Saturday, March 12, 2005

Created to be His Help Meet

I have recently started reading Debi Pearl’s new book, “Created to be His Help Meet.” It has really convicted me to be better at my job. All too often I make excuses for not doing something I know needs to be done—dishes that have piled up, clothes that need folding. A great irony of our age is that while we live with all kinds of conveniences to make our jobs easier, we actually end up doing less overall. Can you imagine what our grandmothers and great-grandmothers could have accomplished with our modern tools? And here we squander them.

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, when all of us were sick with colds. I had a fever, and was lying on the couch watching TV and I came across a program called “How Clean is Your House?” In it, two middle-aged British ladies humiliate themselves as they visit the filthiest homes in the developed world. Apparently, they cannot identify stains without getting on their hands and knees and sniffing them. They will walk into a home covered with dirty clothes, animal refuse, moldy food, and make a big show of inspecting, with white-gloved fingers, the dust on the piano keys. Along the way, they purport to impart cleaning tips, but this show is strictly for “entertainment.” All the while, the families in whose dwelling the camera crews have invaded stand there beaming as if they were thrilled to be seen on television with a bathtub full of cat feces.

“Wow,” I thought, as I lay there on the couch, “I feel so much better about my house!”

Which is exactly the point, of course.

4 comments:

Mrs. Blessed said...

Hello, TulipGirl:

You are referring, I assume, to counsel such as this:

“But if your husband has sexually molested the children, you should approach him with it. If he is willing to seek counseling and repent, then fine and good. If not, then go to the law and have him arrested. Stick by him, but testify against him in court. Have him do about 10 to 20 years, and by the time he gets out, you will have raised the kids, and you can be waiting for him with open arms of forgiveness and restitution. Will this glorify God? Forever.”

I take it from your comments that you believe that this view is very “skewed.” Why you think I would care what you would consider a “valid source of Biblical counsel” I am not sure. What would make the counsel valid in your mind, TulipGirl? Is it not good enough that the woman is advised to have her own husband arrested? Michael Pearl is a preacher in a prison. Do you honestly think he has no understanding of what happens to child molesters in prison? Is it not good enough that she is advised to remove the man’s own children from his presence all of their minor years should he not repent of his actions? What could possibly be greater punishment than that?

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. (1 Pe 3:9).

Are you familiar with the legal adage, “Hard cases make bad law.”? I find it fascinating how people like you love to argue at the margins. It never seems to occur to progressive types that there is no good outcome when a family has been destroyed by sin such as this. The damage has already been done. Giving the woman carte blanche to leave her family won’t help. It is no kindness to her. Turning her towards God’s laws at that moment is the most loving thing a person can do.

For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. (1 Pe 3:17)

The woman is going to be suffering no matter what. Better that she work towards a positive end, than to pay bad for bad. Forgiveness works miracles on the forgiver too, you know.

Mrs. Blessed said...

I meant to give the URL to the article from which I took that paragraph:

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/index.php?id=25&backPID=41&tt_news=10

Kristen said...

I couldn't agree more with your assessment, Mrs. Blessed. If you are interested, several of us bloggers are reviewing the book (you can see details on my blog, and links to the other ladies' posts on this subject). ((HUG)) I can tell you that book is changing my life.

Kristen said...

Acutally, just so you don't have to putter around finding it, here's the link:

book review