Ontario Empoblog

Remember how Hyles Anderson College offered a course of study in Marriage and Motherhood?

Well, I just double-checked their catalog to see if they offer a course of study in Fatherhood. There is none; in fact, the word "fatherhood" is not mentioned a single time in their catalog.

Perhaps the college believes that virgin births didn't cease with Mary.

Seriously, the college takes great trouble to train mothers, but doesn't believe that fathers need training at all. (Similarly, I didn't see any coursework for men to ensure that they have happy marriages; the job falls to the women.)

I discussed the relationship between husbands and wives in a recent post in Word Search. For those who don't know, several of us are taking turns posting about chapters in the New Testament.

One day I got to write about Ephesians 5.

I skipped over most of the chapter and went right to one of the most controversial verses - verse 22.

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Ephesians 5:22 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

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In a recent sermon, I heard that a groom wanted the pastor to include this verse as part of his wedding. The pastor officiating at the wedding pointed out that there are other verses that may also be relevant. Let me reproduce the entire section, beginning with verse 21, which is not only a preface to the section on husbands and wives, but is also a preface to much of chapter 6.

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Ephesians 5:21-33 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[b] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Footnotes:

Ephesians 5:26 Or having cleansed
Ephesians 5:31 Gen. 2:24

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Kinda changes the context a bit, doesn't it?

I guess we can now officially call Hyles Anderson a half-baked college, since they seem to reject half of the scripture above.

From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here)