“
Every woman who is aroused by submission is also aroused by an alpha male who can tame her. These women aren’t looking for a husband in the bedroom who will make them feel safe and loved. They already have that in their relationship. These women are looking for a man who is strong enough to conquer them. That way the woman can still feel vibrant and independent… but also feel comfortable submitting to their lover. That’s the turn-on for women. They don’t want to be submissives… they want to feel like they can’t resist submitting.
”
”
Jason Luke (Interview with a Master (Interview with a Master, #1))
“
Nothing humbles a beautiful woman better than not being wanted by a man whose girlfriend or wife is ugly (or not as beautiful as she is).
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
I felt angry,
frustrated.
I felt I didn't belong, not in my
church, not in my home, not
in my skin.
Amidst the chaos, i felt
alone,
in need of a friend instead of
a sister, someone detached from
my world.
The "woman's role" theory
disgusted me.
I would soon be a woman, and I
knew I could never perform as
expected.
I was tired of my mom's submission
to her religion, to her husband's
sick quest for an heir,
to his abuse.
I was sick of my dad, of
reaching for
him as he fell farther away
from us and into the arms of
Johnnie WB.
”
”
Ellen Hopkins (Burned (Burned, #1))
“
It is written that a wife shall be submissive to her husband. It is nowhere written that his mistress should be.
”
”
Jóhann Sigurjónsson (The Wish)
“
The church must not teach the submission of wives apart from the sacrificial love and servanthood required of husbands.
”
”
Gary L. Thomas (Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands)
“
Submission is 'ducking low enough so God can touch your husband.
”
”
Lysa TerKeurst (Capture His Heart: Becoming the Godly Wife Your Husband Desires)
“
It's the wife's duty, isn't it, to be submissive to her husband?" Christina asked.
"It is," Lyon answered. His hands moved to the fastenings on her dress. "Oh, yes, it definitely is."
"Then I shall be submissive, Lyon," Christina announced. "When it suits me.
”
”
Julie Garwood (The Lion's Lady (Crown's Spies, #1))
“
Every woman who is aroused by submission is also aroused by an alpha male who can tame her. These women aren’t looking for a husband in the bedroom who will make them feel safe and loved. They already have that in their relationship. These women are looking for a man who is strong enough to conquer them. That way the woman can still feel vibrant and independent… but also feel comfortable submitting to their lover. That’s the turn-on for women. They don’t want to submissives… they want to feel like they can’t resist submitting.
”
”
Jason Luke (Interview with a Master (Interview with a Master, #1))
“
The will of little girls is stifled by Islam. By the time they menstruate they are rendered voiceless. They are reared to become submissive robots who serve in the house as cleaners and cooks. They are required to comply with their father's choice of a mate, and after the wedding their lives are devoted to the sexual pleasures of their husband and to a life of childbearing.
”
”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations)
“
Yes,” I said. “Every woman who is aroused by submission is also aroused by an alpha male who can tame her. These women aren’t looking for a husband in the bedroom who will make them feel safe and loved. They already have that in their relationship. These women are looking for a man who is strong enough to conquer them. That way the woman can still feel vibrant and independent… but also feel comfortable submitting to their lover. That’s the turn-on for women. They don’t want to be submissives… they want to feel like they can’t resist submitting.
”
”
Jason Luke (Interview with a Master (Interview with a Master, #1))
“
Submission means that a wife acknowledges her husband’s headship as spiritual leader and guide for the family. It has nothing whatsoever to do with her denying or suppressing her will, her spirit, her intellect, her gifts, or her personality. To submit means to recognize, affirm, and support her husband’s God-given responsibility of overall family leadership. Biblical submission of a wife to her husband is a submission of position, not personhood. It is the free and willing subordination of an equal to an equal for the sake of order, stability, and obedience to God’s design. As a man, a husband will fulfill his destiny and his manhood as he exercises his headship in prayerful and humble submission to Christ and gives himself in sacrificial love to his wife. As a woman, a wife will realize her womanhood as she submits to her husband in honor of the Lord, receiving his love and accepting his leadership. When a proper relationship of mutual submission is present and active, a wife will be released and empowered to become the woman God always intended her to be.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Purpose and Power of Love & Marriage)
“
all believers should “submit to each other out of reverence for Christ.” In many ways, wives should submit to their husbands in the same way any believer should submit to other believers, specifically by living according to the lifestyle the apostle Paul lays out earlier in the chapter. This mutual submission is an accountability to be held to God’s standards, an accountability in which both husband and wife are called to participate.
”
”
Janet Boynes
“
Rather than fall completely under his spell, she huffed, “I should like to see you submissively fond of your wife. Given your professed opinions, I cannot expect much fondness from you as a husband, can I?”
“Fondness, yes. Ridiculous, romantic, calf-eyed love, no, you may not,” he confirmed. “But when I am fond, Bess, I am very fond.
”
”
Miranda Davis (The Baron's Betrothal (Horsemen of the Apocalypse #2))
“
Christian wives tend to leave the 'fat books' and theology to their husbands. While this may look 'submissive' to some, it is actually disobedience. It is not enough that we know Proverbs 31, Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, and 1 Corinthians 1 and 14. We have to know more than how to be a good wife. After all, our calling is to be good Christians; and if we are good Christians, we will be good wives and mothers. We mustn't be afraid to deal with topics other than those which directly deal with being a wife and mother.
”
”
Nancy Wilson (The Fruit of Her Hands: Respect and the Christian Woman)
“
What right has the husband to require submission from his wife? None, unless God had appointed it.
”
”
Arthur W. Pink (The Attributes of God - with study questions)
“
you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the
”
”
Scott Hahn (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament)
“
You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that woman is not meant to undergo great labor, whether of the mind or of the body. She pays the debt of life not by what she does, but by what she suffers; by the pains of child-bearing and care for the child, and by submission to her husband, to whom she should be a patient and cheering companion.
”
”
Arthur Schopenhauer (Studies in Pessimism (Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer))
“
Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him. When Mr. Pontellier became rude, Edna grew insolent. She had resolved never to take another step backward.
”
”
Kate Chopin (The Awakening and Selected Stories)
“
I surrender to the pain because it pleases my Master and I know he enjoys giving it to me and that he needs to give it to me in order for him to feel content. That, Dylan, is what appeals to me about BDSM. Pleasing you, my Master, owner and husband, and cherishing you for the Dominant that you are, and feeling a sense of pride in the pleasure and joy that I give to you when I’m obedient and things are perfect and just the way you want them to be. BDSM gives me that sense of purpose and that purpose is to submit to you completely and to accept your gift of submission to me.
”
”
Ella Dominguez (The Art of Control (The Art of D/s, #3))
“
Do you know anything incriminating about the church?”
“Um…well, they’re very fundamentalist. They believe women should submit to their husbands.”
“That’s terrible. What if the husband’s the submissive?
