Wedding Present: The Family Happiness book (page 3)

Hamas

A brother passed me this book from the literature dept. when it first came out.

I told him I would read it with interest, adding ' where's the bin? '

suzi_creamcheez

a cook, a dishwasher, a housekeeper, a decorator, a nursemaid... "

How wonderful to view your wife as cheap labor. What a bunch of sexist pigs. I haven't read this drivel in a long time, and it still makes me angry.

I'd better sublimate my irrational female emotions and go scrub the floor.

ashitaka

Ha. That damn book can be summed up in three sentences.

"The GB, Elders, Men are in charge, in that order. Question them, and you'll be dead forever, because God is fond of abusive men. If you don't like it, then you can put your head between your knees......"

ash

worldlygirl

jwbot: I believe it's a good book, if you want to give out some passages fine, I'll rebut.

Dorkycrass, thanks for your input. You are certainly entitled to your own ~~delusion~~ opinion.

ashitaka

jwbot: I believe it's a good book, if you want to give out some passages fine, I'll rebut.

DonkeyAss---Are you a male? If so, perhaps that's the reason why this book is so dear to you. Men are the lawmakers and heartbreakers in that thing, and women are just babymaking dishwashers.....but hey, they're still a 'large army'. (meaning, that they aren't good enough to give a talk, but they are allowed to repeat in door-to-door what their smart, spiritual husbands say..LOL)

ash

Zoewrex

Yea....as a Non-JW I got the Happiness Book & now we've added the Childrens 'Bible' to our collection of JW books. Eventually I'm going to go through each one with a fine toothed comb, make notes by the passages and return them to my parents. In the meantime they're next to my Book of Morman and Tibetian Books.

Nosferatu

"Similarly, a man who takes the success of his marriage seriously will seek a wife that he can love as his own flesh. She should complement him as a partner in establishing a home. (Genesis 2:18)

This I agree with.

Being a good homemaker is a demanding career of varied responsibilities.

This is stupid. They're implying that the woman should be a homemaker.

"You will gain respect from your wife if you show yourself steady and strong and able to make decisions.

As usual with this issue, the Society gets the technique right....

"To live today, in many lands, it takes a great deal of money, and you as the husband must make the decisions that govern how this need will be met"

...but loses it all in their examples.

Basically, women like to work under a ceiling of authority, provided that it is exercised properly.

I agree.

Woman was made to be ‘a helper for the man, as a complement of him.’

I disagree.

"A woman psychologist wrote: “Basically, women feel while men think.” "

I agree.

Weeping and nagging are not wise.

The Society has just contradicted itself. Women are EMOTIONAL, while men are logical. Now the woman cannot be emotional. I could get into a long description on how to prevent this, by doing things correctly in the beginning of the relationship, but I'll save it for another time. The Society misses the importance of first impressions.

25 Why do the Scriptures single out the wife for this counsel? Probably because women are generally more emotional and more inclined to give vent to their feelings, especially when they are disturbed about something.

Agreed.

Also, they may feel it is the only weapon they have

Disagreed. You can tell a man wrote this. Women normally don't plan on getting emotional to get their own way. If they're conditioned to get their own way, and things suddenly change, that's when their emotions will start going whacko.

As head of the house a husband may arbitrarily have his way, so the wife may feel that she must resort to putting on emotional pressure. You, the wife, should not indulge in such tactics, and your husband should not make you feel forced to do so."

Again, the Society gets it wrong. They should be councelling the man NOT to condition their wives to act this way, rather than giving the woman shit for being a woman. They should be councelling the man NOT to make personal sacrifices to keep the woman happy. Keeping the woman happy is not the goal of marriage, keeping the marriage happy is. They should also be teaching the man how to deal with women in their emotional states.

Their interpretation is all wrong.

dorkycrass

Chapter 2:
"Similarly, a man who takes the success of his marriage seriously will seek a wife that he can love as his own flesh. She should complement him as a partner in establishing a home. (Genesis 2:18) Being a good homemaker is a demanding career of varied responsibilities. It calls for demonstrating talents as a cook, decorator, economist, mother, teacher, and much more. Her role can be creative and challenging, offering many opportunities for personal growth and fulfillment. A good wife, like a worthwhile husband, is a worker: “She is watching over the goings on of her household, and the bread of laziness she does not eat.”—Proverbs 31:27."

