women and working

Check out proverbs 31. There is found a very good description of a virtuos woman.

 

In Genesis, after the eating of the fruit in the, god told Adam he was to go and work and 'make the living for his family' you might say. God told Eve she would have shildren, He didn't Eve to wotk, but gave her the family duties. The Proverbs 31 woman, a married woman with children, tends to her house, takes care of her family, even makes their clothes.
Titus 2:4that they(the older women, from verse 3) admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

It is afrequent doescuuion in the women's forum, there are several there now I think. And also a bibly study on the Proverbs 31 woman, which we are planning to pick back up right after the new year since we're all so busy now.

 

If I might be so chauvenistic so as to reply, a married woman who stays at home while having no children might be breeding laziness.

 

.... and also translates into less income for the family, which translates into less tithe for the church (salary).

Let's get all those women working

 

The proverbs 31 woman also produced goods and sold them in the market place. she also considered the field wether or not to buy it.
Which has clear parallels to working women today. IMO it is better for women to stay home and raise the childeren until they reach school age.

 

Staying at home before children?

Try the ones who paint the house, learn to do tile work, get the yard in order, do the volunteer work at church (with so many mothers working outside the home, who is left?), drive ailing parents to doctors' appointments...

Working mother? That's already a repetitive term.

I deeply pray that the work of the Proverbs 31 woman was work that was spread over a lifetime and not done all at the same time in her life!

Granted the following is not found in a Bible verse but

"my children need me."

So I quit teaching and did homeschool. Then we ended up having our own private school here with other teachers hired. Then that time passed and I worked teaching at the county level for awhile. Now I'm back home again eating chocolates and reading romance novels.....

right....

I'm now a science editor, mom, grandmom, and wife.

There's an awful lot of work to be done 'staying at home' with computers now. God bless the women who are able to stay home and take care of the family before and after children arrive. They are needed.

And I strongly endorse Katie's response as well.

When my oldest was a toddler, some friends with a toddler about the same age as ours sat down with us and we compared incomes. The family with the wife who worked and the family with the wife who stayed home had almost identical money to spend when such things as taxes, an extra car, extra clothes, babysitting/daycare, and more fast foods were taken into consideration!

Yes, Larry, the stay at home wife might turn to laziness. And some working wives come home and crash and stick a frozen dinner in the oven....

I think it is more a matter of the character of the woman than anything else.

 

More tithe money????? Oh, I suppose the ends justify the means!

To quote a favorite Vulcan of mine, "That is not logical!"

Breeding laziness????? You had better duck, brother!!!!

 

Amen Joy

 

By golly, I need to find a man so I can stay home and take care of my man. (that would be the day!!)

Actually, I am all for staying at home at this point in my life, but I think I would tire of it after a while. If and when I have kids or adopt, I will be at home. But for now, I shall work. That is what God wants me to do.

 

Hey, hey...I'm a married woman, without any children in the home and I don't work, outside the home either.
My husband works 12 hour rotating shifts and including drive time, that comes to 15 hour days or nights. Before he leaves for work, he is fed a hot meal and when he get in from work, he has a hot meal waiting on him. I also make sure he has every thing he might need in his lunch box, and on very cold mornings or nights, I go out and start his car, so it will be warmed up in time for him to leave. His clothes are always clean, ironed and put away for him. His home is cleaned daily, swept, dusted and tidied too. He never worries if the monthly bills have been paid, he doesn't even know when even one bill is due, he knows I'll take of that also. He also knows that I'll be home almost every day, unless I've told him of some place I need to be, so I'm not running up and down the highway burning gas out of the car. And if one of our grown children does happen to call and need me, I'm still here for them too. If I worked outside of the home, we would never see each other because of his work schedule, it's four nights, three days, three nights and four days, with days off in between, every month and that's not counting any overtime he puts in. And I for one didn't wait my whole life raising children, to not have any time to spend with my husband, when those children were finally raised. Lazy is not something anyone has ever called me...and if I did work outside of the home, it would have to be something that matched my husbands routine. And that simply can't be done.
Soooooo, I don't breed laziness and at my age, I'm pretty sure I won't be breeding anything.
Okay...I feel better now.

 

Working out side the home. I wonder how much trouble I can get into with this topic. The last one almost got me beat amonst the head and shoulders.
I do not work out side the home. When our children were little I did not work because I wanted my children raised with our values. I wanted them to have the security of knowing that Mommy is home any time they wanted something. My Mother in law commented on my lazyness for 26 years because I did not work and help Gary support the family. My Mother in law is in her mid 80's now and I am the only person who can take her to the doctors office. Everyone else in the family works.
My husband tells me that I have a full time job at home he would prefer that I did not work. I love to iron, so his clothes from the undies (no starch please)out gets ironed. He doesn't mind my volunteer work because I can limit the amount of time I spend out side the home if necessary. He never fusses when I ask him about getting extra things for my Sunday School class. My spending his money is never an issue.
Our daughter will have to work while I keep the Grandbaby. She was not married before she got pregnant and she has to shoulder the responsibility of supporting her child now. Having another baby to raise will be a little different now.
Working outside the home, for me, has never been necessary. Nor has it really been an option.