”
”
Tiffany Reisz (The King (The Original Sinners, #6))
“
This is the essence of Kingdom Authority. Fathers can have no authority in the home until they have surrendered to the headship of Jesus. Mothers cannot pray with authority for their children when they have no submissive spirit to their own husbands. Pastors cannot lead, teach, or preach with anointing and supernatural power without being fully broken and surrendered to the lordship of Christ, the authority of the Word, and the commands of the Spirit.
”
”
Adrian Rogers (The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority: Getting an Upper Hand on the Underworld)
“
Mr. Pontellier had been a rather courteous husband so long as he met a certain tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her new and unexpected line of conduct completely bewildered him. It shocked him. Then her absolute disregard for her duties as a wife angered him. When Mr. Pontellier became rude, Edna grew insolent. She had resolved never to take another step backward. "It seems to me the utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family.
”
”
Kate Chopin (The Awakening)
“
The introductory statement for Paul’s famous paragraph on marriage in Ephesians is verse 21: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”1 In English, this is usually rendered as a separate sentence, but that hides from readers an important point that Paul is making. In the Greek text, verse 21 is the last clause in the long previous sentence in which Paul describes several marks of a person who is “filled with the Spirit.” The last mark of Spirit fullness is in this last clause: It is a loss of pride and self-will that leads a person to humbly serve others. From this Spirit-empowered submission of verse 21, Paul moves to the duties of wives and husbands.
”
”
Timothy J. Keller (The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God)
“
Terri had already gotten her panties into a bunch just from one little phone call, so he knew coming at her too much too fast would be more trouble than it was worth. He couldn’t exactly beat her into submission, not right away anyway. Although he did enjoy seeing her get all riled up.
Nothing tugged at a man’s heartstrings like a pair of mascara smeared eyes.
Randy from Spring Cleaning-- Coming Summer 2012
”
”
Brandi Salazar (Spring Cleaning)
“
Is biblical headship synonymous with taking control over someone else and forcing her to comply when she resists? And, does biblical submission require a wife to always do what her husband says? Does it mean she has no choices of her own or can’t ever say no without being labeled as rebellious or ungodly?
”
”
Leslie Vernick (The Emotionally Destructive Marriage: How to Find Your Voice and Reclaim Your Hope)
“
A few hours later, Françoise was able for the last time, and without causing pain, to comb that beautiful hair, which was only slightly graying and had thus far seemed much younger than my grandmother herself. But this was now reversed: the hair was the only feature to set the crown of age on a face grown young again, free of the wrinkles, the shrinkage, the puffiness, the tensions, the sagging flesh which pain had brought to it for so long. As in the distant days when her parents had chosen a husband for her, her features were delicately traced by purity and submission, her cheeks glowed with a chaste expectation, a dream of happiness, an innocent gaiety even, which the years had gradually destroyed. As it ebbed from her, life had borne away its disillusions. A smile seemed to hover on my grandmother’s lips. On that funeral couch, death, like a sculptor of the Middle Ages, had laid her to rest with the face of a young girl.
”
”
Marcel Proust
“
Already the people murmur that I am your enemy
because they say that in verse I give the world your me.
They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos.
Who rises in my verses is not your voice. It is my voice
because you are the dressing and the essence is me;
and the most profound abyss is spread between us.
You are the cold doll of social lies,
and me, the virile starburst of the human truth.
You, honey of courtesan hypocrisies; not me;
in all my poems I undress my heart.
You are like your world, selfish; not me
who gambles everything betting on what I am.
You are only the ponderous lady very lady;
not me; I am life, strength, woman.
You belong to your husband, your master; not me;
I belong to nobody, or all, because to all, to all
I give myself in my clean feeling and in my thought.
You curl your hair and paint yourself; not me;
the wind curls my hair, the sun paints me.
You are a housewife, resigned, submissive,
tied to the prejudices of men; not me;
unbridled, I am a runaway Rocinante
snorting horizons of God's justice.
You in yourself have no say; everyone governs you;
your husband, your parents, your family,
the priest, the dressmaker, the theatre, the dance hall,
the auto, the fine furnishings, the feast, champagne,
heaven and hell, and the social, "what will they say."
Not in me, in me only my heart governs,
only my thought; who governs in me is me.
You, flower of aristocracy; and me, flower of the people.
You in you have everything and you owe it to everyone,
while me, my nothing I owe to nobody.
You nailed to the static ancestral dividend,
and me, a one in the numerical social divider,
we are the duel to death who fatally approaches.
When the multitudes run rioting
leaving behind ashes of burned injustices,
and with the torch of the seven virtues,
the multitudes run after the seven sins,
against you and against everything unjust and inhuman,
I will be in their midst with the torch in my hand.
”
”
Julia de Burgos Jack Agüero Translator
“
submissive to their own husbands, w that the word of God
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
“
Submission to the husband is an opportunity given to the married woman to express the love to her husband.
”
”
Khuliso Mamathoni (The Greatest Proposal)
“
When counseling was provided, the church often suggested the problem would be alleviated if the abused woman followed what the church believed was the Divine pattern of loving obedient submission to her husband.”III2
”
”
Linda Kay Klein (Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free)
“
Sacrificed young to a husband who pleased me not and whom I hardly knew, I nevertheless intended from the depths of my soul the most rigorous allegiance. God knows I never transgressed. I saw my solicitude repaid by harshness, my attentions by brusqueness, my fidelity by crimes, my submission by horrors.
”
”
Marquis de Sade (Aline et Valcour)
“
We can assume that when the Bible teaches submission, God knew full well that wives would have to watch their husbands fail and make mistakes. Thankfully, this verse also presents some boundaries. If you submit “out of reverence for Christ,” you are never obligated — ever — to do anything that would offend Christ.
”
”
Gary L. Thomas (Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands)
“
Acceptance of the divinely ordered hierarchy means acceptance of authority—first of all, God’s authority and then those lesser authorities which He has ordained. A husband and wife are both under God, but their positions are not the same. A wife is to submit herself to her husband. The husband’s “rank” is given to him by God, as the angels’ and animals’ ranks are assigned, not chosen or earned. The mature man acknowledges that he did not earn or deserve his place by superior intelligence, virtue, strength, or amiability. The mature woman acknowledges that submission is the will of God for her, and obedience to this will is no more a sign of weakness in her than it was in the Son of Man when He said, “Lo, I come—to do Thy will, O God.
”
”
Elisabeth Elliot (Let Me Be a Woman)
“
John's explosion left Abigail in a quandary. Priding herself on being a good wife, she cheerfully accepted that her main role was to soothe the cares of her adored if sometimes baffling spouse. Being a wife required at least the appearance of submission. On the other hand, it would be cruel to abandon a husband altogether to his follies when it was so easy to correct him with a little tact.
”
”
Diane Jacobs (Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters)
“
Instead of justifying male authority on account of female inferiority, the Christian household codes affirm women as having equal worth to men. Instead of focusing on wifely submission (everyone was doing that), the Christian household codes demand that the husband do exactly the opposite of what Roman law allowed: sacrificing his life for his wife instead of exercising power over her life.
