At the risk of stirring up trouble

My new word for the day - uxorious. Here's a couple ofDictionary.com definitions:

Excessively submissive or devoted to one's wife

.And:

adj : foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife

I'm working on my Father's Day message in a couple of weeks and I'm reading Podles, The Church Impotent. I'm hoping I can find some stuff in Podles' that will help me stir our men to greater involvement in the cause of Christ.

Podles uses the word "uxorious" a lot. He says that Adam and Abraham both fell victim to uxoriousness. That's a new one on me. For myself and most men I know "uxoriousness" is probably the last sin we will be guilty of. I, and most guys I know (by the way, there is a difference between a guy and a man - check this out to see which one you are, or for the ladies, check it out to see if you are dating/married to a guy or a man) are more apt to fall into the sin of "a-uxoriousness." Or is it "inuxoriousness." On the other hand, if the book Passive Men, Wild Women is correct, there probably are a lot of uxorites out there.

I will mention one thing that I have noticed in recent years. In some Christian literature and conferences I have read/attended I have picked up what I call "the myth of the sinless women." For example, back in the 80's when I was going to his conferences Bill Gothard was telling men that God speaks to them through their wives, so they ought always to listen to their wives. That's a good principle that can be taken too far. Does this mean that a man should never evaluate what his wife says?

Another example that comes to mind is a series of tapes I listened to many years ago by a speaker whose name I forget who was talking about the curse on Eve in Genesis 3. He acknowledged that some people think that the word for "desire" in Genesis 3:16 means a "desire to control." The exegetical basis of this is that the same word is used in Genesis 4:7 of sin's desire for Cain, a desire he must master. It seems to alot of folks, me included, that this would suggest that the desire of Genesis 3:16 is a sinful desire to control. Anyway, I'm listening to this speaker and he dismisses it for the following reason - "all the women I know are far to nice and kind for this to be true." End of story. If a man and a woman believe that I can see uxoriousness happening.

I've seen it a few times where a man realizes that he is uxorious, although he doesn't have such a fine-sounding big word to describe his condition, and he compensates by becoming tyrannical. The uxorious man is the passive man, and he wants to compensate by being aggressive. But, we're called to be aggressive lovers, and leaders, not mere despots.

So, those are few preliminary thoughts on uxoriousness, and please feel free to use the word, I know I will. I'll try to share a few more thoughts as I read more in Podles.