Sunday, October 15, 2006

Watch Out For Bad Language

This began as an ettiquette article about bad language. I noticed on various blogs that the comments of angry feminists contained a lot of foul words. And then, I discovered something even worse: how normal words were being used to make women at home feel that what they were doing was not normal. Feminist teachings in colleges use history as their foundation, saying that while women "used to be" subservient and "had to be" at home, that now they had more "freedom" and "privileges" and "rights.
Women at home have a strong influence on husbands and children, which they ought not to shrink from using. In both advertising and politics, words can be used in a sneaky and clever way to win a person's mind over to a way of thinking. Language can be used for good or ill, and so a woman must be alert to the sly wrangling of language that subverts the family and the culture. These words invade the home through television, the movies, the newspapers, the radio, and the web. College students return home with a "new vision" of how life should really be, and try to change the order of life according to the things they have been indoctrinated with. Language usage changes from doing what is the responsible thing to do, to following another agenda.

Bad language even employs noble words, like "responsible," and "duty," or "noble" and "right." Through various media you are being told that it is responsible to get a job and put in 8 hours a day because you are bearing the burden with your husband.

I've seen advertising for dish soap that sounded more like a religious worship service, than a commercial. There were choir singers in the background, and words like "joy," "love," and "renewed." Obviously, certain companies know that it is a great advantage to them to win the business of Christians. Using words that we all identify with, is a great advantage.

But let me get back to my point about bad language. What I call "weasel words," are those which we often overlook, when we find ourselves persuaded to a different doctrine than the one set forth so clearly in the scriptures for women. Let me not be misunderstood: women have always been free to do as they wanted, and there were women who sold things and women who were in politics, and women who did other things besides home living. There were also the wild women with evil influences who came to no good end.

But what is happening today is very subtle. The people who want society to become more socialistic and Marxist are using our words and our beliefs, to slyly twist the understanding of things. "In the past," they say, women were "oppressed," and "now, you have a choice." Look carefully at how these phrases are used to make you believe something that is false. In the past, were all women truly oppressed, and did all women have no choice whatever?

History, the Bible, and later history does not bear this out at all. Women have always had a choice. Yet today many young women in Western society do not realize they have the choice of being wives and homemakers, and that they don't have to compete for jobs and fight with men in the workplace. Feminists have used the schools for many years to send their message, which is not one of choice. Go into the high schools and ask if there is an opportunity to learn about marriage, home and family, and if there is anyone teaching the boys and girls of this life in a positive sense. The history books are now so revised and so askewed, that they don't even show the success of the Biblical, time worn and time proven pattern of the home and the family, with the women guiding the home.

I keenly recall talking to a high school girl who told me about the job fair that her school had promoted. She had gone to all the different tables and booths and collected a large bag of free literature showing all the opportunities that were available to women. I asked her, "Was there a Homemaker table?" and she said "No," so I said, "Why ever not?" and she replied, "Because that is not a real job." Well you see dear ladies, they used that bad language again. Not a "real job." I then talked to her about how unbalanced and unfair it was that they did not have a table or booth with someone showing the girls how they could become homemakers and have a greater hand in the destiny of men and children. I spent a lot of time talking to her about this, and in a short time it was reported to me that she married and engaged in the full time job of taking very good care of him and their first home.

Another way that language is misused is through twisting scripture, which I call "Twisted Scripture." In this instance, the progressives change the Proverbs 31 woman, the Titus 2 Model, and the 1 Timothy 5:14 example, to mean that women worked outside the home and became super women who never got exhausted and who made things constantly, planted huge fields, were in the real estate business and sat in markets all day to sell their crafts.

I heard an inspirational speaker in a church speaking to a group of women about liberation. "This is not the 1950's anymore," she said. "Girls, no one is going to take care of you all your life. You have to get a job and work." Yet sadly she left out the alternatives--that of carefully monitoring the family income and investing it so that she would bring in more income and not have to leave the home. The stress that many women are coping with is such that they are often resorting to pharmacueticals and psychiatric drugs to keep them going. This speaker did not mention any of the side effects of women having to be providers. She would have done well to have introduced a divorced woman who was forced to provide, and have her tell the real story.

Even preachers will say that Bible women were so involved in commerce, and stretch the description of them to the point that it justifies sending their wives to work. They do this through the bad use of language, just like the progressives do in politics and the feminists do in their speeches and publications.

