Helpmeet - Ruprecht Wachter

[Example of Sarah]

One that my husband picked out for both of his wives was "Helpmeet - The Biblical Example of Sarah who Called her Husband Lord," by Ruprecht Wachter.
(for those who are wondering, yes, it's where my screen name came from)

It doesn't really say a lot about polygyny. That's only addressed in one chapter. Most of the rest is focused on what it actually means to be a submissive wife. The line early on that got my attention was this.

Women reading this often recoil and say "you make it sound as though my husband owns me." Well, plot twist: he does.

Long story short, the writer's not afraid to get a little politically incorrect about "here's what feminism says, here's what God says." It has a chapter on sex, a chapter on respect, a chapter on a husband's right to overrule a wife's decisions... it also has a chapter on divorce that was a little tough to swallow (essentially it was "if you're a woman and you've been divorced than you're living in adultery and need to return to your original husband right away"), but the writer backs up his words with Scripture after Scripture and makes it pretty tough to argue with his point.

It's short, it's straight to the point, and the book's not expensive at all (I think it was under ten bucks on Amazon even with tax and shipping). I'd highly recommend it for any wife, first or otherwise...
...or for any husband whose wife needs a little wake-up call.

 

[IndianaLife]

I do not own my wife. She's a helpmeet, not sub-human property.

 

[Joleneakamama]

It sounds like a book that has truth, and points worth learning from.

"if you're a woman and you've been divorced than you're living in adultery and need to return to your original husband right away"), but the writer backs up his words with Scripture after Scripture and makes it pretty tough to argue with his point.

I think marriage should be taken seriously....and the goal should be permanence, but YHWH allowed divorced women to remarry and He didn't say it was adultery if they did. Also Yeshua/Jesus speaking to the woman at the well (I realize it's an English translation) didn't tell her she had one husband and had been committing adultery with every man since. So I very much believe a biblically free and divorced woman is free to be another man's.

The truth makes us free. Too many women don't understand what to look for, in a husband and get ungodly men, too many also end up abandoned yet believing they are still bound.
Biblically if the man did not provide, protect, and do his part to give her children...he got cut off from Israel. DEPORTED if you will.
If a man does not provide for his own he has denied the faith and is WORSE than an infedel.
That is the responsibility side of the "authority" coin.

 

[Con8]

I joked with some of my tenants that if they call me Mi'lord I would lower their rent by 10%....I had no takers.
Not relevant to the discussion, my apologies. But it gave me a funny memory.

If my wife calls me Captain does that count?

Thank you for sharing it's an interesting read.

 

[NickF]

I do not own my wife. She's a helpmeet, not sub-human property.

My Lord owns me, and I'm not sub-human property.
The wife is to her husband as we each are to Christ. That's not an equal relationship. He owns us, Paul even described himself as being a slave. That sounds an awful lot like an owner...

 

[IndianaLife]

My Lord owns me, and I'm not sub-human property.
The wife is to her husband as we each are to Christ. That's not an equal relationship. He owns us, Paul even described himself as being a slave. That sounds an awful lot like an owner...

Per your interpretation of the scriptures not not per mine or my Church's.

Per our interpretation, men and women are equal, but have different responsibilities. There's a thread on here where someone, actually several, flat out stated women shouldn't even have the right to vote, and another advocated using physical violence in the form of spanking to discipline their wives; none of this is consistent with my understanding of scripture or what my Church teaches nor is "Women reading this often recoil and say "you make it sound as though my husband owns me." Well, plot twist: he does."

 

[Michael Moon]

Per your interpretation of the scriptures not not per mine or my Church's.

Per our interpretation, men and women are equal, but have different responsibilities. There's a thread on here where someone, actually several, flat out stated women shouldn't even have the right to vote, and another advocated using physical violence in the form of spanking to discipline their wives; none of this is consistent with my understanding of scripture or what my Church teaches nor is "Women reading this often recoil and say "you make it sound as though my husband owns me." Well, plot twist: he does."

