Who has not heard of husbands who have demanded complete, unquestioned, and cruel dominance over their wives, wasting no time in quoting Ephesians 5:22-24, which states, \u201cWives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything\u201d?<\/p>\n
Similarly, how many men and women of God have we heard frightening those who seek to rebuke them by swiftly making reference to the numerous passages to the effect that \u201ctouch not the anointed of God\u201d?<\/p>\n
However, for the people of Zimbabwe \u2013 who have had to endure untold, and seemingly unending, murderous brutality, cold-hearted repression, and uncontrolled corruption at the highest echelons of power for decades \u2013 those who have ridden roughshod over their own citizens, and their willing allies in the Christian church, have never cease reminding everyone that Romans 13;1,2 says, \u201cLet every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n
Indeed, all those are authentic biblical scriptures, which should be obeyed by all who profess to be followers of Christ Jesus, as that is the cardinal rule of any relationship and fellowship with Him.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the main weakness, or even downright disobedience, of us as Christians, is that, most of us seldom take the time to study (and by study, I mean exactly that, as there is a fundamental difference between reading and studying) \u2013 as we lamely wait for our church leaders to show us which verses to read, and then wait for them to interpret these to us.<\/p>\n
Such is the most foolish any Christian can ever get \u2013 since even the Bible commended the people of Berea, who had listened to Paul and Silas preach, but would diligently \u201csearch the Scriptures daily to find out if these things were so\u201d (Acts 17:11) \u2013 as we are expected to understand all of scripture on our own, with the leading of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, and not be subjected solely to the limitations of church leaders and their own limited knowledge.<\/p>\n
Failure to do so, only opens us up to the myriad of deliberate misinterpretation by those who have their own ulterior motives, or the ignorance of others \u2013 as had already been witnessed with regards to the examples I provided at the beginning of this discourse.<\/p>\n
That is why this same Bible was so easily bastardized in carrying out some of the darkest and most evil acts of cruelty exercised by human beings on other human beings \u2013 for instance, slavery and colonization \u2013 such that, today, it is perfectly understandable why so many people in countries, especially in Africa, distrust Christians, the church, and the Scriptures.<\/p>\n
No wonder, we so frequently hear the statement, \u201cThey (slave traders and colonizers) came holding the Bible in one hand, and the gun, in the other\u201d \u2013 as such, verses as the previously quoted Romans 13, were perverted to maintain a repressive and brutal grip over the oppressed people, with them being urged not to complain, or even revolt, because that would invite the wrath of God.<\/p>\n
Anything in the Holy Scriptures has to be understood in their proper meaning \u2013 and thus, words such as \u2018subject\u2019 and \u2018submit\u2019 do not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that one can not speak out, or stand up, against any form of injustice committed by those in power.<\/p>\n
For example, a wife is commanded by the Bible to \u2018submit to her husband\u2019, as the church is \u2018subject to Christ\u2019 \u2013 therefore, does it mean that the wife should worship their husbands as gods, as that is the relationship between the church and Christ?<\/p>\n
Does it mean that, when she is being battered, violated, and even tortured by her own husband, she should not express her displeasure and outrage, but merely keep quiet? Is that what those church leaders \u2013 who also instruct oppressed people not to speak out against state brutality \u2013 teach the married women in their churches?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who has not heard of husbands who have demanded complete, unquestioned, and cruel dominance over their wives, wasting no time in quoting Ephesians 5:22-24, which states, \u201cWives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1091],"class_list":{"0":"post-26756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-zimbabwe-council-of-churches"},"yoast_head":"\n