Bad language twists words like "privilege" and "opportunity" and "rights" to mean now you have the right to do what the progressives, the social planners, and those who think they have a better plan, want you to do.

It is amazing, isn't it, that it took the 20th century, and now the 21st century progressives to discover, after all this time, that the Proverbs 31 woman and the Titus 2 woman and the I Timothy 5:14 woman was not really a homemaker or a wife--she was really into commerce. How is it that this era is so much more enlightened than all time before it? How is it? Dictionaries have changed the meanings of words. Bibles are revised with modern language, the excuse being that we can't understand the old English or the old language. (We're too stupid, I guess).

Now, you cannot even read the Bible without coming to their conclusions, because modern versions use bad language. One woman asked me, "Why do you say parents should teach their children, when that verse says "talk to your children." I pointed out that the original Hebrew language used the word "teach," which meant "discipline," which meant "to follow," where we get our word "disciple." She discovered that she was using a modern version that did not use the original Hebrew translation. There is a big difference, then, in teaching someone, and in merely talking. The bad language in the modern version changed the sense of the passage quite a bit. No wonder we are all so confused. Bad language is something you really have to watch out for.

Other words in our world are "better," and "improved." It astonishes me that even the new preachers think that modern man has discovered something about how women should live, even though men centuries before, never reached that conclusion. Now women can have "improved" lifestyles, no longer restricted to marrying someone for a lifetime; now they have the privilege of quitting whenever they want to and moving on to the next guy. Were the people in past centuries who built up civilization all wrong, and are we so much smarter just because we have references and computers and can get more information? You would think we would be wiser, but unfortunately, a lot of that language has been changed, and the meaning of words changed, so that it portrays a completely different scene. Do they mean to tell us that no one knew what was really good for women until the 20th century? That our great grandmothers and great great grandmothers and the pioneers and the Victorians were all really in the dark, wrong, misguided, and stupid?

If you are home, or wanting to come home, don't listen to all this bad language. If you don't think you can trust what anyone is telling you, have a look into the past, if you can find anything that has not been revised with weasel words and fictional descriptions, and see how women really lived. The best source is our own grandmothers and great grandmothers. Have a look at their pictures and notice how they dressed, how they wore their hair. Notice the things around them. Find out from their letters and diaries what they believed and what they did. We recently connected a set of embroidered pillowcases that we had, with our grandmother's diary. She wrote an entry that said, "Worked on the purple pillow cases today." Now we know that they were a work of her own hands. We are able to see how she lived from day to day. There is no mention in these diaries of having to fight her way in the workplace and watching out for unfair treatment. She was at home, in charge of everything. She was at the top.

I have even read a copy of my great-great grandmother's story of pioneer days. While she complained of a storm that had destroyed part of the place that they lived, and that she had not had word from her husband, who was across the river before it flooded, there was none of this "unfair" and "oppressed" business between the men and the women. They were obviously doing the best they could under the circumstances, and both husband and wife were enduring the suffering of the storm and the flood. She was left home with the children because it was safer than having to go across the river to find work. In the end, it was the man who was the most put upon and who endured the most danger. I suppose modern feminists would say that it took the 20th century radical feminists to free women of the oppression of being left protected at home while the husband went to work. Even the men in our society are to a large extent influenced by bad language. The young ones are especially vulnerable to the feminist message, as it has been portrayed as an advantage to them to have their wives working: more money. Modernists may say that the man should have stayed home and let the woman cross the river and look for work.

Using bad language is like taking someone's favorite ice cream and trying to persuade them to buy something bitter and ugly in its place. Simply say that it is too bad they have to put up with such an inferior product, but now they don't have to eat that horrid stuff any more. In the past, it was all they had, and there was no choice, but now, they can be liberated to eat this other ice cream, which is better. It is all in the language.

Looking At Drawingsby Adolfo Belimbau (this is from a previous century. If women were so deprived of knowledge and learning, I wonder why so many artists depicted them reading and writing.)


Sarah said...

Dearest lady lydia,

inspired upon reading your latest Blog comments, i couldn't help but remember a doccumentary on television in the early to mid '80's concerning historical architecture and houses. I distinctly remember the commentator walking into an italian home built in the 1400's whereupon he entered the bathroom also built at this time - not a more recent addition, and there was the bath with hot and cold running water! yes! first installed back then - not a modern introduction at all!

