Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
I don't believe because we think something works, that makes it automatically right. That is a common American belief, but it is far from Biblical. Some gay couples that have been married for years and have adopted and raised children together - say the same thing. The "whatever is easiest, least path of resistance, and whatever feels good approach" is man's approach, not God's approach.
In another thread, ValleyGal started a thread about lazy and entitled men who don't want to do anything(including providing for their wives). I agreed that was definitely an issue(and I know of some male relatives and others that fit that description).
I said in that thread I believe we have an equally bad problem today with the problem of lazy house wives. As someone who believes in traditional marriage I have no problem at all with stay at home moms, in fact I think its preferable if the couple agrees to it and its is economically viable.
I would also like to say I have seen women who are the very model of what a stay at home mom should be. They treat taking care of their home and their children like a real job, there are many women that bring great honor to the position of Stay at home house wife.
I said something about a woman should work 8 hours a day just like her husband(and many husbands these days work 10 hours a day). That does not mean she is working the same schedule as him. That does not mean she can't find some chill time to nap or watch her favorite shows, or talk to friends during the day. Knowing that she will have dinner and other things in the evening to do that makes perfect sense that her 8 to 10 hours a day will be broken up, unlike if her husband works a 10 hour day with a half hour lunch break.
I would also agree its a very different thing for a woman who has infants or small (pre-school age children at home) as they can be a lot of work. But what about stay at homes whose kids are in school full time? That's a different story.
I am also not saying the one who works and comes home has to do nothing. That person can help with the children and other things around the house as well.
I have had the unique experience of working from home full time for the last 7 years. Before that I worked from home on and off for about 3 years before that.
So I have had a front and center seat to see what some stay at home mom's do and do not do. My office was in the middle of it all on the kitchen table and then moved to the living room at night, so I had front row seats. None of this is conjecture or what I thought was going on - it is what I saw with my own eyes.
My first wife would sit for hours a day, watching television or talking to her mom or friends on the phone. When she was not doing that, she was on facebook or craigslist buying things. Then when she was really bored she would go shopping(not for food), but for a bunch of stuff we did not need. Then she would turn around and sell it on craigslist when she got bored of it.
I had to do the vacuuming the cleaning, and half the taking care of the kids in between my working 10 to 12 hours a day programming for two jobs. She rarely would cook, and if she did it was to order out or pull something from the freezer. Anything fresh or homemade was pretty much cooked by me. The house was usually a wreck and only was cleaned if I cleaned it most of the time.
The rare time she would really clean is when we were going to have family or friends over, then she had to put on the fake show how great a stay at home mom she was.
I had a lot of pent of frustration to say the least toward the laziness of my first wife. One of the few pleasures I got after my divorce was final(after she ran off with a ex boyfriend from highschool who she was having an affair with(she went to Gym to "work out")) was for me to be able to truly tell her how lazy of a person she was. It was therapeutic.
My second wife worked full time as a nurse when we first got married. She even asked me it would bother me that she worked full time and I was married to a stay at home mom before her. I said I wanted something different because my last wife, and few other stay at home wives of friends of mine were so lazy it drove me nuts, I had given up on stay at home wife's.
I said if she was working 10 hours a day at the hospital then it would not bother me if I was doing more of the house work since we were both working. The problem with wife #2 was and still is - she took advantage of that and only did about 30% around the house, and I did about 70% of cooking and laundry and other household things.
After she had her car accident last year and now is off work for neck and back pain I do about 90% now of everything, including the kids when I have them on the weekends.
Even the pain doctor that I take her to see said it is not good for her to be on the couch 12 to 14 hours a day and then she goes to bed. He said her pain appears to be manageable now and she should be doing more as it will help with her recovery(and he said laying around all day will not).
So with that being said tell me why you do or don't think we have a problem with lazy house wives?
You can also go back to Genesis and the creation myths. God created Eve from his SIDE, not his head, not his foot. His SIDE. The symbolism there is something that knocked the ancient world on its heels. The implication there is equality.
ValleyGal,
There is nothing wrong with me or any other traditional person who says they believe based on their own Biblical study and conviction from that study that the egalitarian approach to marriage is unbiblical.
There are many Christians who believe that infant baptism is unbiblical, and it is a firm Biblical conviction. To say so is not wrong. Does that mean there are not good Christians on the other side? Sure there are.