”
”
Beth Allison Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth)
“
The language used to soften the sound of submission to a woman’s ears is clever. We were told women were equal to men in worth—only the roles were different. We were told women were honored and respected. Leaders were not to be leader lords but servant leaders. Husbands were taught they should “love their wives as their own bodies,” nourishing and cherishing them as they would for themselves.
”
”
Shannon Harris (The Woman They Wanted: Shattering the Illusion of the Good Christian Wife)
“
Evolutionary biologist John Hartung asks us to consider people who are stuck in a position that they might otherwise perceive as unfair or beneath their station (Hartung, 1987). Consider a man who holds a job that he knows does not take full advantage of his talents or a wife who knows that she is more intelligent than her husband. Acting as though your job or your spouse is beneath you could put your employment or your marriage in jeopardy. Your boss might fire you for insubordination. Your spouse might seek someone with whom he or she feels more comfortable and less threatened. The adaptive solution that Hartung proposes is called deceiving down. Deceiving down is not “playing dumb” or pretending to be less than you are. Instead, it involves an actual reduction in self-confidence to facilitate acting in a submissive, subordinate manner.
”
”
David M. Buss (Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind)
“
In the larger denominational landscape, generally speaking, women's well-being wasn't the priority. Our husband’s was. We catered to them. This was part of submission. This notion did not only come from the men. I was taught in so many words by women mentors that if I treated my husband as if he were already everything I wanted him to be, he would become that. Also, if we women would do our part, God would see to it that the men would be won over and do their part.
”
”
Beth Moore (All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir)
“
To her mortification, she was staring at him openly, ogling, and she couldn't seem to stop. If the back view of West Ravenel was fascinating, the front was absolutely mesmerizing. He was much harrier than her husband had been, his chest covered with dark fur that narrowed to a V at his midriff, and there was more hair on his forearms, and even a little trail below the navel. His shoulders and arms were so powerfully developed, one had to wonder why he hadn't simply wrestled the bull into submission.
”
”
Lisa Kleypas (Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels, #5))
“
Male domination—where a husband forcefully asserts dominance in physically, emotionally, or spiritually abusive ways and treats his wife harshly without godly love—is a sinful distortion of male headship. A wife becoming slave-like is also a sinful distortion that undermines the value, dignity, beauty, and worth of a wife and warps the picture of what godly femininity is supposed to be. Male passivity is a sinful distortion of biblical masculinity that abandons God-given responsibility and accountability and endangers a man’s wife and family.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
So much of sex is what it is because you are allowed to be yourself. This individuality– which can be anything in a lover: fierceness, clumsiness, coyness – is what makes sex different every time, this is what changes the nature of pleasure from one act to the next, from one lover to another. To play the role of the still, passive and submissive woman day after day leaves a woman in a relationship with the ceiling, not with her man. My husband lacks this kind of basic knowledge because Marx and Lenin and Mao have not explicitly written this down, and the declassing classes do not address the sexual pleasure of comrades.
”
”
Meena Kandasamy (When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife)
“
it is Love that make us to be submissive
Ephesians 5:22King James Version (KJV)
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
The key of all homes is the ability of anyone to keep his or her position. The Word submission doesn't mean to be a slave, to be maltreated. It simply means to be humble, to be caring and kind, to Love and so on. A woman that really love her husband will always respect him, obey Him, cherish him, and support him in everything. Then you will understand that it is the Love you have for Jesus-Christ that's making you to obey and live by His word. You obey because you respect Him, you adore Him, you've put your all in all in Him. God bless you.
”
”
Jean Faustin Louembe
“
But marriage is designed to be a unique display of God’s covenant grace because, unlike all other human relationships, the husband and wife are bound by covenant into the closest possible relationship for a lifetime. There are unique roles of headship and submission. Those distinct roles are not the focus in this chapter. That will come later.1Here I want to consider husband and wife simply as Christians. Before a man and woman can live out the unique roles of headship and submission in a biblical and gracious way, they must experience what it means to build their lives on the vertical experience of God’s forgiveness and justification and promised help, and then bend it out horizontally to their spouse.
”
”
John Piper (This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence)
“
What makes a successful marriage is not love. What makes a successful marriage is knowing your place in this divine covenant. A man is meant to love and a woman is meant to submit. When you misplace your place there is bound to be errors and chaos.
Imagine a woman loving a man? She will be heartbroken cause the man is loving another. But when a woman is submissive to a man, the man is subjected by divine ordinance to love her, cause submissiveness propel and activate love no matter how you put it.
Now, let's imagine a man submitting to a woman. Well, I have no explanation to that. It is appalling and not something anyone wants to hear.
Love is shown by gifts (items, good treatment, kindness etc) but submissiveness is shown by obeying, listening and servanthood.
Psychologically, a servant who is diligent has more respect than a son of the house who is arrogant.
So, let's go back to the drawing board and make our marriages work - Victor Vote
”
”
Victor Vote
“
There comes a terrible moment to many souls when the great movements of the world, the larger destinies of mankind, which have lain aloof in newspapers and other neglected reading, enter like an earthquake into their own lives—where the slow urgency of growing generations turns into the tread of an invading army or the dire clash of civil war, and gray fathers know nothing to seek for but the corpses of their blooming sons, and girls forgot all vanity to make lint and bandages which may serve for the shattered limbs of their betrothed husbands. Then it is as if the Invisible Power that had been the object of lip-worship and lip-resignation became visible, according to the imagery of the Hebrew poet, making the flames his chariot, and riding on the wings of the wind, till the mountains smoke and the plains shudder under the rolling fiery visitations. Often the good cause seems to lie prostrate under the thunder of relenting force, the martyrs live reviled, they die, and no angel is seen holding forth the crown and the palm branch. Then it is that the submission of the soul to the Highest is tested, and even in the eyes of frivolity life looks out from the scene of human struggle with the awful face of duty, and a religion shows itself which is something else than a private consolation.
”
”
George Eliot (Daniel Deronda)
“
The future is now quite uncertain; everyone lives for today, a state of mind in which the game of graft and swindle is played with ease — that is, it is only "for today" that they allow themselves to be bribed and bought, while tomorrow and tomorrow’s virtue they reserve to themselves! It is a well-known fact that individuals, being truly things apart, care more for the moment than their opposites the gregarious do, because they consider themselves as unpredictable as the future; likewise, they readily take up with the violent, because the crowd could neither understand nor condone the actions to which they dare have recourse — but the tyrant or Caesar understands that the individual has a right even to his excesses, and has an interest in advocating a bolder private morality, and even in lending it a hand. For what he thinks of himself, and what he wants others to think of him, is what Napoleon in his classical manner at one time declared: "I have the right to answer any complaint against me with an eternal “this is what I am”. I stand aloof from the whole world and accept conditions from no one. I want submission even to my fancies and regard it as a matter of course that I indulge myself in this or that diversion." Napoleon once spoke thus to his wife, who had reasons to question her husband’s fidelity.
