Feminine Appeal

I picked up this book thinking it would provide some insight on what Feminine Appeal might look like from a Biblical perspective for the general Christian female and when it arrived in the mail, i saw on the cover "Seven virtures of Godly Wife and Mother". In my haste, i suppose i didn't read that part. boogers. I'm neither wife nor mother. HOWEVER, all is not lost because i can at least read this book and see what might be waiting in my far and distant future. :P

I have to say, if i had read this book maybe 5 years ago, maybe even last year, i might have gotten into the first chapter and tossed the book aside, labeling it as "old-fashioned stuff". But lately, i have been trying to put aside my initial reactions of "thinking i know better" and trying to keep an open mind towards all subject matters. The fact is, sometimes (ok, often) i do think i know better than what God states and lays out in the Bible and so I dismiss some of His commands and teachings. Of course, i come back later to realize that ... oh yeah, maybe God really DID have my best interest in mind when he laid out those commands and teachings. Silly (foolish) me. So i'm keeping an open mind and trying to really understand what is God saying through the author in this book about Feminine Appeal. bear with me.

The book focuses on the seven virtues found in Titus 2:3-5 [NIV]:

3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

To identify the seven virtures : to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, to be pure, to be busy at home (or in the ESV, work at home), to be kind, to be subject (or in the ESV, submissive) to their husbands.

The purpose of these virtues: so that no one will malign the word of God (or in the ESV, that the word of God may not be reviled). I like to restate this as - the purpose is to bring full glory to God.

There is a section in this book that speaks about the feminist movement of our generation and how this movement and teachings of society would cause an immediate reaction to some of these virtures as "old-fashioned". I suppose this is true. I hesitated when I read "submissive to their hubands" (oh, that topic\debate again...) and "working at home" (urgh, i must be far from being a good christian girl as i carry a full-time job) and "pure" and "kind" (good grief, i should give up now). But as I read with an open-mind and prayed for God's insight into these topics, i can start to understand His purpose for creating women the way He did.

I remember reading somewhere in a book (i can't remember which now... ) about marriage and divorce and it left me with this thought that sticks in my mind whenever I consider the topic: Our society has consisting moved away the biblical model of marriage where the wife stays at home as a homemaker and the husband is the primary bread-winner and provider of the family (note, this is a huge generalization). The feminist movement has pushed women into the workforce and encouraged this to the point where being a homemaker is almost considered a waste of a life or only for underachievers. We have decided that our image of what marriage should look like is superior to God's original design for marriage. but look where it has gotten us today - divorce rates are ridiculously high and broken families are becoming more common, or children come home to empty homes, both parents being at work, children are being raised not by their parents but other people, children lacking discipline, the list goes on - has it clicked yet? Our idea of a good marriage is NOT WORKING. Can we succumb to that fact and return humbly to God's original design for marriage?>

I have to admit that I was in the category of people who thought that being a homemaker would be just a terrible waste of a life - surely God created me to be more than just a stay-at-home-mom or to spend my days cleaning the house and feeding kids. I figured that one day, my mind might - only might - change if i had my own child one day but i am happy to say that I've repented of this idea and realize now that being a mom is really one of God's highest callings for a woman. Only females are granted the ability to bear children and to be a mom and care for a child that came out of your own womb is really a considerable blessing and gift from God. Even if that child is not yours, having worked with other people's children in Sunday school, i don't take the position lightly.

Well, I'm not sure if any wisdom or encouragemnet has been passed on in this post :P but if you do struggle with God's original design for marriage- even that debatable "submission to your husbands" topic - i hope you consider keeping an open mind as you try to understand what God's original intention for marriage was and how that might look in your life.

Ok also, i realize since I'm still very much single, i might have a more optimistic view NOW but maybe after I marry one day, i'll have an entirely diferent view :) hahaha... well, let's hope not ;)