Barefoot and Pregnant
Mon, 2010-03-01 14:35 — Tim Bayly
Religious feminists peering across the great divide at women who submit to their husbands think these women live in bondage. Justifying their own rebellion, feminists are convinced Biblical marriages are always made up of men who are dictators, and wives who wither away at home, barefoot and pregnant...
Of course, it isn’t true. Only in homes where Scripture is honored are wives free to be strong and husbands to love strong wives (rather than being threatened and manipulated by them). Think of Martin Luther and his beloved wife, Katie. Did you know one of his affectionate names for her was “My lord Katie?” She was a strong, strong woman who submitted to Martin, and Martin loved her.
How does it work that it’s the godly submissive wives who are the strongest wives?
This is always God’s way. When we refuse to obey until we’re convinced obedience will be profitable and bring us freedom, God gives us neither. But when we obey while still fearful that our obedience will lead to bondage and death, the result is freedom. Obedience always brings freedom and God’s blessings. George Matheson puts it this way:
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
To the worldling, obedience is foolishness. It doesn’t matter whether the one obeyed is God or a husband. To the worldling, pregnancy is weakness, too; and childrearing is oblivion. To the worldling, being a housewife is to be locked in prison, while a corner office in a marketing department up near the top of a high rise is so very important. To the worldling, the Cross is weakness.
But to those who believe, the Cross is the power of God.
Look inside the homes of wives who obey their husbands and you’ll discover piercing intellect and knowledgeable debate and incisive criticism and loving rebuke and hearty tables and the laughter of children. Kamilla Ludwig writes, “from the outside, (God’s sex-specific commands) look artificially constraining. But, from the inside, we can see that they provide for a beautiful variety of expression.”
For 41 years, Martin Luther had known solitude. Then he married Katie and the adjustment wasn’t easy. One time, Luther locked himself in his study for three days. Out of exasperation, Katie took the door off its hinges.
Luther acknowledged Katie’s strength: “If I can survive the wrath of the devil in my sinful conscience, I can withstand the anger of Katherine von Bora.”
The story is told that Luther once was depressed for several weeks. One morning, he came downstairs to find Katie wearing funeral attire. Luther asked her, “Who died?”
Katie answered, “God died.”
Luther rebuked her for saying such a terrible thing, and she responded, “Well, Martin, the way you were acting, I thought he was dead.”
Many feminists think Biblical marriages are boring and submissive wives are ignorant and weak. For years, whenever I’ve heard this I’ve thought to myself:
You think our wives and daughters are stupid and weak? I’ll tell you what. You allow me to do a random selection of five or ten women from your liberated church where feminine deference and submission are old and in the way, and I’ll allow you to do a random selection of five or ten women from our patriarchal church where feminine submission is fresh as the morning dew. Then, we’ll put all of them in the same room, lock them up together for a couple or days, and see who comes out. My money’s on the godly, submissive women outlasting the weak feminists.
If you’re looking for strong women, you’ll find them submitting to their husbands. If you’re looking for weak women, you’ll find them fighting for recognition in the corporate world, their kids in day care and their husbands keeping silence.
It’s those who allow the world to press them into its mold who are feeble. But what of those who resist the world, choosing submission?
The woman who saves her life will lose it. But the woman who loses her life for Christ’s sake will find it. She will be a mother to many—so many, in fact, that she will be called a “Mother in Israel.” Every church has one. And they’re never feminists.
They’re strong—very, very strong.
Comments
"Feminism is mixed up with a
"Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands."
— G.K. Chesterton
I love Katie.
I love Katie.
Hi: I was just over at the
Hi:
I was just over at the CBE blog (intrigued to go there by Brave Lass) and read about logic and some of the comments. It was frustrating to read. Then I come here and am blessed and refreashed with this article. Thanks I needed the washing of my mind from the worldliness of CBE.
God richly continue to bless you all here!
Terry
Thanks Tim, I enjoyed the
Thanks Tim, I enjoyed the stories about Katie.
Post new comment