It is during the most corrupt times that these apples ripen and fall, by which I mean the individuals who bear the seeds of the future, the intellectual pioneers and founders of causes and federations. Corruption is only an ugly word for the autumn of a people.
”
”
Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs)
“
The third group called to silence is women. This group is not composed of all women all the time but rather of specific women who were asking questions and speaking in the service. The larger context of these verses demands that we understand these questioning women to be a disruption of the peace and order of the service. This is the reason Paul wrote that 'women should keep silent in the churches' (v. 34). Paul's concern is not just with women (for men too are called to be silent in church); his broader concern is with silence, peace, and order in the worship assembly. This perspective allows us rightly to understand the rest of this chapter, 14:34-40. Paul next tells these specific women to 'be in submission.' We tend to think of this as submission to MEN, but the larger context makes this improbable. Our patriarchal and man-centered culture over the millennia has distorted the meaning of this command to submit. Rather than commanding submission to men, the apostle is commanding SUBMISSION TO THE ORDER OF THE WORSHIP SERVICE, that is, submission to the Holy Spirit. This reading helps us understand the next phrase: 'even as the law says.' Normally LAW in Paul refers to the Old Testament, but it can also have a wider meaning. Nowhere in the Old Testament are women called to be silent, nor are they called to submit to their husbands. Yet there is excellent evidence for biblical and broadly Jewish concern for SILENCE IN WORSHIP before God or the Word of God or while learning from the rabbis (e.g., Deut. 27:9-10; Job 33:31-33; Isa. 66:2; Hab. 2:20). It may well be that this is the 'law' Paul has in mind: not about the silence or submission of women, but about silence in the worship service in general (but applying to women in this case).
”
”
Alan G. Padgett (As Christ Submits to the Church: A Biblical Understanding of Leadership and Mutual Submission)
“
When my lips touched her face, my grandmother’s hands quivered and a long shudder ran through her whole body – possibly an automatic reflex, or perhaps it is that certain forms of affection are hypersensitive enough to recognize through the veil of unconsciousness what they scarcely need the senses to enable them to love. Suddenly my grandmother started up, made a violent effort, like someone struggling to hold on to her life. Françoise was unable to offer any resistance to the sight of this and burst out sobbing. Remembering what the doctor had said, I tried to make her leave the room. At that moment my grandmother opened her eyes. I hurriedly thrust myself in front of Françoise to hide her tears while my parents were speaking to the dying woman. The hissing drone of oxygen had stopped; the doctor moved away from the bedside. My grandmother was dead.
A few hours later, Françoise was able for the last time, and without causing pain, to comb that beautiful hair which was only slightly greying and had thus far seemed much younger than my grandmother herself. But this was now reversed: the hair was the only feature to set the crown of age on a face grown young again, free of the wrinkles, the shrinkage, the puffiness, the tensions, the sagging flesh which pain had brought to it for so long. As in the distant days when her parents had chosen a husband for her, her features were delicately traced by purity and submission, her cheeks glowed with a chaste expectation, a dream of happiness, an innocent gaiety even, which the years had gradually destroyed. As it ebbed from her, life had borne away its disillusions. A smile seemed to hover on my grandmother’s lips. On that funeral couch, death, like a sculptor of the Middle Ages, had laid her to rest with the face of a young girl.
”
”
Marcel Proust (The Guermantes Way)
“
Life within a Templar house was designed where possible to resemble that of a Cistercian monastery. Meals were communal and to be eaten in near silence, while a reading was given from the Bible. The rule accepted that the elaborate sign language monks used to ask for necessities while eating might not be known to Templar recruits, in which case "quietly and privately you should ask for what you need at table, with all humility and submission." Equal rations of food and wine were to be given to each brother and leftovers would be distributed to the poor. The numerous fast days of the Church calendar were to be observed, but allowances would be made for the needs of fighting men: meat was to be served three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Should the schedule of annual fast days interrupt this rhythm, rations would be increased to make up for lost sustenance as soon as the fasting period was over.
It was recognized that the Templars were killers. "This armed company of knights may kill the enemies of the cross without stated the rule, neatly summing up the conclusion of centuries of experimental Christian philosophy, which had concluded that slaying humans who happened to be "unbelieving pagans" and "the enemies of the son of the Virgin Mary" was an act worthy of divine praise and not damnation. Otherwise, the Templars were expected to live in pious self-denial.
Three horses were permitted to each knight, along with one squire whom "the brother shall not beat." Hunting with hawks—a favorite pastime of warriors throughout Christendom—was forbidden, as was hunting with dogs. only beasts Templars were permitted to kill were the mountain lions of the Holy Land. They were forbidden even to be in the company of hunting men, for the reason that "it is fitting for every religious man to go simply and humbly without laughing or talking too much." Banned, too, was the company of women, which the rule scorned as "a dangerous thing, for by it the old devil has led man from the straight path to paradise the flower of chastity is always [to be] maintained among you.... For this reason none Of you may presume to kiss a woman' be it widow, young girl, mother, sister, aunt or any other.... The Knighthood of Christ should avoid at all costs the embraces of women, by which men have perished many times." Although married men were permitted to join the order, they were not allowed to wear the white cloak and wives were not supposed to join their husbands in Templar houses.
”
”
Dan Jones (The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors)
“
Epigraphs from Ballroom Dancing: An Erotic Romance of Dominance and Submission
"He’s like my father in a way—loves the chase and is bored with the conquest—and once married, needs proof he’s still attractive, so flirts with other women and resents you."
—Jacqueline Bouvier, July, 1952, making an observation about her future husband in a letter to her priest “Father L,” the Reverend Joseph Leonard of Dublin, Ireland.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Mr. President..."
—Norma Jeane Mortenson, May 19, 1962, Madison Square Garden, New York City.
”
”
Anna Andreesen
“
Not so Mrs. Proudie. This lady is habitually authoritative to all, but to her poor husband she is despotic. Successful as has been his career in the eyes of the world, it would seem that in the eyes of his wife he is never right. All hope of defending himself has long passed from him; indeed he rarely even attempts self-justification, and is aware that submission produces the nearest approach to peace which his own house can ever attain.
”
”
Anthony Trollope (Complete Works of Anthony Trollope)
“
Think of marriage as a three-legged stool. The legs are a submissive wife, a loving husband, and Christ.
”
”
Beth Moore (To Live Is Christ: Joining Paul's Journey of Faith)
“
Submission that a wife gives her husband is a free gift that springs up from within the wife like life-giving water bubbling up from a fresh well, not something imposed through intimidation or other outside force. Submission is the most important gift a wife can give her husband. A responsive and receptive wife willingly demonstrates that she surrenders her freedom for his love, adoration, protection, and provision.