Closer to our time, one only has to read mrs Beaton's book on household management written in the 1850's first as a series of separate articles and compiled into a book in 1861 to learn how assiduous she and her contemporaries were concerning hygiene, clenliness and a spotless kitchen, household and all tools, utensils, even horses, coaches etc. This extended into clenliness and good grooming of both householders and staff. Even more fanatical was she concerning the purchase, storage and preparation of food, guiding the housekeeper and lady of the house step by step concerning how to spot spoilage in dairy, meat, vegetables and fruit, right down to storage of dairy in yes, a pre-refrigerator era (ever heard of a coolgardie meatsafe????) Upon first glancing some of the chemicals they used may make one's eyebrows raise a little (such as the option to use amonia as a raising agent in cakes) but this is no worse than the preservitives and petrochemical colourings rampant in what's passed off as food today - not to mention the ghastly array of chemicals pushed at us to clean our homes with! (many being proven carcinagens).

As for short lives, this is not entirely true either! as a child, i received a music encyclopaedia for Christmas from my beloved grandparents, with entries from ancient times to the then modern day. Throughout all ages, a good number of composers (many of whom were average folk, not born into positions of luxury) lived well into their sixties and even seventies - even in the 1300's!

For a certainty, we're able to better control bacterial disease and some viruses nowadays through vaccinations and antibiotics but folk still are cut down before their time through many varied ailments.

If you want to focus on women of example, you can't go past Abbess Hildegarde Von Bingham. Born in 1098, she dedicated herself to her vocation, living till her late 70's or even early 80's (I am not certain of her date of death) having written breathtaking sacred music which survives to this day! For a moving, celestial and unbelievably beautiful musical voyage of dedication to God, get your hands upon a copy of an album of her works called "A feather on the breath of god" by the Gothic voices. It's a British production on the Hyperion label - the source of many wonderful medieval and renaissance recordings. Also, try to get your hands on "The castle of fair favour", a mixture of harp, lute and choral work from the 1300's and 1400's. finally, one more uplifting recording from this period "ancient Airs and Dances" with Paul O'Dette on Lute. all on the Hyperion label. It's worth the effort and money. I'm currently listening to some wonderful 15th century poliphonic choral work (sacred) of indeterminate composer (came in part way through the mass playing on the radio).

The people who wrote this material were not backward, supersticious violent thugs but folk aware of God's centrality in life and the value of focusing one's attention on the world to come, rather than the hollow pleasures of this world whilst at the same time loving and admiring beauty in everyday life.

Indeed, a role model for me would have to be Francesco Landini - Blind from childhood, he became a church organist, poet and prolific composer, all without Braille, (utilising an emanuensis - an art in itself (Of which I'm familliar from first hand experience) living for 70 years from the early 1300's to the late 1300's. his music survives to this day and is a clear example that the disabled could find hope and meaning.

Please share this with your family, friends and readers upon your blog.

As a lover of Astronomy (not to be confused with astrology!) another role model would have to be Caroline Herschell. Living from 1750 to 1848 and surviving a dificult childhood and serious illness which stunted her growth permanently, she served alongside her brother before and after his marriage as a faithful helper in their field, making many invaluable contributions in her own right, quietly proving wrong the ridiculous notions (separate from god's word) of the enlightenment.

Then there's Mrs. Fry, who led a one-woman campaign to improve the lot of woman prisoners both during and after their incaceration in either the late 18th or early 19th century (think it was during the regency period).

The feminists never teach of these women or, if they do, put such a marxist feminist spin on them they're completely misrepresented.

Keep up your invaluable work!


mrs. Sarah Elliott.

Grace said...

This is a wonderful article. The power that mere words and images shown in all form of media can over people is amazing and disturbing all at once. There seems to be a "war on language" going on in the world.

There are even groups who try to "redo" the languages in school textbooks to serve whatever agenda they are trying to push. This is especially true of textbooks dealing with the sciences, history, and humanities. These groups mutilate language to show students how things "ought to be" and what is "right", according to said group's standard's anyway. As with the newer translations of the Bible, words are twisted so much that the educational value and actual truth of information contained in these books is no longer an honest resource for learning.

It's very scary to see such subtle means used to create a quite large problem.

Candy said...

