A Facebook account that goes by the name "Always Learning" is run by a woman who preaches the word of God. Yet, she posts things that are so twisted, so anti-women's rights, that I honestly am in utter disbelief that any woman has these thoughts. Recently, she had one of her posts go viral. It is pictured below.
After a little bit of digging, I discovered that the account is run by a woman named Lori Alexander, and she has posted several photos like the one above. The journal entry made me very uneasy. I thought, I do not exist solely to make my future husband happy or his life easier, and I may not necessarily "expect" him to help with the chores, but I do expect enough respect from him that he will someday help, just like I will help him. Balance. Her post disgusted me, but not nearly as much as the post I discovered on her page soon after. It is pictured below.
Soon after I became furious, I read this one.
These photos do not include her comments that continue to degrade women further and more specifically, as well as other pictures that tell us women are expected to "submit" to their husbands and that he is their leader.
I don't believe in judging other people, and I certainly don't believe in insulting people just because of something that they believe in. But this journal entry made me sick, and I could not allow her thoughts to enter my brain like poison without throwing the antidote back.
Lori, I don't know your story. I don't know how you were raised. I don't know how the Lord has entered your life, and I don't know your thought processes. So I suppose I cannot be angry, but I must admit I am outraged by your posts. Not necessarily at you, but at the words. I am outraged even thinking about the idea that my sole existence is to get married, bear children, and keep up with household chores. I refuse to believe that that is what the Lord created me to do. I have too much brain, too much strength, too much empowerment, too much ambition, and too much spirit to sit around in a house for the rest of my life cleaning and raising children not even for myself, but for my husband. The Lord would not have given me these qualities if He did not expect me to use them.
Let me just say this. I believe the Bible to be law, but to an extent. I believe all the words that Jesus Christ had said that are marked in the Bible are truth. I believe the parables that are told to us throughout the various chapters are truth. And I believe that the Lord has given us the Bible to follow, to worship, and to believe in. But the time the Bible was written was a very different time. Women were perceived as objects, good for nothing but bearing children and obeying their husbands, and even punished by God for being female. And whether that is what women really were like back then or not, the fact of the matter is that God has made man and woman equal in today's society. Maybe equality was gradually given to all humans by Him, or maybe it has always been this way, but I am no less of a human than a man, and I deserve the same amount of respect that a man receives.
There is nothing wrong with child-bearing and growing a family and cleaning the house. There is nothing wrong with the lifestyle that you have described. But the idea that you stated involving that women should only do these things in life, and how you have described in your comments that women can very well be women entrepreneurs, but it is not God's will, is ridiculous. God's will is already happening. God's plan is already being followed, whether it is willingly or unwillingly. All of the successful women in the world--and, mind you, there are a lot--are not forsaken by God just because they have made something of themselves other than a wife.
God loves me. He watches over me every day, and I am unworthy of Him. But that is not because I refuse to suppress my God-given abilities in order to make myself this ideal wife you have described. Yes, I will perhaps someday marry a man partially because he will protect me and provide for me, but not without the full understanding that I will do my best to protect and provide for him as well. Again, balance. I will NOT, however, marry my husband just to make his life easier, and I do fully EXPECT that together, we will make EACH OTHER'S lives easier. And this is not every woman's plan; some women never want to get married at all. It is up to her to decide whether or not she would like to.
Go ahead, Lori. Continue to live your life as you wish, because you are a human being and you have the ability to choose your lifestyle. I respect that. But please respect that I, and quite frankly, a majority of the female community, strongly disagree with you. I am more than what you want me to be. I am more than a wife for my future husband. I am a woman. And just like men, I have the right to be successful and provide for my family if I please. God will watch over me and love me for it, just as He will watch over you and love you for what you do. I am not sinning for being determined to be successful. God lives within me, and kindles my flame of ambition everyday. I refuse to believe your words. I am more.
As for all of the women reading this, I encourage you to take a snippet of Lori's advice: "Stand strong in your convictions." Do not allow Lori's ideas to fill your heads and convince you that you are nothing more than a wife created to obey her husband. You know you have the brain to extend much farther past that role. Use it. Follow the Lord's plan, believe in Him, trust Him, and trust the gut feeling you have that tells you you are worth so much more. God is pushing you to be your best, whatever your definition of "best" is. You are a woman. Be proud, and show the world what you can do.