 

I LOVE working outside the home. I know other women with careers such as nursing, etc., that also love it. God did not create us all the same. I actually work two jobs, one with the hubby, one outside the home. I enjoy helping with our finances. The child is raised, the church probably likes our tithes.

Seriously folks, whatever God calls YOU to do, as long as you are right with him...I had people treat me like a "outsider" because I did NOT want to be susyhomemaker. That is just sad. If you want to be a homemaker and have lots of kids, more power to you, but like I said, God didn't make me that way... I got awful tired of people trying to convert me to that position. Thank God we can all be different and serve him!

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joy:
Breeding laziness????? You had better duck, brother!!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Notice the word might ... bolded for emphasis. Who wouldn't agree that it is easier to stay at home then to go to work, especially when someone else is paying the bills. We have a term for someone who does that: it is called "Kids during the summer break." Obviously I am making some broad general statements and there are exceptions. The general point I would make for childless wives who aren't working is "Why not?"

My mom stayed home when kids were home. When we were at school she worked some but her commitment was to be home with the kids. Personally, I think that is the way it should be. Mothering and caring for the home is a fulltime job it seems to me. A lot of mothers (not all) work to afford the "extras" ... the second car or the bigger house or the boat or the vacation in Hawaii or what have you. I am not saying any of that is wrong; I am simply saying we have to consider the cost of it. I was reading an article somewhere just the other day about whether working mothers (with the added stress) was really worth the cost.

 

uekieLyn
Sounds like what a good wife is.

 

If I had my choice, I'd stay home with my kids, but my husband was raised where the woman worked, too. I don't feel that I can depend on him completely. I don't like that feeling of insecurity. Also, this day in time a woman needs to think of her future. What if the husband leaves, dies, etc.? With no skills and no job experience she would more than likely work a minimum wage job to support herself and family. Also, retirement, social security, all that is based on previous work. Granted, most wives share the retirement of the husband but what if that is not an option in the future?? What if the husband has no retirement? My mother stayed home til we were in school, but she also taught me to NEVER depend on any one else to take care of me cause you just never know what the future holds. I was priveledge enough to stay home with each of my children for their first year, but now am back to work. My mother-in-law comes to MY house and watches the children and gets my oldest on and off the bus. It is very HARD somedays, especially when the 2 year old says "mommy no go to work, no leave me". Makes me wanna call my job and say I quit, but I just don't have that option. I seriously don't. I don't even know how long my marriage is gonna last!

So, with that said, it's not always so cut and dry as to whether a woman "should" stay home or not.

 

Amazing_Grace said:

I'm still working my way through the Bible, and would like to know of any Scriptures that refer to this. Chances are I haven't gotten to them yet.

The most obvious passage is Prov. 31, which outlines the qualities of an ideal wife, including:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard. (16)

She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies belts to the tradesmen. (24)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So women involving themselves in business and industry are not outside the Biblical worldview. Neither is charitable work:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
She extends her hand to the poor, And she stretches out her hands to the needy.(20)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And neither is the intellectual or academic life, as the following verse can arguably be applied:

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (26)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nor can we ignore the strength of Biblical example. The first Christian convert in Asia, Lydia, was a cloth merchant (Acts 16:14). She was probably quite well off, since purple cloth was the most expensive (which is why purple is a royal colour), and Thyatira was known for the quality of its purple. And then there is Priscilla, husband of Aquila, of whom the Bible says both were tentmakers (Acts 18:3).

Since the Bible commends industrious wives, and it does not condemn Lydia or Priscilla, I think it can be reasonably inferred that there is no Biblical rule against women in the workplace.

That doesn't mean that it's necessarily the best or wisest choice a woman in her particular situation can make, just that there's nothing wrong with it per se.

 

Katie, thank you. I had a very good example as a youngster, my mother. And I tried to pass this example on to my daughter and two sons, I pray they saw what I saw in my mother, thru me.
I believe working outside the home for women is a decision that should be made between husband and wife. But it really makes my blood boil when others believe it is mandatory for a women to work outside the home. I've heard many women say they get bored if they stay at home, personally there is not a shortage of things to do at my home. "Live within your means" My father always said, it's not what you make, it's how you spend what you make and my mother would tell me, while the husband brings the paycheck thru the front door, the wife is throwing it out the back door.
Pearls of wisdom from the folks!