The Proverbs 31 Woman - The True Original Feminist

Feminism - The doctrine — and the political movement based on it — that women should have the same economic, social, and political rights as men.
A movement for granting women political, social, and economic equality with men.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

I think of myself as an Intelligent, Conservative, Christian, Feminist. Do those words look strange together in a sentence? It is really sad that people don't think of those words as belonging together because the author of feminism is God. Do you really think that Gods purpose for women was to be beaten, abused, humiliated and kept in slavery to the whims of a man? I believe that God created us to be exactly what he said in Genesis, a helpmate. Seriously, think about Gods view of women, how does the One who created us want us to be treated? How does He work through us? How do we appear to Him? Look at the women in the Bible – Gloria Steinem eat your heart out! These women were in charge, won wars, provided for the family, saved their entire race, Gloria should have been as productive or important.

Numbers 27:7 – God establishes the daughters right to inherit if there is no son to pass on the name.  Judges chapter 4 – This is a chapter all about women and what they can do, Deborah (a married woman with a career) is the judge (deliverer) of the children of Israel. Deborah ends up having to accompany Israel into the battle and then the enemy leader is captured and killed by a woman, Jael. There is Ruth - who takes care of another woman (obviously not a 'Mean Girl) and joins the ancestry of Jesus. Esther, who saves the Jewish people from one who would destroy them, by risking her life - brave women whose place in history is assured because of their obedience to God and sometimes heroic actions.

Many will say that the New Testament is very hard on women, they have to be quiet and submissive!

Submissive -

Inclined or ready to submit;  unresistingly or humbly obedient:

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.

In the time of Paul's ministry there was Priscilla – she made tents with her husband, it doesn't say she was married to a tent maker, she was a tent maker, She and her husband Aquila also go on a missionary journey with Paul (didn't he hate women? Stop it!!) and end up staying and ministering in Ephesus and helping Apollos in his growth in the way of truth. There are Lois and Eunice – The grandmother and mother of Timothy. Jesus own mother, and his friends Mary and Martha, there was Lydia, and more. Jesus, his disciples, and even Paul talked about the women who helped, and they all hung out with strong amazing women.

Yes I know there are instances in the Bible when women were treated horribly, but I don't think this is Gods purpose, I do think that humans are fallible and men make mistakes. I think the horrible treatment of women is a perversion of God rules and that his heart (the heart of a father) bleeds for his daughters who are treated this way. It is an interesting fact that some of the most restrictive religions of the world at least regarding women and their behavior are the religions which were started by a male 'prophet' reinterpreting Gods will for the world.   Some of the most cruel punishments for women are given when men lose control of themselves.  It was the woman's fault she was raped.  Of course it was!!  Women have no souls, women can only get to heaven if they marry a man of the faith, men marry multiple women to save them.  Really?  Do any of these things sound like words of God?  Of course not they sound like the words of men!  In the Christian church shortly after the death and resurrection of Christ, women were missionaries and teachers, helpers in the church.  The subjugation of women by the church is, I believe man made - the voluntary submission of a wife to her husband is not the same thing. He then submits to Christ and now we have a chain of command. I have no problem with this, the key word is voluntary.

The women of the Bible, including the 'perfect' Proverbs 31 woman, were strong, they worked outside the home at times, some raised children. They were smart - training missionaries for Paul, and they were careful to behave in ways that would not dishonor themselves or their families including their husbands, in other words they were Intelligent, Conservative, Judeo-Christian Feminists. Women should have the same political, economic and social rights as men. But when the discussion gets into the physical then it gets all ridiculous – “Men don't have to have babies, they can sleep around with no consequences so I need the abortion choice!” or “I want to be a firefighter, so can you make the test easier for me so I can do the same job as a man”? Whoa there!! If you think either one of those sentences sound reasonable just go away now, you are never going to agree with me and you will probably irritate me. I do not want to be a man! (OK I am a little envious of the pee standing up thing)

I am a woman - with all that entails, My husband loves me and takes care of many things and frees me to be myself, we discuss our plans but if we do not agree he has the burden of making the final call and living with the consequence of his decision. I have run my own business for years, but I never could have given my kids the life they had on my own, the fact that my husband took the responsibility and did his biblical job gave me the freedom to be the wife and mother and homemaker and cook and shopper without the concern about those things he took care of – roof over our heads, money, security etc.. What a great freedom for me!

OK I think I'm done now. This turned into a really long rant and I hope you are not too bored, I promise to turn off the TV the next time that ridiculous Kathleen Sebelius starts talking about women being denied their 'constitutional' rights to an abortion by the horrible GOP!!!! OK I probably won't turn it off but I will try to work out my anger by pinching her head while she's on the screen!! (It really is only mildly childish!!)

