell myself that if things are meant to be then they will work out as such).

P.S.Does 1 Corinthians 11: 3-10 sound like a sexist rant to you? Then in verses 11-12 it makes sense and seems like common sense but then 13-16 really shows that it truly is a just that.. a rant.. is that blasphemous to say too?