Separate But Unequal
- Paul's ready to start dishing out some guidelines for good Christian behavior.
- First, prayer is good. Pray for everyone, even non-Christians. Especially kings and other guys in positions of authority. That will go a long way to smoothing over Christian relations with the Roman Empire.
- Besides, Paul says, God wants everyone in the world to be saved. Jesus died to help the entire world get closer to God, and he won't be happy until he's got 100% participation down here on Earth.
- That's why God bothered to appoint Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles in the first place: to lead everyone, no matter who they are, to Jesus.
- So who should do this praying?
- Well, men. They can pray anytime and anywhere. They can lift up their hands and make a joyful noise because God totally digs it.
- Ladies, on the other hand, don't get as much freedom.
- Womenfolk should always dress modesty. No getting dolled up with hair braids and gold and pearls and fancy clothes. It seems Paul thinks the Devil wears Prada, too.
- Also, don't teach anyone to try to have an authority over a man. Just concentrate on being meek and submissive and everything will be fine.
- Why all the rules for ladies? Well, it all goes back to Genesis. God made Adam first. Adam also wasn't the one who got fooled by that snake—it was Eve. Um, has Paul read Genesis lately?
- But even though a woman did a bad deed way back when, ladies today can save themselves by having lots of babies and raising them up right. Oh, and by staying meek and modest and not worrying their pretty little heads about voting and stuff like that.