Umm, voting isn’t in the Bible. Also, the Bible was written to ancient peoples whose paterfamilias had legal authority to even kill their adult children (Roman times). They could also legally kill their slaves, and could physically beat their wives as a means of discipline. Why? Because they were legally responsible for household members’ actions/torts. Compared to the household codes of the times, Paul’s instructions to families Nate a breath of fresh air. He is NOT reinforcing the paterfamilias’ legal rights over household members, but is steering the head of household to lay down power in service to others. Legal power of the paterfamilias was a fact of life and a part of Roman government. It wasn’t going away, and if Paul were to try to do away with it, the Romans would have seen it as subversive to the state. Thus, Paul tries to guide household members in how to treat each other within these structures. He is NOT saying that this is God’s natural order of authority. Otherwise we’d have to say that God is OK with slavery. And yes, slaveholders in the old south would appeal to Paul’s household codes and scripture twist to justify their oppression. They were wrong.

On that note, you realize that 19th century women’s rights (not the hippy crud but the ones that matter) went hand in hand with the abolition of slavery? First wave feminists were largely abolitionists. Many good Christian MEN were feminists/suffragists and relied on the Bible’s trajectory of mutual servant-hood freedom. The whole reason you can have a bank account or a credit card today without a male guardian to co-sign for you is because of this movement. Just because communists hijacked the whole thing doesn’t mean we should knee-jerk and throw out the good that God blessed us with. We need to win hearts and minds to Jesus. He brings real freedom and turns despots into servants.