Not Ready For Marriage Unless You Are Completely Submissive to the Pastor

[illinoisguy]

The Fall 2019 issue of "Fairhaven Fundamentalist" contains this teaching by Dr. Jeff Voegtlin, Vice President of Fairhaven Baptist College: "You also must understand how authority works with godly men.  When a man gets married, it appears to the unspiritual that he has finally become his own man and answers to no one but himself.  This is clearly wrong, and you must not desire to be married so that you can get out from under authority in your life.  You are not ready for the increased authority and responsibility of being a husband until you are completely submissive to the present Biblical authorities in your life.  This includes your parents, your pastor, your civil authority, and your employer.  If you are still trying to skirt the authority these hold in your life, you are not ready to be a husband.  Work on that, for sure.  You also must have a place in your church to serve God.  A godly husband is in a church, and he has a way to serve God through his church.  This places him under the authority of a pastor and in encouraging communion with other believers."

Any comments on this?  I don't agree that a man must be completely submissive to his pastor in order to be qualified to get married.  I don't believe the Bible teaches this, and Jeff Voegtlin does not cite any Bible verses or general principles to support this teaching.  According to Matthew 20:25-27, we as Christians are not supposed to be trying to exercising authority over each other, anyhow.

 

[Twisted]

It's a load of dung.
 
So a 30 yr old man is to be in complete submission to his parents??  Wow.

Now I would agree that a woman is to be in submission to her father until marriage, but even then, in today's culture, that is hard to fathom for, say, a 35 yr old single woman who lives on her own.

Same toxic mentality we had at First Baptist under Hyles were people would line up outside his office to ask the most insane questions.  "What kind of car should I buy"  What color house"

I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the direction that Bob Gray's son is fleeing from in Texas.

 

[illinoisguy]

"So a 30 year old man is to be in complete submission to his parents??"  Yes, according to Bill Gothard - I don't know whether or not the Gothard teachings are influential at Fairhaven, but this teaching sounds a lot like the Gothard "chain of command" dogma.  At age 28 I moved away from my parents and bought my own house against the wishes of my parents.  I was told by the Gothard groupies that I sinned by doing that - the Gothard system does not allow for single men or single women to move away from Mom and Dad unless given a permission slip to do so.

Yeah, I remember the long line outside of Jack Hyles' office after the Sunday evening service in Hammond, waiting for "counseling."  A blatant warning sign of a toxic situation.  Beware of any church, IFB or non-IFB, where you can't scratch your nose without checking with the Mannagod first.