Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: women working outside the home. Message-ID: Date: 29 Nov 90 05:17:32 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 74 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Since I started this thread some time back, I want to jump back into the middle of it. Let me start by saying "Bravo, Lindsay Gower!!" I'd like to point something out to folks. Until shortly after WWII, most Americans were self-employed. That is, they worked for themselves and were not captive employees as we find ourselves today. A wife did work to help support her family. She might do sewing, gardening and raise chickens (she would sell eggs and some chickens for profit), and there were many other forms of labor for which a woman could make money, and quite often without having to "work outside the home." Within farming communities, it has never been uncommon to see wives working in the fields with their husbands and children. I believe that a wife is to be a good homemaker. However, I also believe that a husband is just as responsible for the home as the wife. I often find myself doing dishes, cooking, running clothes through the washing/drying bit, and other household chores. I find no evidence in Scripture that says that this sort of thing is purely women's work. My wife will mow the grass and often repair things around the house. We are after all making a home *together*. When my wife fixes something around the house, it really pleases me because it means that I don't have to worry as much about things. And when I do some task that is usually confined to the "woman's world," such as washing, drying, and folding laundry, it really pleases my wife for the same reason. Further, it shows our mutual respect and love for each other, plus our submission to each other. Submission is one of those two-way streets in our lives. Yes, my wife is to submit to me. But if I'm not in submission to my Head, she is going to have a hard time with submitting to my headship. Additionally, we are both to be in submission to Christ. If I'm not, then there is a serious problem within the family. In today's world, most of us cannot make a living working for ourselves as our forefathers did (or possibly even our own grandparents for some of us "ancient ones" ;-)). So a wife working outside the home is not something that I find at odds with Scripture. The idea that she can do so unless she is helping to support her family seems a bit odd to me. Granted, a man is supposed to support his family, but a wife, according to the Bible, is the a "helpmeet." That a wife helps in supporting a family seems perfectly in accord with the Scriptures. When there are children involved, I still have questions about, but no easy answers. I do know that often Christian families find themselves faced with this problem, increasingly. For a long time now, there has been one group within the Christian body that has flatly said that a wife must never work outside the confines of the home. Sometimes I feel that there is a great deal of legalism involved in this position. Personally, I think that the decision has to be left up to the individual Christian families to solve for themselves. The Church has a responsibility to give as much aid and teaching on this as possible, but it is not the Church's position to establish some new law of the Gospel. There is liberty in Christ, and we should live freely within that liberty being led by the Spirit in all things. A while back there were some comments about the role of the husband in childcare. I have changed diapers, gotten up for early morning feedings, stayed up with a sick child, tended to "wounds" earned in the combat of play, played with my children, answered the tough questions, and more. I enjoyed being a father, and miss my children very much. I would not have missed any part of their growing up if I'd have had my way about it. Unfortunately, sometimes business got in the way and I had to be off in other parts of the country while they were still at home. But my kids always knew that I was there for them. So to answer my own question, can a wife work outside the home? I would answer with, why not? If a husband and wife pray about this matter and determine that it is correct for them, why should any of us stop them? If they decide otherwise, why should any of us call them into question for it? Is this really an essential of the Faith? Yours in Christ, Gene Gross