Women working outside the home...

I can see how a working woman might feel attacked when they are told they are not following God's requirements for wives. Both sides of the issue have scripture verses.

 

Margie, I hope I have not been one who seemed to say it was against God's will for women to work. I do believe it is where I am supose to be, but God's call is different for each of us. We each have a differrent talent.I know in the past I've taken a more strict against working women stance, and I wish I haden't.

 

Was there anything in what you quoted that refuted any thing I said

I found great support there. Thank you.

BTW, the "This is spoken with regard to the manner of those countries" phrase is in reference to the "washing of feet." Not the maintenance of the widows. Did you notice the little "c" in front of "washed the saints’ feet" in 5:10?

Now, how does this relate to women working outside the home?

Paul said, the younger women should marry, bear children, guide the house...

You tried to say that was just for Ephesian women at that time.

I have shown that it wasn't, but this is for women in any society in any age.

Now, what does it mean to guide the house?

 

Aaron -

Please take time to read the commentaries if I post them. It takes me longer to do all the page loads than for you to read them after I post. Yes, the commentaries I cited refuted the "deaconess" theory. The women to which Paul is referring were those receiving charity from the church according to all three pre-suffrage commentaries.

As for "guide the house" I would interpret it to mean that they are to be domestic in their homes just as "keepers" is in Titus 2:5. The women of Ephesus HAD to work outside of their homes if in no other way carrying water, (Rachel in Genesis), gleaning fields (Ruth), being merchants (Lydia), or whatever else was necessary to survival at that time. Even in my Grandmother's time there was no electricity in this area. She cooked with wood (now that's work!), she hand tilled a garden, she worked with livestock and the feeding of them. In later years she worked part-time in order to pay for the convenience of an electric stove, vegetables from a store, and meat. The end result was the same: work = survival. She still "guided her home" just as Margie does now.

As was stated on pages two and three of this thread, a woman being able to stay at her home to tend it is a modern luxury. Look at the Amish and see if their women stay at the house all the time. Work is work. Whether a woman is carrying a bucket of water from a well, or earning money to pay the water bill, it's still work.

 

Suggest we wind this thread up now. It's gotten pretty long.

Monday morning before 10 Eastern time, it will be locked. So say what more you want to say quick!

 

I would just like to say that I agree that God gave each lady a different talent and different position. Every situation is different and God will direct each woman to do what she must to "guide her home" in a godly, Christ like manner. If you are called to be a stay home mom then do it to the best of your ability, if your called to work outside the home in a career divide your time correctly and do that to the best of your ability. God's grace is suffient enough for everyone's situation

karen

 

This sure sounds like a "working woman" to me:

Proverbs 31:[10] Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
[11] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
[12] She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
[13] She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
[14] She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
[15] She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
[16] She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
[17] She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
[18] She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
[19] She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
[20] She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
[21] She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
[22] She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
[23] Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
[24] She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
[25] Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
[26] She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
[27] She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
[28] Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
[29] Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
[30] Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
[31] Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

She wasn't necessarily a stay at home mom if she was out buying fields, bringing food from afar, etc. Just a thought.

 

Hi mom!

Oh, you meant pertaining to the thread! Well, since you're closing it, I'll say this as get everyone ticked that they can't answer.
The scriptural support for women only staying at home is virtually non-existant. Men are supposed to be the leaders of their home, ruling their family well. How can they do that if they're working anymore than a woman can keep up the home if she's working?
Or can they both do both?
da Gina

 

I have a friend who does both. Her husbands income is enought they should be able to live on it, he makes more then my husband. But he is spend happy,(he loves those rent it places, and gets them in to much debt, till they loose something, then when that extra comes up because they are no longer making those payments, he goes for something else, she can't get him to stop) so they are always broke. She does both successfully. She works 40 hrs week in a hospital, shes the one who washes those instruments used during surgery, and then comes home and takes care of the house. I have to say hers is better looking then mine, hers is almost always spotless. And she gets ne help from him other then occasionally cooking a meal, dirtying way too much pots and pans then leaving it to her to clean. She does all the laundry(2 kids) cleans the whole house, buys all the groceries, and takes care for all the bills. The only thing he does is mow the grass. Won't even help carry in the groceries.
But she does both. I don't know how, but she does it.

 

To even suggest that I didn't hold my daughter's hand and make her feel loved is a very cruel thing to do. I never left my daughter the entire time. I just didn't have the medical training to feed her through a tube and monitor her oxygen or care for the incision in her 2 /12 month old chest because she had just undergone open heart surgery. Please, don't even talk about things you do not know.

~Lorelei

 

I don't understand why the thread is being closed, is this some "taboo" issue that we can't discuss for 10 pages like everything else?

Well, anyway, for my final comments:

Keepers at Home means just that. It never says that you have to be locked up inside your house 24/7 to do it.

To say that women who work outside the home aren't "properly" keeping thier home is interpretational and not what the Bible says.

~Lorelei

 

Lorelei, I agree.

 

It's not a taboo subject, Lorelei; it's just that seven pages long now. If you feel there is more to be said, please start a new thread.