Cheryl Schatz

Mark,
You said:

I can choose to break laws, but it doesn’t mean that the authority to fine me, no longer applies.

Do you have the authority to “fine” your wife for not deferring to your authority? Do you have the authority to punish her for making a decision regarding the children when you are in the home together and when she hasn’t asked you your opinion or given the decision over to you?

What type of authority do you actually have concerning your wife?

My wife could equally choose to usurp my authority, since it is not in my opinion, my job to ‘take’.

How could your wife “usurp” your authority? An authority can be usurped only if the authority belongs to one person and not the other. Does the authority over your children belong solely to you? If it doesn’t, and your wife makes a decision about your children, how could she usurp what also belongs to her?

As i have said earlier, the Bible commands her and thus God, not me.

Are you sure? Where does the Bible command that she make no decision about the kids when you are in the house? And does the Bible go further by commanding that she make no decision about the kids even when you are not in the house? Would it also be usurping your authority if she did that? Should she be calling you first to ask your permission to put the kids to bed if you are not in the house? How exactly does the Bible describe your wife’s usurping of your authority?