Cheryl Schatz

truthseeker,
Thanks for the welcome back! Sometimes I get so busy that I just don’t have time for a lot of back and forth. I will need to go shortly but will try to pop back once in awhile today to see how things are going.

Similarly, nearly all the directives in the NT about how we are to live and to treat one another are not directed to specific genders. Nowhere does the bible say anything like ‘women need…’ or ‘men need ….’ The closest possibility is the comment about women being the weaker vessel, yet there is still no mention of them always ‘needing’ a particular thing because of this.

Actually I think that Peter does mention what women need. They need “understanding”. My husband and I have been talking a lot about this and we have found something that works for us. When I need him to be understanding I say first that I need him to just listen and I don’t need him to fix anything. This gives him the ability to relax and not feel like he is to be in the position of a “fixer”. He then can hear me and our conversations are without an unseen blockage that used to be there. He used to see some of our conversations as an “attack”. I could never see how he thought that way, but when I understood that as a man he always felt obligated to “fix” me or whatever we were talking about, he was always on edge and felt inadequate. Now when I assure him that he isn’t being asked to “fix” anything, he is able to give me his understanding by just listening. Does this make sense?

I, too, agree that respect is something women like/need as much as men.

I agree. Respect is something that we all need. My emphasis on a man’s tender ego was not meant to say that he needs more respect than a woman does.