Arbie;  I am not so sure from your comments above that you want to hear anything different from what you have already made your mind up about. Perhaps this is the problem. Stay with the conversation and extract what you can find of good in it and decide later whether this conversation is helpful or not. People have different views. Ours tries to include what we understand as God´s leading in our lives. You seem to be rejecting submission not to us but to what we see as guidance in God´s word. And Arbie, God´s word was sent not just to tell us that we can do anything we like cos God loves us but also to instruct and guide us towards His way of thinking and doing. It is a sincere search for us all and the fact that you don´t feel happy about our ideas is perfectly understandable. Keep questioning and we may all learn more but be sure about this, for those of us who believe in God, His Word is paramount, we may get it wrong or we may get it right but our motives are to learn for ourselves what we should submit to. And in the end the crux of the matter is submission to God or not. That is where the cookie crumbles. I don´t judge anyone for not submitting to God´s Word. It is their personal and private decision but at least can we continue to talk about it? Conviction is of the heart, not just the mind. The mind is coninced and the heart convicted and by love. That´s when you learn to submit. And believe me, noone, Christian or not, can expect to please God if we reject living in the power of His Spirit, sent to us precisely to empower us to live getting victory over the root of sin in our lives. That is the essential message of the Gospel for me. That is my conviction. Blessings.