Let me try and state this another way. There are three ways to look at this egalitarian vs traditional issue:
1. The Traditional approach is the only Biblical approach to marriage.
2. The Egalitarian approach is the only Biblical approach to marriage.
3. The Traditional and Egalitarian approaches can both be equally Biblical approaches to marriage, or a blending of the two is also acceptable.
I believe number 1 is correct.
I also fully recognize that there are differences between traditionalists. There are some traditionalists that embrace the hierarchy model but don't embrace the gender role portions. Others embrace both the hierarchy and gender roles. Personally I believe the hierarchy model is built upon the gender roles so the two cannot be separated.
As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if one is complementarian, egalitarian, hierarchical, whatever. The command is the same - You are to love your wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. If you see any qualifiers there, you can certainly tell me, but I sure don't. Even the most rigid complementarians I have read do not deny that this is your duty. When you said "I do", you did.
So what is leadership?
DEFINITION: Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.~What Is Leadership? - Forbes
Leadership isn’t management. This is the big one. Leadership and management are not synonymous. You have 15 people in your downline and P&L responsibility? Good for you, hopefully you are a good manager. Good management is needed. Managers need to plan, measure, monitor, coordinate, solve, hire, fire, and so many other things. Typically, managers manage things. Leaders lead people.
ValleyGal
The question is how to help Musing according to his own cultural and psychological and spiritual construct.
By Muse
“…the egalitarian approach to marriage is unbiblical.”
ValleyGal
Then you are making judgments against my marriage, calling my marriage "unbiblical" simply because we have a different interpretation of biblical principles than you do. Imo, that is really rude
I find it more amusing than anything else that Musing came here throwing stones at "lazy stay-at-home moms", the truth was soon revealed that he only thinks there is an epidemic of women like these because he's had one failed marriage and is currently in one unhappy marriage, people try to give him honest and hopefully helpful advice that might offer him some hope in terms of saving the second marriage, and he responds by Bible-thumping and judging all of our happy, successful egalitarian marriages as unbiblical.
Neato!
Common denominator in upsetting, judging and Hurting those around him? Musing!
Musing, your beliefs and your arrogant refusal to re-examine them or at least not pound everyone else over the head with them makes you impossible to deal with online. I don't wonder for one second why your marriage is in deep trouble. You have no concept of respect for different people. You really need to learn what humility is and apply it to your life in order for anything to change, IMO. I sincerely hope you do so before causing your wife more pain and losing another marriage, for the sake of your children more than anything. Seriously, think about it. What you're doing isn't working. Try something new.
Muse you stepped over the line my brother!
I think that ValleyGal is one of the only women of the very few on this thread that has tried to help you with the right spirit. There have been other women that made some comments but ValleyGal has actually stuck up for you. Some of these women have not been balanced in their ganging up on you but ValleyGal has been balanced and then you go and judge her marriage as unbiblical!
If you interpret the Bible and are convienced that the Traditional model is the right one for you then apply that to yourself and stop worrying about others. You have insulted and judged ValleyGal!
Muse, stop alienating the very few allies that you have and shut up about other people’s marriages. You are here because you want us to give you ideas and perspectives about your marriage and situation with your wife. You are not here to judge someone else’s marriage.
My posts have been trying to add in the Christian approach of building up a man that is in pain. What do you do but point out to all these women that their marriage is unbiblical. You have not been appointed as the head Pharisee of this thread so knock it off!
Also, you stepped over the line by inferring that ProudMom’s daughters have an unbiblical marriage. You need to apply your interpretations about the Biblical position on marriage to your marriage and leave your judgments about Proudmom’s daughters out of this thread and any another thread.
Muse, you have done some good things for your wife and children and your enthusiasm for he scriptures are admirable and I believe you are a good man but your insensitive insults to ValleyGal and Proudmom and others reeks of someone more interested in your own interpretation of the law rather than the spirit of Christ.
The spirit of the Christian family is more important than your interpretation or their interpretation of the biblical position on marriage roles.
I can understand having a few posts where you or anyone can get a little heated , I have done that from time to time, but these 300 posts of the same thing is getting little old for me, how about you?
I have to say I am truly and genuinely shocked at the negative tone toward the word “unbiblical” on this particular sub forum of general marriage.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?