”
”
Ed Wheat (Intended for Pleasure: Sex Technique and Sexual Fulfillment in Christian Marriage)
“
The ideas that undergirded Single Blessedness were that women unmarried by chance or by choice had their own acceptably submissive purpose. The “singly blessed” were presumed to be pious vessels whose commitment to service, undiluted by the needs of husbands or children, made them perfect servants of god, family, and community. Women without husbands were often expected to care for the sick and destitute within their communities, and were expected to care for aging parents as married siblings
”
”
Rebecca Traister (All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation)
“
My refusal to follow my husband’s God-given leadership hurts the gospel, hurts the name of Christ, and repels unbelievers from finding the real love and real life that is only available in Jesus.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
Since 'Panther' is an ambiguous word that can refer to different leopards, jaguars, or mountain lions, it can also refer to a melanistic or black cat; hence, the name 'black panther'. It can also be crossed with a lioness for example which gives us an indication of the role which the lion had in ancient Egyptian symbolism in relation with the black panther on feminine figures. Panther/Lioness feminine emblems for Sekhmet, Bastet and Maftet were portaying that aggressive and wild nature of the big cats; they served as guardians and the latter was called as 'slayer of serpents' and protected against snakes. That was also a role which Atem played, therefore, they represent the perpendicular authority in contrast to that of the Sun (i.e., parallel authority). What proves my assertion that the Sun cult showed up later on in opposition to the upper heavens' authority is to be witnessed on the figurine which shows Tutankhamun subjugating a black panther using a sceptre which looks different than that of Thoth (stripped off from its fork and top ends); avenging thereby his cult. The Egyptian Museum guide does state that he is [assimilated to the Sun by the golden tan of his skin] and the [panther represented the night sky]. So it is evident that the warriors of the upper heavens on Earth were feminine who tried to resurrect their legacy in contrast to Isis who restores her husband's body to allow for his resurrection (referring to Sirius and Orion); intending probably thereby to give him back his role as a lion hunter. The task on the lionesses is therefore reduced to protection and guardianship against this scheme but there were no resurrection of some entity for them to take part into since the authority on whose behalf they fight were already present even though no complete submission to it were delivered.
”
”
Ibrahim Ibrahim (Quotable: My Worldview)
“
I have observed that the minority of Christian husbands who do harp on their wives about their supposed lack of submission are often men who are emotionally, verbally, spiritually, and/or physically abusive.
These men pull out Scripture and use it as a whip to humiliate and control their wives. With verbal “sleight of hand,” this kind of husband uses God’s Word to distract his wife from noticing that the real problem is not her alleged lack of submission—the real problem is his abusive words, attitudes, and actions.
”
”
Paul Coughlin (No More Christian Nice Girl: When Just Being Nice--Instead of Good--Hurts You, Your Family, and Your Friends)
“
To the patriachists who insist wives submitting to husbands in all things is great for women because in exchange husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loves and sacrificed himself for the church, you're wrong.
“I work and put food on the table” isn’t sacrifice. It’s life as an adult.
“I put in time as a coach after a hard day’s work” isn’t sacrifice. It’s life as an adult.
“I volunteer at church on top of going to work and coaching kids” isn’t sacrifice. It’s life as an adult.
If you’re claiming wives submitting to husbands is great for women because husbands are called to sacrifice themselves, tell me what you’ve done. What sacrifices? Where? How frequent?
If you’re a patriarchist but not sacrificing like this, then don’t bring up submission. Ever.
”
”
Denise L Lowe
“
However, there was one crucial difference between the narrator and myself: the narrator, as you mentioned, stayed true to her beliefs, even when no one would listen to them, and even though her husband did not approve of her writing, she still kept writing all her thoughts about that resting cure in her diary. On the other hand, I always thought I was hopeless, and although I was aware that my desires and my cousin’s and uncle’s desires are polar opposites, I never internally believed that my thoughts were well-justified, like you and the narrator have done. I even had an empty journal with me, and I was tempted to write down all my thoughts, but I felt so ashamed of my own beliefs that I could not write them down at all---another difference between me and the narrator. But now, you gave this lesson for the C.I.L. where the main character stayed true to herself and was unafraid of writing down her thoughts and experiences---she wrote spontaneously and unreluctantly, while I suffered from severe writer’s block.
”
”
Lucy Carter (The Reformation)
“
Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed that some of your lady callers have had questions on a wife’s submission to her husband and how it deals with their Christian faith when faced with a moral problem. Nowhere in the Bible is a woman told to blindly submit to the will of her husband. In fact, the first act of submission is on the husband’s part! The husband is to submit himself to Christ and the will of God. When he does this he is not setting himself up as master, but rather as servant of the Lord. Only then is the wife to submit to the will of her husband—because the will of her husband will be obedience to the Lord. So the wife is not submitting to the husband, but to God. As soon as the husband steps outside this and acts contrary to scripture, the woman is under no moral obligation whatsoever to her husband to transgress the moral law! Women are not, and were never meant to be, set up as servants to men in the kingdom of God. A man is supposed to love his wife as Christ loves the church. That means that a husband is required to love, care for, nurture, protect, comfort, and even be willing to die for his wife. That is love.
”
”
Laura Schlessinger (The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands)
“
Teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. … so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. TITUS 2:1–5, 10
”
”
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together)
“
Where did my sweet, submissive husband go?” “Our kids chased him off. I’m what you get tonight.
”
”
Onley James (Family & Felonies: A Necessary Evils Anthology)
“
I learned that husbands and God have a much different (usually much longer) timetable from mine, and that is actually a good thing.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
Only Jesus can satisfy the deepest longings of my soul; not my husband, not getting my way, not being in control, not worldly happiness, not romance, not feeling loved
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, and they are to honor and respect their wives in many ways.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
For me to submit to my husband as a believing wife means that I trust God more than I trust my husband or myself. It is about my submission to the lordship of Christ and my trust in God’s sovereignty to lead me through my imperfect husband.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
Unfortunately, there are sometimes leaders in positions of authority who abuse or mistreat those they are sworn to protect, serve, lead, provide for, and care for. That is wrong! I cannot emphasize this enough. God will repay those who misuse the authority He gave to them. They will stand before Him and give an account and He will dispense justice (eternal condemnation in hell) unless they repent, turn to Christ, and receive mercy through the blood of Jesus in this lifetime. Either an abusive husband will pay dearly for his sin, or Jesus will pay dearly for his sin.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
One of the greatest temptations early in this journey will be for you to want to learn to respect your husband in order to try to change him, to make him be more loving, or to get what you want from him. That won’t work. Husbands know when our motives are selfish; God knows, too! You want your husband to love you because he really loves you, not because he wants something from you. Husbands feel the same way about us respecting them. I am not talking about pretending, being fake, and playing games. I am talking about total heart change, which is a very long process.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
It can feel scary to lay down our expectations of our husbands, but as we learn to find contentment in Jesus and nothing else, there is so much freedom, joy, and peace. We
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
If all my husband sees is my constant unhappiness, contempt, criticism, or condemnation, he loses his motivation to even try to delight me. He may feel totally defeated.