I agree with you 100%.
I so wish more women out there would read this blog. I want to see full time home making become more and more popular. I dont get it..why women even want to work. I LOVE taking care of my family and home.
Now I always make a point whenever someone asks me "what do you do for a living"...I now say: "I CHOOSE to be a full time home maker, I GET to take care of my family and home all day and I LOVE it!" I noticed it started to surprise many people and got them thinking. Next thing I know, after I say this to one lady, she then says to me "Well, I was thinking lately to fnd a job but I think staying home is better too." Its a start. I guess she was reassured by my answer that staying home is ok (more then ok..its right and Biblical as we know). But we need to get women thinking and find ways to show how great life is with the mom and wife at home. Invite some "working women" to ours homes and they will get the idea. And email friends to check out this blog to read.

I love it, keep up the great and inspiring work Lady Lydia.

Candy (from Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA)

Mrs. R said...

I found in my too many years of having taught in the public schools, that certain words actually developed into "trigger" words. If a trigger word, in almost any context was mentioned, there was instant barrage of comments. One word was "skirts." The girls almost instantly were talking all at once telling me how no one is going to make them wear them!

We were constantly being trained (indoctrinated) with different agendas. One group I was in, a male teacher who was on task, mentioned that he had a difficult time enforcing the dress code, especially with the girls. All of a sudden a young social sevices women loudly proclaimed that she wasn't going to work for a district that would make her wear skirts. I wonder what the trigger words were? Too many years of "bad language."

At home, blessed home,
Mrs. R.

Wendy WaterBirde said...

This was such an important post! I think it could be a wake up call for lots of folks. Because its funny how clearing away just one bit of untruth can have a real domino effect. Earlier this year I realized the lies of Darwin's survival of the fittest and the truth of the biblical account of creation and it had just a huge affect on how i saw other things. Because once you realize that things you took so for granted were untrue, it makes you look at everything twice now, not just assume something is true just becuase you have heared it from all over and from every direction all your life. Something untrue being taken as fact and repeated over and over like a fact doesnt make it a fact, its only an assumption. There is somethinhg REALLY impacting about realizing that. And so its the same with what you are posting on here, just waking up to some of the lies about our past has this domino effect where we stop just assuming all we are told is true, we learn to look deeper.

It really does have an effect, sharing this stuff. Take the comments on your last post, they really gave me more courage to more fully admit my very deep admiration for things in our past. I'd always been deeply drawn to the middle ages for example and its one of my very favorite periods, but I still always prefaced that with "well I know it wasnt perfect but" etc when I spoke to folks about that. And it wasnt perfect, no time or place is, but there is this subtle thing that happens by us prefacing our draws to the past with phrases and attitudes like that--becuase we dont preface our speaking of good things in our era with that "well I know its not perfect but". I cant explain it but thats a powerful thing, that difference. We get bombarded with this message that our time is really best and if we have any brains we must know that--and so we somehow have to make some sort of conditional phrase or apology when we speak of other times so we are still being politically correct by subtly apologizing or conditionalizing our draws to times other than our own. Geez that was a long ramble on sentance. But the drift is that when one scale from our eyes falls here, it can have a domino affect and find others falling in its wake.

The same with choice, as you were saying here. " Women have always had a choice. Yet today many young women in Western society do not realize they have the choice of being wives and homemakers, and that they don't have to compete for jobs and fight with men in the workplace. Feminists have used the schools for many years to send their message, which is not one of choice." Nowadays we might voice a wistful nostalgia for being at home, but we are supposed to add that little phrase "but its just not possible in todays world" or something like this. Those little phrases we are expected to add on like this are a BIG deal. The expected subtle apology phrase like "well it wasnt perfect but" above, it says well yes we can be wistful about the past but deep down we are still better off now sort of thing. And the phrase here "but its just not possible in todays world" or an equivalent, its the whole "realism" ploy--well yes you can be wistful about the past, but you cant REALLY do these things. In sum--we can be wistful about the past but we cant really want to emulate it here and now, we cant want to really change things. We cant make these things actually REAL for us or we have the politically correct upon us in a second.

I hope Im not tangenting too much but I cant help but add something here. CS Lewis talks alot about how we have our myths and stories for a good reason amd that Christianity is the LIVING story. Christ is and was our hero who actually came down to rescue us. The wound of the pagan world was that the stories stayed just story. Story wasnt/isnt wrong, its actually critical, but there is a wound left when it never becomes real. And Christianity heals that wound, our stories and hero are real now, the sacred here with us in the mundane, not just fantasized about. And I just cant help but see a parellel here with this politically correct stuff. As FANTASY, as only a wistful longing, we are allowed to look at things from the past that are counter to our modern ideals--but woe be to anyone who tries to make them REAL.

