A Response to Russell Moore's "Women Stop Submitting to Men"

A few weeks ago, Russell Moore wrote a blog post about how women should, outside of a marriage covenant, stop submitting to men. I loved the post, outside of a few messages from my pastor, I'd never really heard such statements made. Moore (who I'm a huge fan of, by the way) says that the poor and demeaning manner in which women are often treated and value themselves is all because women too often submit to all men. He even attributes the pornography industry and restaurant chains which "enable men to pay to ogle women in tight T-shirts while they gobble down chicken wings." You go, Russell Moore. Seriously. Awesome, awesome post chocked full of truth. 

But. (You knew it was coming.)

I'm totally tracking with Russell. He talks about how all creatures are created for submission:

It just isn’t so that women are called to submit while men are not. In Scripture, every creature is called to submit, often in different ways and at different times. Children are to submit to their parents, although this is certainly a different sort of submission than that envisioned for marriage. Church members are to submit to faithful pastors (Heb. 13:17). All of us are to submit to the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Of course, we are all to submit, as creatures, to our God (Jas. 4:7).

Here's my beef: If men are called to submit to God first and God-sanctioned institutions second, and then be a leader of the institution of the family, how are they ever going to learn to lead? I personally think the church has to be the safest and best place for men to learn to become leaders, both as husbands and fathers, long before they earn those titles. This summer I saw firsthand men slowly and steadily learn to lead, because headstrong women (myself included) took a half step back and created a leadership vacuum. The men I was with this summer were preaching sermons by the end of our time together - something I highly doubt they would've done if they hadn't stepped up to the plate by us ladies stepping aside. Am I saying we submitted to them? Not necessarily. Am I saying we made them grow a little? Perhaps. Did it work and are those men better suited to be loving husbands and awesome fathers? Absolutely. Granted, I'm not taking all the credit here, I think being a part of a challenging church brought this on, which is the point. The church needs to be a place where men learn to lead, not a place where women defy gender roles and stick it to the guys just because they can, hogging leadership positions and coordinating every church-held event. Women, yes, by all means, please stop submitting to men, and let them become godly leaders by allowing them to step up to the plate. 

Maybe don't volunteer to pray every single time the opportunity presents itself. Try not being type A and take control every time you're in a group situation. Try letting the guys lead, when they become men, their wives will thank you for it.