”
”
April Cassidy (The Peaceful Wife: Living in Submission to Christ as Lord)
“
In any case, if we see the church as a singular entity—a bride and not a harem—then there might be some relevance for our discussion. Clearly, Jesus’ love toward the church is mirrored in a husband’s love for his wife, and the wife’s submission to her husband is mirrored in the church’s submission to Christ. Since Paul roots marital role distinctions in sexual distinctions, I’m not sure what this would look like in same-sex marriages. The relationship between Christ and the church requires a fundamental difference; a man marrying a man would seem to reflect the church marrying the church or Christ marrying Christ.13 The analogy demands some sort of difference, and it appears that Paul has sexual difference in mind.
”
”
Preston Sprinkle (People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue)
“
The word submission is made up of two parts:
Sub (it’s a prefix) means below or under. Sub means under like in the words submarine, submerge, or subtract.
Mission means an important goal or purpose.
When a woman allows her husband to lead – it means she puts his missions – his goals – his life purposes above hers.
”
”
Courtney Joseph
“
It was my editor at the time who has since retired, telling me that Walter and she would be coming to Charleston the following week to discuss my submission. Walter was Walter Zacharius, the founder and owner of Kensington Publishing. Walter was my boss, and my friend. I want to say right here and now that I absolutely adored that man. He saw me through some bad times, the death of my husband, and then the death of my youngest daughter a few years later. Just talking to him made things right somehow.
”
”
Fern Michaels (Weekend Warriors (Sisterhood, #1))
“
A Real Beauty: We read in 1 Peter 3 that a woman should have the "incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God" (verse 4). The Greek word for "Precious" is used two other times in 1 Peter. First, the shed blood of Jesus Christ is precious ( verse 1:19), and second, He is the precious cornerstone of our faith ( verse 2:6). The third time it is in reference to a godly, submissive woman. God says we, too, can be precious as the Lord Jesus is. A calm, gentle, submissive spirit is rare and costly and of great worth to God. If you have ever met a woman such as this, you have not forgotten her. She is precious to God, a glory to her husband, and a joy to be around!
”
”
Linda Dillow (Creative Counterpart : Becoming the Woman, Wife, and Mother You Have Longed To Be)
“
Islam means “submission.”1 The faith teaches that Muslims must submit to the will of Allah2 and prepare themselves for the final judgment in order to be able to enter paradise.3 Muslims believe that Allah revealed his will through Sharia, which literally means “path” but is generally translated as “Islamic law.”4 Unlike the traditional Western legal system, which is limited to basic civil and criminal elements, Sharia covers everything from religious rituals and private hygiene to principles of conducting business, criminal punishments, and more. Sharia prescribes, for example, how many times a Muslim must pray, how husbands should treat their wives, and what punishments are to be given for different crimes. It mandates flogging for consuming alcohol,5 stoning adulterers to death,6 cutting off a thief’s limbs,7 and executing apostates and blasphemers.8 Many Muslims around the world do not adhere to the jihadist ideology of terrorists. Most Muslims are moderate, peaceful people who, while following their religious traditions and rituals—attending mosques for worship, fasting, witnessing to others—reasonably coexist with followers of other religions. They do not impose their beliefs on others. They have non-Muslim friends, neighbors, and coworkers with whom they socialize on a daily basis. To these Muslims, Islam is a religion of peace. A small but increasingly significant segment of Muslims (some estimate its size as between 10 and 20 percent),9 however, believe in the supremacy of Islam and Sharia law over any other religion or law and feel obligated to force such beliefs on everybody. This
”
”
Jay Sekulow (Unholy Alliance: The Agenda Iran, Russia, and Jihadists Share for Conquering the World)
“
Thus, Paul establishes the exhortation for wifely submission, not simply as a cultural norm to uphold, but as an integral component of the Christian life. It is significant to observe that Paul uses the phrase “in the Lord” in verses 18 and 20, in connection with the instruction for wives to submit to their husbands and the instruction for children to obey their parents. But the phrase is absent in verse 22 where slaves are told to obey their earthly masters.282
”
”
Benjamin Reaoch (Women, Slaves, and the Gender Debate: A Complementarian Response to the Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic)
“
Because marriage is God’s design, His doing, and meant for His glory, Christian marriages should be different. A sacrificial and submissive marriage is shocking to the world. In such a marriage, a husband and wife do not seek their own glory but look to one another’s good first, to the glory of God. This kind of marriage is beautiful—it’s what marriage was meant to be.
”
”
Catherine Strode Parks (A Christ-Centered Wedding: Rejoicing in the Gospel on Your Big Day)
“
Um…well, they’re very fundamentalist. They believe women should submit to their husbands.” “That’s terrible. What if the husband’s the submissive?
”
”
Anonymous
“
The writer encountered a Muslim woman once in a narrow street of a predominantly Hindu town, in the quarter inhabited by moneylenders. The feeling he had was that she was coming in search of a loan. She wore the burkha, that unhygienic head-to-toe covering that turns a woman into a walking symbol of inefficient civic refuse collection and leaves you without even an impression of her eyes behind the slits she watches the gay world through, tempted but not tempting; a garment in all probability inflaming to her passions but chilling to her expectations of having them satisfied. Pity her for the titillation she must suffer. After she had passed there was a smell of Chanel No. 5, which suggested that she needed money because she liked expensive things. Perhaps she had a rebellious spirit, or laboured under a confusion of ideas and intentions. On the other hand she may merely have been submissive to her husband, drenching herself for his private delight with a scent she did not realize was also one of public invitation – and passed that day through the street of the moneylenders only because it was a short cut to the mosque. It was a Friday, and it is written in the Koran: ‘Believers, when the call is made for prayer on Friday, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave off all business. That would be best for you, if you but knew it. Then, when the prayers are ended, disperse and go in quest of Allah’s bounty.’ Perhaps, when the service was over, it was her intention to return by the way she had come.
”
”
Paul Scott (The Day of the Scorpion (The Raj Quartet, #2))
“
the wife is to exemplify the church’s joyful submission to Christ by following her husband’s leadership.
