X
Xantippe
Guest
And the interesting thing is, you can look high and low for nearly all of those expectations in the actual Bible and not find them. (Women wouldn’t have been expected to provide their sons with a complete religious education in OT times because they themselves simply didn’t have the education necessary to do so. And, in general, it’s a historical novelty for mothers to be the primary educators of older boys–people in the past would have thought that ludicrous.)Even if a man or woman for that matter is strong and all that, we must remember that there is such a thing as aging where one’s physical and mental prowess will decline. This is enough to keep one humble especially when one notices that they are not getting any younger. Christians of both sexes will do well to remember that we are all called to be humble.
As for doing everything, the somewhat toxic atmosphere of the blogosphere has Christian women in particular thinking that not only must all women have a lot of kids but they must also homeschool, whip up delicious and nutritious meals on mere pennies, manage to look beautiful for their husbands. If they fail, they cannot be real Christian women. This is particularly pervasive in the Quiverfull world.
Here’s an “encouraging” to-do list from one such Protestant writer.
aboverubies.org/index.php/blog/womens-daily-encouragement/entry/how-can-i-love-my-husband
Almost nothing there is terrible individually, but the accumulation of minor tasks that the husband can presumably do just as well for himself is really burdensome, especially considering that the wife is not just a mistress or a geisha living the life of Jeanie in I Dream of Genie lolling around in a lamp until her master calls her, but has a bunch of small children at home and has a pretty full plate just with kid and basic home responsibilities.