- Kathy

Not Resolutions - Projects!

Resolutions are things that were invented to make us feel bad about ourselves!  Probably invented by the chocolate manufacturers of the world to sell more chocolate.  See...this is how it works - first you make a resolution, say, to start excersizing more.  Now if you are normal, this is vague and hard to do and by February you have given up and are depressed and are eating chocolate for the emotional comfort!!!  I'm tellin ya, I think it's a conspiracy!  
This year I am going to beat the bad guys.  This year I'm making a list of projects - not resolutions.  I am pretty good at projects and organizing for projects, I suck at resolutions, so I will play to my strengths.  I have also found that I can trick myself, or as I call it 'playing head games with myself and winning', which probably says something sad about my mind (but that is another topic).  So for the next few days I will be coming up with my lists and organizing my projects.

The first thing to make sure that I always keep the Lord in the lead, sometimes I get to thinking I'm in the lead and have ended up in some bogs and marshes in my life!  (and yes I do look sheepish when I say that, I do know better!)

So my first project is to increase my Bible study time.  This last year the Lord helped me break through my issue with forgetting my daily devotions.  My Bible and devotional book sit on the kitchen table all the time and whenever I get to the table and sit down be it 7am or noon I do my devotional reading and read some in my 'reading through the Bible continuously'  project. First part of the project - I feel the need for more than simply reading the Bible now though, I need individual study time.  Church Bible study is wonderful and important but I want to look at things that are individual for me.  The second part of the project is to become more organized in my prayer life.  To my great shame I find that my heart is in the right place  "of course I will keep you in prayer"  but my mind fails me and several days later it comes to my mind again and I feel terrible.  While I may have 'a prayer on my lips' many times during the day, that is for the immediate need or praise.  Like so many areas of my life my prayer life needs organizing.

The next step then is to break it down and decide what methods will work for me.  Since leaving my Bible and devotional on the kitchen table worked for the daily devotional project, maybe the same technique in a different room will work for this.  I have picked a study that I want to do, I have had the book and workbook for years (something I was going to do and ...you know).  It is "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges.  I read in the evening at my desk in my home office, the small table beside the desk is where I lay my Bible when I get home from church.  Two Bibles, one in the kitchen one in my room.  One of the advantages to growing up in a Christian home is that you have a collection of Bibles to choose from when you get to be my age!  I am currently reading out of the New American Standard and will study out of the Scoffield KJV that I carry to church.  Bible study time will come in the evening, after dinner.  I like pretty, purposed tools and comforting processes - the feel of the leather on the Bible cover, teapots with matching cups, my lovely Bible cover with pockets and zipper and now hopefully my prayer book.  A dear lady in our last church Pat, was the leader of the womens Bible study and made each of us a covered prayer book with our names on them, yes she is a quilter and seamstress.  When we moved, it got packed and forgotten.  I have found it and am ready to use it to help me.

Isn't this just fun to think about using?

I now have the goal articulated, a list of the needed tools and a plan of action.
- Each evening I will work on Bible study and an organized prayer time
- In my Bible, next to my phones and in my purse are pretty notepads dedicated to writing down prayer requests from others
- Each week will have a page for requests - added to daily if needed
- Saturday night when I'm laying out things for church on Sunday I will flip to the next weeks page in the prayer book

Set up and ready to go!

- I will try to never say flippantly that I will pray for someone without writing it down, I don't think they will mind
-If a 'rabbit trail' in my Bible study throws me off target I will embrace it and enjoy the side trip
-If I miss a day, fall asleep in my chair or can't keep my eyes open I will understand that these things happen and give myself a break

I will not be perfect and I am ok with that - So is God by the way, he too wants to see me keep striving, even knowing as he does perfect isn't in the picture - better certainly is!

-Kathy

Happy New Year!

It takes about a week into a new year before my mind catches up to the fact! 
Christmas is over and we had a wonderful time with the kids and with my mom, the handmade Christmas went over very well and everyone was pleased with the Heirloom gifts, we had great weather for our journey and it is good to be home! 
  It is so nice to trust in the sovereignty of God, I don't even want to contemplate what kind of place the world must be for someone who doesn't have that confidence.  My mother gave me a lovely devotional book for Christmas by Billy Graham called 'Unto the Hills", in it Rev Graham had a quote from John Baillie - it is a perfect reflection for a new year especially one with so much perceived uncertainty - God has a plan! So this will end my first post of 2012.
"The Bible indicates that the future is in God's hands.If it were in our hands, we would make a mess of it.  The future is not in the devil's hands, for then he would lead us into destruction. The future is not at the mercy of any historical determinism leading us blindly forward, for then life would be without meaning.  But the future is in the hands of One who is preparing something better than eye hath seen or ear heard, or has entered into the heart of man to conceive."