”
”
Carolyn Mahaney (Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother)
“
a big mess. Somebody needs to start somewhere, and though I hope that both partners are going to be willing to start and do exactly what God says, I want to encourage you to go ahead and be first. But even if it seems that one of you is more willing than the other one, continue doing what is right as a service to the Lord. Love has to start somewhere. If what you are doing now is not working, then you have nothing to lose. Everything will stay the same until someone makes a change. If you want to see what God can do then, wives, be submissive and adapt yourselves to your own husbands as a service to the Lord. There is probably no one better qualified than I am to try to teach women how to submit and adapt because I was the least likely person to ever want to adapt to anything or anyone. I wanted everything and everybody to adapt to me. And when I first began to read in the Bible that a wife was to adapt to her own husband, it gave me the creeps! Just the thought of adapting made me uncomfortable. It is amazing how miserable we can make ourselves because we will not adapt to some simple little thing that somebody’s asking us to do. But because of
”
”
Joyce Meyer (Making Marriage Work: The Advice You Need for a Lifetime of Happiness)
“
Babamukuru was always impressive when he made these speeches of his. He was a rigid, imposing perfectionist, steely enough in character to function in the puritanical way that he expected, or rather insisted, that the rest of the world should function. Luckily, or maybe unluckily for him, throughout his life Babamukuru had found himself - as eldest child and son, as an early educated African, as headmaster, as husband and father, as provider to many - in positions that enabled him to organise his immediate world and its contents as he wished. Even when this was not the case, as when he went to the mission as a young boy, the end result of such periods of submission was greater power than before. Thus he had been insulated from the necessity of considering alternatives unless they were his own. Stoically he accepted his divinity. Filled with awe, we accepted it too. We used to marvel at how benevolent that divinity was. Babamukuru was good. We all agreed on this. More significantly still, Babamukuru was right.
”
”
Tsitsi Dangarembga (Nervous Conditions)
“
Love and Marriage Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. EPHESIANS 5:21 NIV Young couples often approach marriage thinking that their love will survive anything. Then when the first trial tests their faith and endurance, their love crumbles. Author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction.” Such is the goal of a couple committed to Christ. Admit it: marriage is work. Yet God unites two people for a common purpose—to lift one up when the other falls, to give instead of receive, to exercise the art of compromise and understanding. On the other hand, a loveless marriage is one based on self-absorption or selfishness on the part of one or both individuals. The love that once attracted us to our spouse isn’t the love that sustains our marriage. Rather, God’s love prevails in the lives of the couple who choose to, in mutual submission, place Christ first. The above scripture indicates that submission applies to both men and women, yet Paul goes on to exhort women to submit to their husbands—for as a woman submits or respects her husband, he, in turn, loves his wife (Ephesians 5:22–28). The result? A man and woman united in faith, traveling in the same direction. Father, help me become the helpmate You intended. Guide me to live a submissive life to You first and then my husband. May we both follow Your lead, not our own. Amen.
”
”
Anonymous (Daily Wisdom for Women - 2014: 2014 Devotional Collection)
“
Most cases of child discipline may be solved by establishing structure that will lead to the reenforcement of the biblical principles established for the home. To do this, the rules of the home need to be set out clearly. God has given parents full authority to be exercised under the rule of Scripture. The husband is to be the head of the home, the wife is to be his submissive helper, and the children are to love their parents, honoring and obeying them. But these are general principles which must be worked out in terms of the concrete problems children raise. What must be done when a child lies, talks back, fails to come home on time? One good way to determine fair consistent answers to such questions is to draw up a code of conduct. On a sheet, consisting of four columns, each column is headed by the words “Crime,” “Punishment,” “By Whom,” and “When.
”
”
Jay E. Adams (Competent to Counsel: Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling (Jay Adams Library))
“
God’s word is clear. Even if your husband is an unbeliever, your purpose is not to make him submit to you, but rather to win him to submission to the Lord through the example of your own humble conduct so that he is won “without a word.
”
”
Rosaria Champagne Butterfield (The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey into Christian Faith)
“
The role of helpmate indicates not a status of inferiority but a functional difference. The Wife is in submission to her husband in the same way Christ is in submission to the Father. Yet Christ and the Father are equal and one! There cannot be two leaders. The purpose is functional teamwork that allows two people to complement each other each other, not compete with each other, in life.
”
”
Linda Dillow (Creative Counterpart : Becoming the Woman, Wife, and Mother You Have Longed To Be)
“
Monica decided to stop noticing only what Domenico did for her and tried to find a way to do something for him, forgetting herself a little. She decided to trust him and his way of doing things. She decided to look upon her husband with that look of hope that allows the other person to be himself in true freedom.
”
”
Costanza Miriano (Marry Him and Be Submissive)
“
When someone is attacked, we call it assault. As horrible as that is, what is even worse is torment. Torment is when you’re assaulted and you cannot escape, like prisoners of war and those who are held captive in slavery. For some women, their version of slavery and captivity in torment is called marriage. Tragically, some women settle for this kind of life. Or perhaps even worse, they tell their church leadership, only to be told that when Paul said our bodies belongs to our spouses, it means the wife is basically a piece of property. Some tragic studies report that an assaulted wife who goes to her church instead of the police or a licensed counselor will be less likely to get ongoing emotional help and legal protection, but rather will return to the abuse in the name of submission—as if the abuse is what God had in mind for her. Anytime a husband or church leader demands the wife obey the Bible without doing the same for the husband, he is sanctioning abuse. Any professing Christian man who assaults his wife is a heretic preaching a false gospel with his life. A man is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. Jesus’ relationship with the church is not one of rape, violence, abuse, and degradation. There is no place for any assault—including sexual assault—in any marriage.
”
”
Mark Driscoll (Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together)
“
Laughing with blood relatives
amidst memorable melodies
in the background, styrofoam
plate in hand, topped with
foods that restaurants can’t
duplicate, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Staring at an unbelievable
sunrise from a balcony villa
in Tanzania, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Recognized and awarded for
notable news journalism, a few
semesters away from achieving
a prestigious degree decorated
with promised opportunities,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Hoping quietly for the best, to
“win my husband over” with
traditional submission,
more frequent sex,
and minimized speech,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Walking down a dusty
Egyptian street filled with
the welcoming laughter of
carefree children, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Sitting in a church pew
notating another good
message, clapping to some
of my favorite songs, and
then exiting to talk with
familiar faces, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Communing with those who
know who the “real chosen”
are, beholding their unknown
names unmasked, and secret
knowledges revealed
to ponder incessantly,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Placed underneath the
wanting body of a rare man
who showed me
unprecedented love,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
My soul.
My mind.
My body.
Each malnourished.
My community.
My life purpose.
Both misplaced.
All starving for home.
So, I moved. Not to what looks
and feels good for them, but to
what
”
”
Zara Hairston
“
The popular Christian concept of a “good woman” is someone extremely feminine, sensitive, good-looking, and submissive to a handsome husband who keeps his promises. Lovely – if you live in Disneyland. Or, actually, if you live in this male-dominated, externally obsessed Western world.
”
”
Danielle Strickland (The Liberating Truth)
“
Laughing with blood relatives
amidst memorable melodies
in the background, styrofoam
plate in hand, topped with
foods that restaurants can’t
duplicate, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Staring at an unbelievable
sunrise from a balcony villa
in Tanzania, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Recognized and awarded for
notable news journalism, a few
semesters away from achieving
a prestigious degree decorated
with promised opportunities,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Hoping quietly for the best, to
“win my husband over” with
traditional submission,
more frequent sex,
and minimized speech,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Walking down a dusty
Egyptian street filled with
the welcoming laughter of
carefree children, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Sitting in a church pew
notating another good
message, clapping to some
of my favorite songs, and
then exiting to talk with
familiar faces, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Communing with those who
know who the “real chosen”
are, beholding their unknown
names unmasked, and secret
knowledges revealed
to ponder incessantly,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Placed underneath the
wanting body of a rare man
who showed me
unprecedented love,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
My soul.
