And yet Jesus didn't worry about shaking up other cutural norms of the day. Why would he be worried about maintaining this "norm" unless it was his plan?
<><
I'll just use Scripture, prayer and the Holy Spirit's guidance to lead me on this subject.
I know that there are profound differences of opinion on what the troublesome passages on women actually mean (i.e. interpretations) by loving students of God's Word, but I prefer not to be insulted and accused of not knowing Scripture when I do, or of having some self-serving motivation for distorting Scripture when I don't.
You can think of me what you wish. I am a mature Christian woman, submissive wife, (stay at home) mother of four grown children who are living for the Lord, have been involved in evangelical churches since birth, believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, have been in music ministry for many years, never rebelled against God, am NOT influenced by feminism, have a solid sense of my worth through the blood of Jesus Christ, yet know that I am unworthy because of my sin. And I have come to another conclusion about how God will use women in these last days than you, and some of the other (less pleasant) folks on this thread.
I prefer to discuss these things with people who are open to growth, to the possibility that they don't already have all the answers and know Scripture better than anyone else in the world, and belittle others who don't interpret every word exactly as they do.
You ask a legitimate question in your post, and I'd love to discuss it with you, somewhere else, assuming you could do it politely. (I'm not going back on this thread to see if you're one of the 'I have all the answers, and you're stupid' types).
So, excuse me if I don't reply specifically to your question. I have what I consider a valid interpretation of it different from yours, but I'm not sure you're interested, and I definitely don't want to risk more insults from others.