Bishop T.D. Jakes said at an event in Namibia
earlier this week that women are not to be
submissive to men outside of the family, but
rather only to their husbands.
Speaking at the two-day MTC leadership
conference in Windhoek, Jakes spoke about
women needing to strike a balance between
work life and family life, according to Selma Ikela of New Era news.
“The Bible talks about women being
submissive, not to men, but to her own
husband. … God is setting up an organizational
structure for family, it has nothing to do with
anything outside the family,” said Jakes, senior pastor of the 30,000-member Potter’s House
Church in Dallas, Texas.
“The challenge is to when, and to what. You
may be CEO in the boardroom but maybe not
so in the bedroom. You must have experience
to flip from one role to another, you can do
more. If you don’t have the ability, you must
give up one role for another, depending on what is most important to you.”
Jakes went on to commend the progress
women were making in the African nation,
stating that when “any society evolves it ceases
to abuse its women.”
“We went through changes in America where
we had a huge revolution; women were
considered property — it’s not unique to
Africa, India and Asian culture,” continued Jakes, as reported by New Era.
“I applaud your success. To me a smart woman
is a sexy woman. I love a woman who is
articulate and intelligent … carry your own
weight. I want you to be an asset not a
liability.”
In the New Testament, there are multiple verses
that speak of wives submitting to their
husbands. One example is Ephesians 5:21-25.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for
Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own
husbands as you do to the Lord. For the
husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the
head of the church, his body, of which he is the
Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in
everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church,” reads the passage.
The terminology has garnered controversy in
some circles. Actress Candace Cameron Bure
once commented that she prefers a more
submissive role in her marriage.
In an interview with Yahoo Parenting, Bure
explained when she referred to being
submissive, she did mean that she was inferior
to her spouse.
“My husband is not a dictator. We work
together, but I don’t want to dig my heels in
and I have no aspirations to be the ruler of my
family. We are two equal people but I love my
husband and I want him to lead,” explained Bure.
“With big picture issues such as where we live
or what schools the kids attend, if he feels
strongly about something and I think our
family would benefit from it, I am going to
share my thoughts. … I trust that my husband
has our family’s best interests at heart, so I wouldn’t fight him on that. And when I feel
strongly about something, he agrees with me.”
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