That statement would seemingly put God and man as equals as well. But to be fair, if I am recalling correctly, you are LDS, which means your church also teaches: “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may become”. This will simply have to come down to a fundamental disagreement.

As for the other claims, please show where scripture encourages women to vote and condemns men spanking their wives. I believe scripture is silent on both of these matters.

 

[Mark C]

As for the other claims, please show where scripture encourages women to vote...

Actually, EVERY example of EITHER men or women engaged in a 'vote' in Scripture seems to come out badly for those who participate.

Here's a teaser: I have long identified three; I encourage anyone to find them, or a fourth.

The first is in Numbers chapter 14, and two guys, Joshua and Caleb, 'lost' that one: 10 to 2. BUT - every single 'voting age' (over 20) man who whined over it (the Bible says "all" of 'em) DIED in the wilderness.

 

[NickF]

Per your interpretation of the scriptures

Nah, that’s the literal description. No interpretation.

not not per mine or my Church's.

You’re free to twist scripture as many do. Your church is free to do the same. I fail to see how either “interpretations” has any bearing on what the truth is.

Per our interpretation, men and women are equal, but have different responsibilities.

Equal in value and worth assuredly. And certainly each has distinct roles and responsibilities.

There's a thread on here where someone, actually several, flat out stated women shouldn't even have the right to vote,

I agree, it’s a travesty women vote.

and another advocated using physical violence in the form of spanking to discipline their wives;

I disagree with this as do most here.

none of this is consistent with my understanding of scripture

Then I encourage you to study to show yourself approved. Be like those in Berea.

or what my Church teaches

Who cares what a religion teaches? I care what God’s word says, not men.

nor is "Women reading this often recoil and say "you make it sound as though my husband owns me." Well, plot twist: he does."

Glad to know you ascribe to feminism. You’ll find this is decidedly NOT the place for feminists.

 

[Maia]

Honestly, a man writing a book explaining how he wants women to be seems a bit brash.

 

[NickF]

You’d blush if you met me if you think that’s brash

 

[Maia]

Ahh, but your signature says you are a wolverine, brash is what I would expect.

 

[Maia]

Though out of curiosity, what would you consider brash?

 

[frederick]

Per your interpretation of the scriptures not not per mine or my Church's.

1 Cor. 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Men and women are equal in the sense of being equally sinful and equally condemned. The same price is paid for their salvation; the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just as men are subject to Christ, a wife is to subject herself to her husband. End of story. Cheers

 

[NickF]

Though out of curiosity, what would you consider brash?

Young women named Maia

You have to admit… you walked riiight into that one.

 

[Maia]

Young women named Maia

You have to admit… you walked riiight into that one.

Touché.

 

[IndianaLife]

As for the other claims, please show where scripture encourages women to vote and condemns men spanking their wives. I believe scripture is silent on both of these matters.

I didn't say scripture did; I said people on this forum do, in multiple threads, repeatedly, the same that claim women are their property.

 

[windblown]

Honestly, a man writing a book explaining how he wants women to be seems a bit brash.

The book described sounds an awful lot like another helpmeet book written by Debi Pearl. So you can read that one instead.

 

[Example of Sarah]

Per your interpretation of the scriptures not not per mine or my Church's.

That's actually not an interpretation at all. It's a verbatim quote.

 

[Example of Sarah]

I didn't say scripture did; I said people on this forum do, in multiple threads, repeatedly, the same that claim women are their property.

Again, this is because Scripture does make precisely this declaration, more than two dozen times.
Are you aware there was no Hebrew word for "husband?" In nearly every instance in the Old Testament, the word that becomes "husband" under King James's guidance was originally Baal, which meant "Master." It's the same word used to refer to the owner of goods in Deuteronomic property dispute laws. Quite literally every time you see the word "husband" in an English translation you are reading what was yet another declaration of a man's ownership over his wife in the original language of Scripture.