get thee out, satan

Through a long, strange chain of internet surfing, I recently found myself reading the blogs of Christian housewives. These are not your ordinary, garden-variety Christians; these are the women that firmly believe that because they are female, it is a sin to have a job. (I kind of wish it was a sin for me to have a job, actually. As it is, not having a job would make me "lazy," not "godly." Maybe I'll convert.) Anyway, the blog that drew me in the most was one called Biblical Womanhood, which is presently engaged in a roaring debate over whether the author is "acting independently of her husband" or not. The author is all in a tizzy about being accused of such a horrible thing, and is desperately seeking as many opinions as she can of whether people have seen her thinking or acting for herself, because she certainly has not meant to do so!

"I really want to know if you see that I am acting independently from my husband. And to the anonymous commenter, I would SO appreciate it if you would email me privately and share with me how you have specifically seen me getting off-course and acting independently of my husband. I know it is so easy to do and I am ever trying to keep my eyes focused on Christ and the role that God has given me as wife and mother."

If any of you are worried, fear not, she did get a lot of responses reassuring her that there is no evidence of any independent thought going on. Whew.

Another anonymous commenter, clearly intending to hold herself up as an example of how to be, posted this: "As you completely submit to God's leading through him, God can change his heart. This is the beauty of submission--we are no longer trying to push our will upon our husbands, but we are at peace to allow God to work through them." Thank you for not suggesting, as some Christian women do, that this is one area in which we should not submit. I whole-heartedly believe that we are to trust our husbands leadership...even if he should desire to limit the family size. In our case, my husband chose to have a vasectomy after our second child was born. As he drove to his appointment on that particular day, I prayed that the Lord might change his heart and prevent him from going through with it. But, that was not the case. I have not been bitter or angry with my husband for it. We are a joyful, fun-loving family...and it may always just be the four of us. I will be thankful for the two precious, healthy children that we are training up. Perhaps someday my husband's heart will change. Or, perhaps we will have a "surprise" pregnancy! I've heard of this happening! So, thanks again, for affirming those of us who choose submission, even when we're not sure of our husband's decisions.
-Anonymous

There is also a lengthy discussion of whether blogging is an appropriate activity for Christian women, since it's time spent selfishly which may "allow Satan to creep in the cracks." Whoops. Hey there, Satan. Guess you and I are pretty cozy, since not only do I have a job, I have a blog. And I make my own decisions. Oh, and I'm not married, but if my husband were to do something that I thought to be a terrible mistake, I think I'd let him know rather than praying for God to stop him. I haven't seen too many burning bushes lately, so I'm thinking divine intervention may have gone out of style a little while ago.

I suppose I'm being offensive and should stop writing this post, but geez. Does this disturb anyone else? These are the same people who seem to believe that all Iraqis secretly want to be "liberated" even though appearances suggest otherwise. If they're so into liberation, could they start at home, perhaps? Holy crap.

All right, I'll stop now.