That is if you choose to be a full-time homemaker, but of course you can always hire a nanny

Chapter 4:"The Bible assigns the husband to a position of headship in the marriage arrangement, saying: “Let wives be in subjection to their husbands as to the Lord, because a husband is head of his wife as the Christ also is head of the congregation, he being a savior of this body. In fact, as the congregation is in subjection to the Christ, so let wives also be to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24) Will this arrangement really contribute to happiness in the household? Some women speak out against what they describe as male chauvinism, that is, a vainglorious or exaggerated view that some men have toward their position in relation to women. But let us say at the outset that the teachings of the Bible do not endorse such male chauvinism."
"If you set the example of submission to the headship of Christ, it will not be a difficult thing—in fact, it can be a pleasure—for your wife to have deep respect for your headship as her husband."
"Also, some wives complain that their husbands are domineering. Perhaps this has resulted from the wife’s attempts to usurp his headship, with his resisting such usurpation"
"On the other hand, instead of abusing headship, some husbands abdicate it. They pass all the decision-making over to their wives. Or, while telling the wife ‘not to rush them,’ they procrastinate so much that family interests suffer. They may not be lazy or idle physically, but if they shy away from mental effort the results can be the same as those described in Proverbs 24:33, 34: “‘A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,’ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.“—Revised Standard Version."
"You will gain respect from your wife if you show yourself steady and strong and able to make decisions. But that does not mean that no one else in the household is to be consulted or that your wife’s opinion is not to be given serious consideration just because it does not happen to agree with yours"
"To live today, in many lands, it takes a great deal of money, and you as the husband must make the decisions that govern how this need will be met"
"Although in most cases it is the husband who brings in the money for the family’s support, it should not be forgotten that it is earned by a joint effort. If you, the husband, think you are doing this by yourself, then just stop and figure out what it would cost you to hire a purchasing agent, a cook, a dishwasher, a housekeeper, a decorator, a nursemaid, and so forth. "
While appreciating the areas in which your needs are alike, you also need to understand the psychological differences between the two of you if you are going to ‘assign honor’ to your wife. Basically, women like to work under a ceiling of authority, provided that it is exercised properly. This is the way Jehovah God created them. Woman was made to be ‘a helper for the man, as a complement of him.’
"A woman psychologist wrote: “Basically, women feel while men think.” "

But the head can't move if the neck is stiff

Chapter 5 has a LOT but I will post one:
"24 Weeping and nagging are not wise. They are damaging to a marriage. They alienate a husband. The Bible warns against such practices, as in the following scriptures quoted from The New English Bible: “He who harps on something breaks up friendship.” “A nagging wife is like water dripping endlessly.” “Better to live alone in the desert than with a nagging and ill-tempered wife.” “Endless dripping on a rainy day—that is what a nagging wife is like. As well try to control the wind as to control her! As well try to pick up oil in one’s fingers!”—Proverbs 17:9; 19:13; 21:19; 27:15, 16.
25 Why do the Scriptures single out the wife for this counsel? Probably because women are generally more emotional and more inclined to give vent to their feelings, especially when they are disturbed about something. Also, they may feel it is the only weapon they have. As head of the house a husband may arbitrarily have his way, so the wife may feel that she must resort to putting on emotional pressure. You, the wife, should not indulge in such tactics, and your husband should not make you feel forced to do so."
"30 Now her husband comes home, and he has some news to tell. As he enters the door, he starts out, ‘You’ll never guess what happened at work . . .’ He never gets any farther. She interrupts him with, ‘How did you get that spot on your coat? Be careful where you walk. I just cleaned the floor.’ He may hesitate to take up his story again.
31 Or, perhaps they are conversing with friends and he is relating an experience, but he leaves out some of the details or doesn’t get them all exactly right. His wife cuts in, first to correct the flaws, then to round out the story. Before long he takes a deep breath and says, ‘Why don’t you tell it?’"

I wouldn't want to get home to a nagging wife.

SixofNine

"A woman psychologist wrote: ?Basically, women feel while men think.?

Oh horseshit.

avishai

Dorkycrass, Are you or have you been in a relationship? Married?

Wedding Present: The Family Happiness book

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