CommonSense

Hello.... Hi there... I'm Cynthia Gee, and I'm creating this as a mirror of my other CommonSense blog at HomeschoolBlogger. I am copying the first several articles from over there, and moving them here in their entirety, complete with reader's comments. So if you see your comment HERE, and remember posting it over THERE, relax. You're sane.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

What Godliness Does NOT Look Like

On True Womanhood in the New Millenium, Karen posted an excerpt from an article by Scott Brown, who articulates his idea of what godly womanhood ought to look like in the 21st century.

Scott says,
"There is a most unusual generation of godly young ladies in the church
today. I believe there have been few marriageable young women like this in the
last one hundred years. At least three generations of Americans has never seen
anything like this. What has happened to create this situation?

Here are some of their distinctives:
1. They saw the bitter fruit of feminism and began to understand it’s bankruptcy and destructiveness.
2. They “kissed dating goodbye” and decided in their youth that they would abstain from the
modern dating debacle.
3. They trusted their fathers encouragement toward them to fulfill the biblical and normative pattern of scripture regarding the roles of women and began to prepare themselves to be wives, helpers and homemakers as a life strategy – in contrast to the feminist vision of independent workers outside the home.
4. They rejected the immodest, worldly but common clothing options of their culture and the Lord put it in their hearts to be faithful to God’s commands regarding feminine dress and modesty.
5. They are striving to preserve themselves sexually for their future husbands, instead of
test driving numerous partners before marriage.
6. They are spending their time serving the enterprise of the home as assistants in their fathers businesses and assisting their mothers in the teaching and raising of the
children in the home.
7. They were told by their parents that if they were faithful and obeyed, they would be blessed.
8. One of the blessings they are anticipating is godly husbands."


Karen asks her readers, "What do you think is missing from his list?"


What’s missing from Scott's list?

The poor, and most of the lower middle class.
It may come as a surprise to people like Scott Brown, but most girls’ fathers do not own businesses. Many girls live in homes where the father is absent altogether, and many more live in homes with two parents who must both work fulltime simply to keep food on the table; many of these parents have been forced to use birth control to limit the size of their families because of economic pressures.

Back in Victorian times, girls and women of the lower social classes were often considered to be of questionable virtue, simply because economic circumstances forced them to work outside the home. It comes as no surprise that this is the very period in our history that people such as Scott Brown, Doug Phillips, and the Chanceys are trying to re-create.

Godly womanhood is a fine thing, but godliness which is dependent upon privilege and wealth is merely hypocrisy, all gussied up in a modest, tasteful, expensive Edwardian gown.

3 Comments:

Blogger Kathleen F. said...

CJ,
Yes, you are conveying my sentiments on this subject, too. The idealism that tends to motivate many people in christianity can leave some out of the loop.

For example, many young women I've met in the homeschool movement love to read Jane Austen's novels. They also would rather emulate that era in their modesty and really seem to glamorize the era. Some have even designed clothing patterns after the Sense and Sensibility genre. I have taught my own teenage daughter (who is studying English Literature in her homeschool class) that it was not all that it was cracked up to be during Jane Austen's time. For example, there was no effective treatment for diabetes and people just died a horrible death back then from various diseases we can treat now. Praise God for modern medical treatments!

Another thing about the "Sense and Sensibility" era: Some have wondered if some of Jane Austen's novels were commentary on women's position in society during her time. Interestingly, in the movie, "Emma", which my daughter and I watched, there's a scene where Emma lashes out at Miss Bates, a woman who never married because of her lower social status and caring for her mother. Emma is then rebuked by Mr. Knightley and reminds her of Miss Bate's position in life, that it must be very difficult for her. It just seemed that Austen had some insight into the deeper issues maybe. She herself had a career, I might add.

10:56 PM  
Blogger CJ said...

I agree, Kathleen. And, speaking of limiting godliness to the privileged classes, "check out" the latter parts of this discussion, on libraries:

http://buriedtreasurebooks.com/weblog/?p=1905

2:02 PM  
Blogger DaisyChain said...

I had the opportunity to discover your blog a little over a month ago and just wanted to thank you for your writings. You express much of what I often find myself thinking, but often do not have the words to state myself. Thank you again :-)

~Grace

3:16 PM  

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