The Christian gender roles set up in the NT are contrary to the OT:

"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." Ephesians 5:31. Are the Christian gender roles set up in the NT contrary to the OT? My opponent has asked this question without explaining why it is contrary. So since the burden of proofs lies on him, I will let him explain why it is in the next round. For this first round, I will just state my case. Value: LDS/Christian values: Latter Day Saint and Christian values insure what is needed to have a good, eternal marriage. These values are explained by prophets in the New and Old Testament. Definitions (as said by Merriam-Webster dictionary). Submit: Follow Marriage: the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law. Role: the part that someone has in a family, society, or other group. In both the Old and New Testament, gender roles are established so that couples and families can have good, eternal marriages. In these roles, husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. A husbands role in the family is not above a womans. They are both equal partners working to help the family. Since I am primarily arguing for the gender roles in the NT (as established by my opponent), I will now present three scriptures that support the gender roles found in the Old and New testament. I'm going to use Ephesians chapter 5, because this chapter beautifully presents the gender roles for marriage. Scripture 1: Ephesians 5:22: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Previously, my opponent made the word "submit" sound like an action followed by total slavery. But through careful examination in definitions of submit, I have found that it simply means "follow". So in this scripture it says follow your husbands like you would follow the Lord, or Jesus Christ. Well, why would you follow your husband like a God? Well you don't have to treat him like a "God" (imagine that). But it's like I said, one of the roles of a husband is to lead and preside over the family. The husband receives revelation when the family is making an important decision. Wives should follow that revelation that is presented by the father, as they would if a prophet or Jesus Christ himself was presenting that revelation. Husbands would not receive revelation that would downplay the role of a wife. So this scripture doesn't mean that wives should be slaves to their husbands, they should just follow their husbands leadership. Scripture 2: Ephesians 5: 25: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" Love is a important factor in marriage. Love creates a strong bond between a husband, wife, and their children in the family. Without love, Families can't prosper. Love should always be included in families. LDS and Christian values support love in a family, just as this chapter in Ephesians tells us to do so. Scripture 3: Ephesians 5: 31: "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." This scripture tells us that a husband and wife should be equal partners and joined together as one. Not as master and slave, but as a loving husband and wife with different but equally as important roles. Husbands and wives are obligated to help each other out with their roles as equal partners. Husbands should never treat their wives as their slaves, and wives should never do the same. Because they should be "one flesh". I'm going to close this first round with the last scripture in Ephesians chapter 5. I would like to thank my opponent for this debate and I wish him luck for the rest of it. I strongly advise the voters to vote for the negative side of this debate. "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Ephesians 5:33.