I'm so very grateful for blogs like this that fight this! I deeply wish there were more men who were strong here as well. I know there are some. There are men like Phil Lancaster and Doug Phillips, and recently for example I came accross a great blog on this here,
But in general men are even more influenced by feminism Ive found, because they have the guilt layer thats been added to it especially strong upon them. Its such a mess. But truly, just this act of removing a few scales from our eyes like you did with this post and others, I feel it goes such a long way here, can have a domino effect...

Lizzie Bee said...

I love, love love love love love my full-time, out of the home, requiring travel (which my husband is happy to share in, often) job! I want to hug my 401K and my resume folder.

(Oops. Was that cursing?)

Oh yeah. And I write high school textbooks.

By all means, stay home and love your lives. I don't wanna stop you, and I doubt anyone actually does. (Certainly nobody I've ever met, except possibly Linda Hirschman). Hey, if you all stay home, it's less competition for those of us in the tight job market!

Vive la difference.

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Ladies I accidently hit "publish" for the Lizzie person above, but decided to leave it there to show you all how silly she and others like her, really are. No one said a woman cannot work. What we are saying is that feminists and socialists have an agenda to get rid of the nuclear family (mother, father, children) and make women leave the home and farm out her kids to institutions. They do it through the misuse of the language, to persuade men that their way is better than the way of the past where women were allowed to make home their main concern, raise up a batch of good children, and help a husband be successful in life.

Now on to the weasel-words: "Times have changed." Really. I can't imagine my mother telling Daddy, "Times have changed, so I don't have to be home anymore. You clean up the place and do the dishes and keep the clothes clean. You get yourself ready for work in the morning. I'm going to get a job." No woman in her right mind would trade what she had, in those days, to get up in the cold at 5 am and leave her warm house to go earn money, when she was in a better place in life just by taking care of the breadwinner.

Now back to the times-have-changed: this was the by-phrase of the 60's, telling people through music that morals and Biblical traditions (yes, the bible does say to hang fast with the traditions that you have been taught)--had to change "with the times." Few people really looked at the phrase to see if it made sense.

Changing times depends on who does the changing and what the changes are. If a family lives the Biblical model of father, mother and children; the father being the provider and protector, and the mother being the nuturer of the children and the homemaker, their lives reflect that standard. They actually change the times by the way they live. The big question I have for the "times have changed" bunch and the "its not possible" crowed is, "Who determines what changes will be made, and what is possible, based upon what standard?"

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Who is changing the times, and what has really changed? The problems are the same, the sins are the same, etc. The problems and the solutions are still "the same." We ought to spread our own phrases and words, one being "everything is the same."

Anonymous said...

I couldn't help but notice that the young lady who is so very much in love with her career and her resume and her 401K says nothng about having any children. I can't help but wonder whether the glamour and allure of her job and her resume and her 401K will be quite so bright when she has a child or children and has to leave them behind for strangers to raise in daycare!


Wendy WaterBirde said...

Lady Lydia I just love your idea of spreading new phrases. I had read your comment earlier and had to come back because your ""everything is the same" had really stuck with me today. I find it not only true but strangely comforting....

Anonymous said...

In response to the lady that loves, loves, loves her job. I am glad for her, if she really does love it that much. But, as for me, I can honestly say, it isn't for every lady. No matter how much these career woman love their careers, and just love, love, love being out of the home, no matter how much they promote it, it still does not appeal to me. They can have their careers! Vive la difference! Yes indeed.

Father's Grace Ministries said...

Well said,Lady Lydia. You are a real Titus 2 woman to me.I agree with your comments on Bible translations too.I went back to reading the old King James a couple of years ago, because of the watering down issue & the ommitted verses in the more modern ones. How nice it is now just to have the one Bible , instead of many & much confusion.
I loved your last comment too, with regard to the paintings. I believe SAHMs have more potential to be life long learners, as they have more time to self-educate than someone stuck behind a desk from 9-5.
Claire (from Australia)

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Feminist lies are spread mostly by rumor, not by fact, and their movement was mobilized by words. As we formulated LAF we learned to assume that women really wanted to be home, and spread the idea that it was a trend that was catching on, and more and more women were waking up and joining what we called "the quiet revolution" back to the home. Now the feminists are all up in arms because they are noticing so many women who got a college education going home to be wives and homemakers. There may have been a lot of them doing that a long time ago, but feminists refused to acknowledge it, preferring instead to keep spreading their rumors that leaving home was normal. Why not say that marriage, home and family is "normal." Why not spread the rumor. Of course, we hope folks will find it out for themselves and do it from conviction, but setting up the standard of "normal" helps some of the more naive ones keep from making a terrible mistake that cannot be undone years later.