My mind.
My body.
Each malnourished.
My community.
My life purpose.
Both misplaced.
All starving for home.
So, I moved. Not to what looks
and feels good for them, but to
what
”
”
Zara Hairston
“
No…” I shook my head with tears running down my cheeks. “I saw the ad, the listing. I applied for this job. Raina…” I paused, thinking about how Raina just so happened to be driving exactly where I was. “Raina dropped that paper off to your motel room in hopes that’d make the process easier for you. Raina was paid to follow you and pick you up. Raina is basically the Ivory’s adoptive daughter, and her husband Jax once worked here.” “How’d they escape? How did they manage to not tell anyone about what’s happening here?” “Demi, you just don’t get it.” Bradley rubbed his forehead as if it were aching. “It’s not white-therapy; it’s white-torture. We all went through it. You’re the first they haven’t done it to in years. For two years, we all lived in those sound-proof rooms, eating nothing but plain white food. No sounds, no color, no stimulation. It stripped us of emotion. It made us completely submissive and devoted to this family.” “But you don’t seem submissive. You seem like you’re just pretending so you could be here for Daisy?” “I can’t imagine leaving this place. I’m messed up, Demi. I wanted to help Daisy escape, but thought I’d probably stay here and work for the family. Because if they caught me, they’d put me back into a cage. No one speaks to you, you hear no noise, no sounds, you see no color or anything. They shave your head and put you in all-white. You stare at four white walls all day and eat white food so your senses are depleted.” Fear churned inside of me as my legs trembled and I forced myself to sit down. “Why do they do this?” “Because they need staff. Loyal staff who will help them with their business. They sell these women as mail-order brides essentially, and their wait list is filled with the world’s richest men. Each woman is guaranteed to be completely obedient, subservient, and designed to be exactly what that man wants. Each woman sells for one to three million dollars.
”
”
Monica Arya (The Favorite Girl)
“
Laughing with blood relatives
amidst memorable melodies
in the background, styrofoam
plate in hand, topped with
foods that restaurants can’t
duplicate, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Staring at an unbelievable
sunrise from a balcony villa
in Tanzania, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Hoping quietly for the best, to
“win my husband over” with
traditional submission,
more frequent sex,
and minimized speech,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Walking down a dusty
Egyptian street filled with
the welcoming laughter of
carefree children, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Sitting in a church pew
notating another good
message, clapping to some
of my favorite songs, and
then exiting to talk with
familiar faces, it hit me:
I don’t belong here.
Communing with those who
know who the “real chosen”
are, beholding their unknown
names unmasked, and secret
knowledges revealed
to ponder incessantly,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
Placed underneath the
wanting body of a rare man
who showed me
unprecedented love,
it hit me: I don’t belong here.
My soul.
My mind.
My body.
Each malnourished.
My community.
My life purpose.
Both misplaced.
All starving for home.
So, I moved. Not to what looks
and feels good for them, but to
what
”
”
Zara Hairston
“
Donovan nodded towards me. “You must do as Lady Bronwyn says. Draw out your anger and wrangle it into submission. Focus it on those who wronged you.” His deep emerald eyes suddenly glowed with a dangerous intensity. “Then we will flay the skin off your ex-husband’s body.” “Ooh. Save it for me, I need a new winter coat.
”
”
Lauretta Hignett (It's Called Magic, Susan (Welcome To Midlife Magic, #2))
“
I was a Gen X woman; I’d seen it all firsthand. Both sets of grandparents—especially my mother’s—had been very traditional. The wives stayed home and raised the children and waited on their husbands hand-and-foot. Mostly because there were no other options. It’s hard to run away when you don’t have any money, your husband can legally beat and rape you, and you can’t open your own bank account without your husband’s signature. As a kid, I watched as the female emancipation movement rolled over the globe. Women, sick of having boots on their necks, demanded the same freedom that men enjoyed. And the economy, desperate for workers, decided that women actually being paid to work was a great idea. Not too much, of course. Not the same amount as men. We still hadn’t gotten that far. And even though we still hadn’t achieved equality, the backlash had already started. Conservatives were starting to get louder and louder about the destruction of morality and the family unit, and how important it was to return to traditional gender roles. Men should be leading, providing, and protecting. Women needed to be nurturing and submissive.
”
”
Lauretta Hignett (Susan, Break The Curse! (Welcome To Midlife Magic, #3))
“
In fact, they, by being helpers to humanity, were actually able to guide humanity, not be guided, and they could control and execute decisions, not wait for someone else to control and execute decisions! That same word was used to refer to women; God described women the same way he described himself. Therefore, although wives were commanded to be submissive, wives’ roles as “helpers” elevate them to have control on guidance and decisions, and with guiding her husband/making decisions while “helping” her husband, that would mean that a husband would also have to honor his wife as a “helper” and submit to her guidance under her role as a “helper.
”
”
Lucy Carter (Feminism and Biblical Hermeneutics)
“
Due to the clarity in which these verses are presented regarding submission, the verses do support wives’ submission. Since these verses are very direct with emphasizing wives’ submission, and this submission is considered “fitting with the Lord,” it is true that God found it to be a biblical value, but, as mentioned in the main claim, husbands’ submission to their wives is also implied to be a biblical value as well.
”
”
Lucy Carter (Feminism and Biblical Hermeneutics)
“
Eve was told of the sorrow and pain that must henceforth be her portion. And the Lord said, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” In the creation God had made her the equal of Adam. Had they remained obedient to God—in harmony with His great law of love—they would ever have been in harmony with each other; but sin had brought discord, and now their union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission on the part of the one or the other. Eve had been the first in transgression; and she had fallen into temptation by separating from her companion, contrary to the divine direction. It was by her solicitation that Adam sinned, and she was now placed in subjection to her husband.
”
”
Ellen Gould White (Patriarchs and Prophets: How it all Began)
“
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not addicted to wine aor pugnacious, but considerate, peaceable, free from the love of money; 4leading his own household well, having his children in submission with all dignity
”
”
Anonymous (The Legacy Standard Bible - LSB)
“
Scholars have been confused about how a husband can sanctify his wife, but that is because they treat the information as abstract theology and miss the power, meaning, and association of the metaphors. In effect, Paul flips the patron metaphor of being the wife’s head (protector and source of life). Instead of expecting or demanding client reciprocity (submission), the head supplies low-status domestic service to the body that is ordinarily expected from women or slaves. The head nurtures (as a mother/nurse cares for a baby), feeds, and cares for its own body. In effect, Paul has told the husbands to wash their wives’ feet and much more. He has given an explicit application of Jesus’s summary of the law: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12
”
”
Cynthia Long Westfall (Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ)