Biblical headship pertains only to the marriage relationship and the parent-child relationship. Moreover, men in general are not the head of women in general. It stands to reason that so is his family. What the Patriarchy movement often fails to emphasize is that even the patriarch in the home is a man under authority in the church. I have known of families, with patriarchal leanings, who determined that they had the right to trump ecclesiastical authority by refusing to allow the church to discipline their rebellious teenager. For instance, Christ has not entrusted to non-ordained men the public ministry of the word, the administration of the sacraments, church discipline etc. Christian fathers may not usurp the rightful authority and function of the church. This is manifested when the local church's rightful role and authority is taught (either in word and deed or in function and practice) to be inferior of that of the patriarch of the family. Christian patriarchy tends to supplant ecclesiastical authority.To be fair, not all in the Patriarchy movement hold to an identical set of beliefs and so I will, in this post, necessarily paint with a broad brush. Rather it seeks to identify a number of issues that do great harm to those within the movement specifically and Christ's Church as a whole. Neither does it disagree with the biblical truths concerning headship, gender roles and attitudes towards authority. This posts does not seek to trash the patriarchy movement or those found in it. God has ordained such matters, but the question arises, what has God ordained concerning them? Popular now, for some thirty years, Christian Patriarchy, and its twin the "Quiver-full" movement, contain truths about headship, gender roles, and attitudes towards authority in the home. One example of this is seen in the Christian Patriarchy movement. By virtue of this fact, the church is also often full of susceptible bystanders ready to lap-up the latest and greatest fad. The trouble with extremes is that they always contain a seed of truth, making them look and sound plausible to the careless bystander. The church is an environment of extremes.
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