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Claire, Time is precious, and if I am going to have a conversation, I'd rather talk to a housewife. They are more aware of the world around them, more well-read, and more activist. Their language doesn't deteriorate into filth or swearing.

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Wendy, essentially, nothing changes: We live the way our forefathers lived: we see our children get married, they have babies, we bury our grandparents, we pay our bills, fix up our homes, grow gardens, shop, have family reunions, sew and cook. Since we are self-governing, we keep our eye on men in power, for they would be tyrants if we let them. We write letters to our friends, and find ways to contribute to the well being of others. Over the centuries, this has not changed. In a bad way, there are those who do their best to destroy society...and that has not changed either, since the day of our ancestors. Everything is the same.

Anonymous said...

Great Post! This is all so true, I was just talking with my husband who is watching Monday Night Football (drinking Beer) because that is what the Advertisers say to do when you watch Football.

I told him that the only reason he is drikning Beer right now is because they say that it is the right thing to do, the American thing to do, watch the game with a Brew,(not saying it is bad to drink in moderation).

Words and Images are so subtle a lot of times you don't realize what your doing is not helpful or beneficial to you or your family at all. I really think that when you seek God and seek His Word, He gives you Wisdom and Clarity, you start to realize things you never realized before.

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

Candy in Alberta, there is someone else in Canada who wants to email you, from LAF. Unfortunately I don't know which email address is yours, so could you please email me so I can send you this girl's email?

Anna said...

About the lady who "loves" her job...I wonder how much her husband really "loves" her having a job outside of the home? Are they truely advanced through it?? Even if they are making and money after all the job related expenses there is still much more value in working towards a life worth living. Are they mearly living to work or working to live? If he only knew the difference his life [and her's] could be if she gave staying at home a real try. She wouldn't go back to the life of hurry and blurry worry again.

Wendy WaterBirde said...

Not to be a broken record, but I really am moved by the "everything stays the same", even more so now that you have said more about it. Its the same feeling i got a few months ago when suddenly my heart knew that the much shorter history of the earth the bible tells us is actually literal truth, not just symbolic. It made history and God's moving through history incredibly smaller and closer and more real, and also our human connections accross time with our ancestors so much more immediate and close feeling, and so does this "everything stays the same". And that just really does something, heals something, feeling that. Sorry I cant find a way to explain more why that feels to mean so much, but i just wanted to really thank you again for saying it.

Vanessa said...

A great post once again Lady Lydia *applauds*


Anonymous said...

Oh, but george Orwell were alive today to see the fulfillment of his little work "1984". he would be gravely saddened. The two principle ways in witch 'big brother' were able to keep a stranglehold upon society were to tamper with history and worse still, diabolically tampering with language - twisting words, terms and phrases to mean whatever the establishment wanted them to mean (a lesson sadly all too well learnt by those in power and influence pushing their marxist and feminist ajendas down our throats, ascribing everything value, or lack thereof according to their want).

Holy Scripture warns of just this, that men will call good evil, and evil good, that the enemy would seek to deceive all if he could; even the very elect.

As for time to self educate, I can listen to radio or television documentaries whenever I wish, read, research on-line, borrow from the library and so much more. I can involve myself with interest groups, community classes and whatever learning is beneficial to my role as helpmeet to my beloved husband and to a lesser extent my community. It is a busy life in which I am not idle!

may I give you an example of the wife of my bible-study class teacher. Now nearing eighty and a great grandmother, she raised five children ran her hoem, contributed to the life of both church and community around all upon her husband's wage. at this time, the not huge single earnings not only allowed enough for a more than satisfactory living for them all (a household of seven in which home ownership was very very achievable) but gave enough that, with prudent investment, now supplies all their retirement needs. Sadly, the children and grandchildren of this generation in church did not adhere to the fine Godly pattern for home and family lived out by their parents. Today, one NEVER hears a minister preach a sermon upon the rightful place of woman in the home, of modesty or of Godly enterprise to ensure the family's success through the generations.

