Man is the head of a woman? ***updated*** 1 Cor 11:3

*Please read the update below 
Originally posted 17/10/2012

It's been a while since I updated and that's for two reasons ; one the bible is such a struggle to read and two the Quran has been left untouched , apart from one brief skim through. I did get stuck into revelations , which I have since found out Is the only part any non Christian is interested in really. Revelations is supposedly the part with all the juicy bits. Admittedly I read it and I could make head nor tail of anything so I left it.

I think the main problem I am having is that it is the king James version and all the thou and whilst are sending me to sleep.

A strange thing did happen though I will admit, I got a craving to go and read the bible. So I stopped doing what I was doing and went and read it because it was giving me this cosy feeling to read it. I was confused and thought what's all this about. Until...

I got to the part that states that women are below men and the head of the man is Christ the head of the woman is man. I forget which part it is but I can tell you now my warm fuzzy feeling soon departed. Proof if it even need be, that the bible was written by men not god. For if it were by god, wouldn't " he" foresee the time when men an women were equal. Would "he" he really create inequalities OR is it simply just how MAN thought at the time of writing the bible.

I can never give into a religion that deems me a subordinate and for that reason I'm out.

***UPDATE*** Posted on 15/10/2012

I realise my above post was a bit... defeatist and defensive. I  have grown a lot in the year between writing that and now. I have learnt a lot about religion in the past year, and part of that learning process is realising that scripture is a fiddly thing that a lot of intelligent people analyse and scrutinize in order to access its true meaning. It is also that things are not always what they seem and that if I am going to profess tolerance I must not get so angry.  So I searched for an explanation.

The war rages on between the egalatarians and the complementarians about the particular verse I touched upon regarding man being the head of the women. Mostly about the meaning  / translation of the word head. 

1 Cor. 11:3  "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ,"

Egals believe that Paul himself details the definition of kephale in verses 8 and 12. Man is the original origin/head of woman, but now men come from women – implying that woman is head of man as well. Ultimately God is the origin/head of both men and women.

Egals do not believe Paul is detailing a hierarchy of authority in verse 3. A hierarchy in this context is troublesome.

1. All people, regardless of gender, are “in” Christ and have Him as their head (Galatians 3:28); not just men. So, they believe Paul is not referring to a spiritual hierarchy. Men are not in charge of women spiritually. Women have Christ has their head as well as men.
2. The order is also given in a jumbled way: man/ Christ, woman/ man, Christ/ God. If Paul was referring to leadership structure, it seems more likely he would have used an ascending (or descending) order:  woman/ man, man/Christ, Christ/ God.
3. God is not Christ’s authority. Although He is the source of Christ by the conception of the Holy Spirit. To infer something different causes problems with the equality of the Trinity, and the full divinity of Jesus (Subordinationism).
4. If head means origin, then there is no need to catagorize leadership. This list refers to a transfer of essence. The head fills the body with itself. The body is a reflection of its head, since it derived its being from it.
5. Historical context must be taken into consideration.

Original article here 

The egalitarians therefor believe that women can teach, preach and have no subordination to men. The opposing view is the complementarian, who believe that head means authority over and that this should be practiced within marriage.

There is nothing in the text that requires the word "head" to mean "source". Still, the egalitarians say that as Christ made man, Adam became the source from which God made Eve. They refer to verse 8 that says that woman originated from man which they insist means that "the man is the source of a woman". But, Paul mentions Adam and Eve in verse 8 not to support an idea that Adam was the source of Eve, but because of authority. 

Original article here

There is an interesting discussion between an egalitarian and a complementarian in the Unbelivable? Podcast series from Premier Radio.

The link for the pod-cast is Here,  it is titled Egalitarian Vs. Complementarian. I absolutely love the Unbelievable? podcast. The host Justin Brierley does a really good job of remaining unbiased and informative. 


Here is the link to Premier.org a great website and great radio station. 

http://www.premierradio.org.uk/shows/saturday/unbelievable