Who's Authority should woman bow to?

The Bible is both a reservoir of spiritual insight and a cultural icon to which lip service is still paid in in much of the church world. Yet, when the Bible is talked about in public by both believers and critics, it becomes clear that misconceptions abound. I do not believe that there are errors to be found with in the bible. The misconceptions are found in “mankind’s” interpretation, and influences by cultural conceptions.

As a whole the Christian church system has turned a blind eye concerning much of the gender division and abuse that many woman have experience. The common misconception of a woman’s place in the home, and Body of Christ, has led to a rise in physical, emotional and spiritual abuse of women, by men determined to teach women to stay in their place. Or more to the point, who she should bow to as her authority figure.

One main causes of conflict in the Body of Christ and within the Christian home is based upon the failure to note the radical difference between the authority that Jesus gave us (male and female) as God’s children and the authority conceptions of the world.

Many world cultures do not view women as having any great value, other than their ability to bare children and care for them. Thus, from their lowly position they must bow to the authority of their husband or more to the point the male gender. It is basically a traditional law that woman most bow to the superior gender ( male) and is rarely questioned. And often becomes the root cause of many Church doctrines, concerning women.

Christian woman often find themselves pulled in three directions by Church beliefs. First they are told to submit to the Lord authority, then their husband and then the pastor. In some churches they are told to submit to the pastors above the Lord and their husbands authority. When they try to submit to their pastor they battle their husband jealousy. If they bow only to their husband, they are told that his authority but only as far as the teachings of the church allow. If a woman bows to her husband authority above the pastors, a man of God who sees nothing wrong with his wife being an ordained ministry, or working in the gifts, she is viewed by the church as being rebellious to the pastors authority, or a having a Jezebel spirit. If she bows to the authority of the Lord, she is accused of being lead astray by false doctrines.

In order to escape from this confusing mess, as woman, you most first come to grips with who really is your authority figure as a woman. And that begins with first coming to understand some Biblical misconceptions concerning male authority.