Fighting the Four Evils

The very term 'patriarchy' evokes all kinds of negative feelings in modern society. For many in modern western society, particularly women, it is the most evil and worst dystopian nightmare possible. For others, it is seen as outdated and antiquated, but nevertheless viewed unfavourably. Yet for some acculturated in western culture, it is simply foreign but evoked not strong emotions. Either way, there is no concept of patriarchy in modern western society, and increasingly westernised countries all over the world. By contrast, patriarchy is seen as the norm in many cultures and societies, all over the world, including those that are successful in their own right. One striking observation to be made is that all successful civilisations are patriarchal, be it Greek, Roman, Chinese, Babylonian or Egyptian. Male authority in the family and in the Church, in the case of a Christian society, as well as in society generally, is the instituted order of God.  Without patriarchal aut...

Gender roles is one of the hottest topics in society today, and it certainly is a topic that some Christian circles are fixated on, to the point that their entire theology on based on the question of gender roles. While submission of the wife is an important doctrine and is not to be neglected (Ephesians 5:22-23), and indeed should be taught more, owing to the constant perversion of it to qualify this teaching, some have gone to the other extreme to misapply gender roles. This is itself wrong and must be addressed, for it is well understood in most church circles that a wife must submit to her husband. Most reasonable non-fundamentalist Christians, irrespective of denomination, acknowledge that a wife is obligated to submit to her husband as part of her obligations towards him. But gender roles go both ways, in that the husband also has his obligations towards her, and are far more complex than the literal text of Ephesians 5 than fundamental Christians make it out to mean in makin...