Tom Williams: A Working Woman Creates a Spirit of Independency

In the sermon One Flesh, Tom Williams states that a woman who works creates a spirit of independency, and when she creates that spirit of independency, you have problems. He also implies a correlation between women working and marriages that end in divorce.

It is certainly true that a husband and wife are one flesh according to the Bible, and there are many things that try to divide a husband and a wife. The home is the foundational building block of society, and as goes the home, so goes everything else. That puts the home in the devil's crosshairs.

But there is nothing in the Bible against a woman working. In fact, the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 is one who does a lot of work. The focus of her work, though, is her family, not herself. And that is the key. But it should be the same for the husband. Work should not be for him, but for his family. That is part of the sacrifice that comes from having a family.

[TheProverbsmom]

A question I often like to ask anyone with some kind of authority or leadership role is " Would you follow you?" Some of these men would not allow another man to treat them the way they would like to treat their wives. The sad reality is that if you can only retain your wife because she is dependent upon you, you don't have a marriage, you have a chattel slave.

[IFBPreachers]

It is true that a person can develop an unhealthy view of the marriage relationship, but that is not limited to women and not solely due to a wife working. Men can be too consumed with their jobs that they don't invest in the marriage relationship or develop unhealthy relationships with women at their workplace, and many do. (Yet, he didn't mention either of those through the entire message. The link is in the description, if anyone cares to listen to the whole thing.)

Though I'm sure the scenario Tom Williams speaks of does exist, I'm also pretty sure that many wives leave their husbands after the children are grown because they were just in the marriage for the children. They worked so that they could have the independence to leave. And then there are those who leave regardless of whether or not they worked, relying on the goodwill of others to help them out of a situation in which they had no intention of staying.

[thefluffykirbyprincess]

Everything he says in this is nonsense, but even if it WAS true that women that become independent in any way immediately get divorced, shouldn't we be asking why all these women are leaving their husbands as soon as they have the opportunity? If you have to have a codependent relationship where the wife has no options to keep your wife from leaving you, maybe there are bigger marital issues that need to be dealt with.

[dandugan]

Please make the intro music quieter in relation to the video.

[revcc]

Nothing worse than a spirit of independence. Next thing you know, women will start thinking they have the option of leaving an abusive husband.

[John.]

I actually agree with him on this, and believe it to be a Biblical principle on having distinct roles in marriage. I can speak from my own experience that when my wife stopped working and took more of the responsibilities within the house (rather than 50/50), the dynamic in our marriage improved a great deal. And thats not just my opinion, my wife says the same thing.

[trentthompson]

Yep, it's a throwback to John R. Rice's sermon ( in pamphlet form ) Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers. I wonder if in IFB churches a woman is allowed to say, Amen openly during the preaching ? Probably never called on to lead in prayer . smh

[debbiebrown]

I think men like that preacher just resent women not being in tight bondage. Marriage is a 2 way street. Yes, the husband is the leader, and the wife needs to acknowledge that, but a husband that loves his wife as himself won't dictate everything she does. He isn't supposed be like Diotrephes. He won't ask her to completely throw away all her talents and interests if he's a biblical leader.

[stillWaters]

Ha, support this garbage with scripture, buddy. That's all you can say to these wolves. So let's consider the Proverbs 31 woman. She's industrious...does all kinds of work. Is nice to her husband, gathers supplies, buys land, farms the land, puts on her war diaper (girds her loins), has enough & is kind enough to give to the poor, spins wool, sells her wares, gets up early, cooks food for family & servants, is strong in every way, gets up early & stays up late toiling, makes her family well-off/well-clothed, isn't scared about the future, brings her husband honor, is wise & kind, is honored by her family, outshines everyone around her, fears the Lord & earns her own reward for her labors. Now, what the hell is HE talking about? He's not speaking of following Jesus.