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Who has authority over the wife in reguards to church membership?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Emily25069, Aug 4, 2007.

  1. Karen

    Karen Active Member

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    My father never told my mother she could not go.
    In my opinion, though, if a husband tells a wife she CANNOT go, it is not necessarily cut-and-dried that she is not supposed to ever go.
    Somewhat analogous to Peter telling the authorities that he had to obey God rather than men.

    What if the husband allowed no teaching about God in the home? Or any Bible to be present? Sometimes God chooses to work in the hearts of men by the ways you have described above. Sometimes I believe He leads the woman to quietly go to church and study and pray, and teach the children anyway.

    Maybe many of us are thinking of this in context of a nice Christian girl marries a slightly wild boy and thinks she can change him. And she shouldn't be surprised, although she is.

    Among my acquaintances and friends, I have more often seen it where the husband has gone to church for a long time, is active, professes belief, then gets mad, bored or busy. One woman I knew years ago kept on going to church and teaching Sunday School after her deacon husband got mad about something and quit. He did not want her to go either. A couple of years later he walked down the aisle and repented in front of the whole church.
    To whatever extent the husband has "authority" over the wife, it is not a dictatorship in which the wife must be wordlessly and passively accepting of whatever he states.
     
  2. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    Ha! Must be a man thing, cause mine does this too! What it usually means here is that he doesn't want to make the decision at all and wishes I'd never asked and just went ahead and made up my own mind!

    You know I never mind disagreement. :D

    Like Annsni said though, I was only speaking of the one particular service the OP asked about.

    I have had to say, "I'm going to church without you and I'm taking the kids". DH got over that fairly quickly because he really didn't want to be in the position of telling me I couldn't do something I thought God wanted me to do. But, like I say, we still don't go to church on Sunday nights because he wants us home with him. Part of this has to do with his work schedule over the last 15 years. Lots and lots of nights he doesn't get home until the kids are in bed or are about ready for bed and of course there is no time in the mornings for togetherness. It was worse when the kids were little. Imagine not seeing your kids from bedtime Sunday night until sometime Friday night and that was his reality for a lot of years and he lived in the house with us!

    On the other hand, when he is at work, whatever I and the kids are doing is fine with him. It's not all about him not wanting us to go to church. That is why I choose a church with strong Wednesday night program for the kids.
     
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