I freely admit I have never liked the apostle Paul on a personal level, especially due to his remarks in Col. regards women being submissive to their husbands. Now, I'm not one to say that Christianity gives a bad deal to women overall, far from it. I think it in general gives women the BEST deal. But Paul doesn't seem to take into account human nature. Too many men WILL lord it over their wives with his remark. "See, it's in the bible." I think that whole passage in particular made me inclinded NOT to want to be married. 50% personal inclination, and 50% confirmation with this particular "caveat emptor." Yes, sometimes the man is right. [I think Torvald in A Doll's House, for instance got a bum rap and the protagonist, was frankly, an airhead. Matter of fact, Torvald respected women who DID have it together, as evidenced by how he treated the Karen character.]
But I've seen too many men who seem to expect fealty for no other reason for his presumed superiority by virtue of his XY chromosomes. I've seen too many men who think they "own" their women. The Sunday after Christmas was ruined for a long time for me by insisting on reading this passage. It is now optional, and there is the further option of a reading from Hebrews. Hell will have frozen over before we get the Hebrews reading though by whomever puts together those dumb missalettes.
Somewhere around I've got a rather funny essay by Aloise Buckley Heath, WFB, Jr.'s sister, wherein she ends up wishing peace on earth and good will to everyone but St. Paul. It struck a chord with me in my teenage years and resonates with me now. I was saving it for New Year's Eve, but I may put some of it up a bit of it later. Just. Because. [Aloise was happily married with 10 children, but still thought Paul was the Pits.]
And Aloise wrote this long before anyone heard of the NOW gang.