In her time, she also shared an account with me of an amazing woman in the congregation who, without complaint or judgement, took babes into her home who came into this world as a result of the por girls coming to grief through violent crimes committed against their person either from family or stranger. She also took in babes from young girls who felt unable to cope after wavering in their fortitude. Where are their stories being told today? where is the next generation of gifted lady out there? I am sure she exists (some of you here may even have been led to such a work). She is however not held up, along with the sanctity of life, in this disposibal, rebellious world in which we live which counts life and family as cheap, fast becoming redundant.

Indeed, this generation of leadership in state, educational institution and church alike are as the man spoken of by our Lord and Saviour jesus christ with a beam in his eye - all the while commenting about the speck of dust in his brother's. is not this the way in which modern society looks down upon that of past centuries in scoffing, mocking condesention - all the while unable to consider its own faults, so consumed with highlighting the apparent shortcomings of previous generations, led by the nose, as it were, by the feminists and marxists alike whilst blind to the horrors wraught upon society by both these forces. is Christendom, in every denomination not Laodicia?

Willl it indeed improve in general before the return of Christ in power and glory? or will we be destined to be a remnant of what was once the majority?

mrs. E.

Nix said...

Another thought about the lady who "loves, loves, loves her job", is that the job does not "love, love, love her", she is dispensable, if she were to become sick, etc. Her value is bound up in her job and if that were taken away, she may well suffer an identity problem. Being grounded in our home lives is totally absorbing, we are happy either with our own company or giving hospitality. We can be depended on by our children; our focus is on our marriage and family, what greater heritage can we have than that?
As for the money, the Bible states “Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

Anonymous said...

As a former Marine, I would like to say that this site is one of the primary reasons that I am now a full time mom and a housewife and I am happier than I have ever been.

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Sherman, thank you for putting up "Lizzie Bee's" comment. I'm not completely sure what to make of her; she seems just a touch over-the-top to be serious. On the other hand, though, it might be the effect of anti-depressants, so...

Hmm, so she writes high-school textbooks. Between the clumsy writing and her professed attitude (that "love, love love love love love" business is unworthy of even a fifteen-year-old girl, by the by), it's no wonder that so many children graduate from high school with nothing worth calling an "education." (I know that's catty of me to say it, but if she's really serious, she kind of earned it.)

And to some extent, she's correct that -I'm- deliberately removing myself from an overly tight job market. There are far too many young attorneys, and not enough jobs in law firms, so most of us have to hang out our own shingles and starve--or work in secretarial jobs for less than -I- was making as a secretary. If not for my husband, I'd probably be, as I've said before, in the street.

(And not because people prefer male attorneys; I get calls and requests all the time, because I have a reputation for being good at it and working hard.)

I'll put it this way: Whereas "Lizzie Bee" may "love, love love love love love" her job, I love my husband and unborn baby even more. And I love God beyond even that. If I serve any of them better by staying at home--and I know I will--then I stay at home. Love doesn't let "me" come first.

Mrs. Bartlett

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

She could be just exaggerating because she thinks that I think that women who work outside the home do so because they want to hug their files and bank accounts and love being away more than anything. I do not think that. I think, as I said in the previous article, that they don't want to leave their homes and join the hunt with the men. I think they really have to work because of debt, and have to support themselves. Many of them were not taught to marry and keep house. They did not know they had a choice. I don't think they all "love love love" their jobs. She may be having a go at me.

Lady Lydia Speaks said...

a teacher called in to a talk show yesterday and the man tried to engage her in a logical conversation regarding an issue that she was passionate about. She would not stick to the subject, and went off on tangents of little details not pertinent to the whole matter they were talking about. Then, she began to demean him and use foul language. I see this pattern, over and over. He tried to be gentlemanly but when she hung up on him he said, "You parents need to know that this is one of the teachers of your children."

Mrs. Wayne Hunter said...

Concerning bad language being used in newer Bible versions to make Godly women out to be career women, I have just posted a few articles on a blog ( about this. One is titled "What about Deborah? (And Jael, too!)" and one is titled "Did the Perfect Godly Woman of Proverbs Thirty-one Work Outside of the Home?".
THANK YOU, Lady Lydia, for bringing such important things to light for those of us women seeking righteousness in His world!


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