Isn't He Right (Just a Little?)?

I think it was the first fundy church I was a part of where I heard "even an old barn needs a fresh coat of paint once in a while". If I had been drinking coffee it would have been across the room. It was sort of foreign to me at the time. Prior to this fundy church I had been part of a conservative Wesleyan denomination. It was in an Amish/Mennonite area, so probably 10-15% of the church were originally from an Anabaptist background which Wesleyan doctrine wasn't too far off from. So part of that whole culture was simplicity. If a women wore more than just a little make up she was considered to be boastful or trying to draw attention to herself. I still remind my wife about the "old barn" statement once in awhile but I usually get physically assaulted.
 
Sorry, but that sermon totally rubbed me the wrong way, and I expect that ladies in general (not just General Baptists) would not appreciate that kind of preaching and would not want to join a church that preaches that kind of message. Any church that wants to retain any women of childbearing age in the congregation needs to think twice before dumping all over the ladies for the way that they look and dress. And they need to ask themselves if there is any Scriptural basis for all these strict dress codes and for accommodating men who are lustful.

Can this principle be adopted by married women who feel that their slovenly husbands have "let themselves go" or if the husband is not all dressed up like a fashion plate all the time, at home and in public? If not, then why the double standard? If the husband's weight creeps up over a certain level, is that grounds for divorce, too?

Over the years I have tried to avoid criticizing my girlfriends for the way they dress, because I felt that if I did, that would give them equal rights to dump all over me for the way that I dress - and I don't want that.
 
Can this principle be adopted by married women who feel that their slovenly husbands have "let themselves go" or if the husband is not all dressed up like a fashion plate all the time, at home and in public? If not, then why the double standard? If the husband's weight creeps up over a certain level, is that grounds for divorce, too?
Ten years of marriage and my wife has yet to see me dressed up like a fashion plate. Not to mention my weight went "over a certain level" long before she met me.
The only reason I even worry about my wife's weight going up is because of her diabetes. Otherwise she looks fine to me.
But even as a young guy, I decided not to pick a wife solely for looks because once you hit about 40, those youthful girlish appearances take more and more maintenance than they're worth. And as I got older, my first wife gained weight, etc. and still looked fine to me...and to the guy she dumped me for.
The thing about remarrying in middle age is that what you see is what you get, and it's not going to change all that much. The biggest changes in my present wife's appearance were due to breast cancer. A mastectomy and chemo will do that to a girl. Seven years post-cancer, I'm happy to have her as she is!

In a related incident, I passed this on as a cautionary tale to a FB friend of mine who lives in that area whose husband just took a pastorate in a Church of God congregation. Apparently this GB pastor is now Public Enemy #1 in the Missouri bootheel.
 
Ten years of marriage and my wife has yet to see me dressed up like a fashion plate. Not to mention my weight went "over a certain level" long before she met me.
The only reason I even worry about my wife's weight going up is because of her diabetes. Otherwise she looks fine to me.
But even as a young guy, I decided not to pick a wife solely for looks because once you hit about 40, those youthful girlish appearances take more and more maintenance than they're worth. And as I got older, my first wife gained weight, etc. and still looked fine to me...and to the guy she dumped me for.
The thing about remarrying in middle age is that what you see is what you get, and it's not going to change all that much. The biggest changes in my present wife's appearance were due to breast cancer. A mastectomy and chemo will do that to a girl. Seven years post-cancer, I'm happy to have her as she is!

In a related incident, I passed this on as a cautionary tale to a FB friend of mine who lives in that area whose husband just took a pastorate in a Church of God congregation. Apparently this GB pastor is now Public Enemy #1 in the Missouri bootheel.
I told my wife a few years back that I felt she had better up her game, that Angelie Jolie had split from Brad and was now available. For some strange reason she never seemed to get too concerned over it.
 
I told my wife a few years back that I felt she had better up her game, that Angelie Jolie had split from Brad and was now available. For some strange reason she never seemed to get too concerned over it.
So your wife knows that Jolie would instantly know you're a total loser? That's how I'm taking it.
 
If this General Baptist preacher in the Bootheel of the State of Misery is now in the doghouse for his male chauvinist rant, this may serve as a helpful warning to Baptist preachers in general, to re-evaluate their critical spirit toward the ladies. Depending on the church and the preacher, ladies who go to church may get lambasted for not being attractive enough, or for being too attractive (if Tony Hutson is preaching that day). Without women of child-bearing age, fundamentalism as we know it and love it will die out, so maybe it's time to stop dumping all the blame on the ladies for the horny Baptist men and for the divorces, and lay off on all the petty fault-finding on every little item of clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, etc. Can I get a HAY-MANN?
 
So your wife knows that Jolie would instantly know you're a total loser? That's how I'm taking it.
No, no, I'm sure there was another reason-just haven't figured it out why yet.
 
Top