First of all, how unthinkable that the "family" be defined in terms of one man and one woman living together for the mutual benefit of one another as well as the glory of God! Where is the tolerance in that? How ridiculous to believe that the woman should actually "submit" to the authority of her husband. Never mind that Ephesians 5:21 presents a picture of mutual submission — "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Forget the fact that Paul says the husband is to direct his family through servant leadership versus demagoguery. Ignore Paul's analogy that the husband's role in the home is similar to the way in which Christ cherished His church and laid down His life for her.

Ignore the historical fact that wherever true Christianity has gone in the world, the place of women has been exalted and hon­ored. The Biblical position on this issue depicts a man serving his wife even as Jesus took upon Himself the role of a slave by washing the dis­ciples' dirty feet. The husband is not some Attila the Hun demanding his coffee and grits with snapping fin­gers, but one who treats his wife like he treats his own body (as in "pam­per" — Ephesians 5:28).

But this is all so politically incor­rect and outdated. So let's jettison the Biblical norm for the NOW (National Organiza­tion for Women) formula. Let's have a free-for-all in the family with everybody asserting their "rights" and demanding self-actu­alization. Let's forget the manual for life (the Bible) and write our own rules.

Well, we've done that, and you know what hap­pened? Divorce is ram­pant. Dysfunctional homes are mul­tiplying exponentially. Teen suicide and now even high school mass murder is not unusual. Police must roam the halls of our nation's schools. Sexual promiscuity is epi­demic with tragic results from dis­ease to abortion to the dissolution of relationships.

However, God forbid that we should turn back the clock of soci­etal "progress" and return to the Scriptures for a blueprint of family life. God forbid if we ever stoop to husbands loving their wives with Christ-like devotion and wives will­ingly submitting themselves to the shepherding ministry of their hus­bands. That scenario might result in stable homes characterized by self-sacrifice, and secure children who go to bed at night never wondering whether they might lose a parent to divorce — or worse.

No, surely we "enlightened" moderns have a better way that must not be thwarted by the intolerant right wing, extreme fundamentalist ayatollah zealots who call themselves Christians. We must stay the course we're on and continue to vilify those who dare to expose the destructiveness of our redefined homes and relationships. If we can't defeat them in logical debate we'll resort to name-calling. Surely if we do that enough, people will actually believe that those backward Christians are really the intolerant, ignorant, male chauvinist bigots we say they are, and how convenient that would be.