Men’s Game blogs often advocate that a man not do what his wife tells him to do for fear of compromising his masculine authority and becoming less attractive to her as a result.
What most people don’t realize is that the Bible teaches the same lesson: Eve tells Adam to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and like a good beta husband, he does. Voila! Sin! Seriously, three chapters into Genesis, and we’ve already got Adam doing Eve’s bidding. The results of such betatude? Well, in addition to the aforementioned sin and therefore death (no more Tree of Life!), not to mention expulsion from Eden:
- Women experience pain in childbirth — this is an exclusively human trait; no other animals experience pain in giving birth
- Women are put under the authority of their husbands
- Men must toil to ensure they can eat
- Sinful nature is passed on through men
Lesson? Don’t do what your wife tells you to do, or suffer the consequences.
(Probably the second-best “Don’t listen to your wife” Bible story? When Sarah told Abraham to take her servant Hagar as a concubine. The result of that union was Ishmael. The Middle East thanks you, Abraham!)
Haley's Halo 
Spot on, Haley.
Interestingly enough, last Sunday, my pastor said the passage in Genesis 3:16 usually rendered in English as “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” can also be translated as “You will desire to rule over your husband, yet he will rule over you”, which seems to tie in with how the English Standard Version translates it, where “for” could be “against”, apparently:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203:16&version=ESV
If you Google that phrase, “Your desire shall be against your husband”, there are eighteen results, and the most common interpretation seems to be that which my pastor discussed, that this is the origin of the battle of the sexes. (So again, the manosphere’s recognition of the desire of many women to dominate their men, but frustration when they successfully do so, has long been recognized by Christianity.)
And Judaism, too, obviously.
I did some searches last night on Gen. 3:16 and came across a page that had multiple English translations on it. The standard NIV translation of “Your desire will be for your husband” is rather nebulous, and I’ve seen that translation used in dubious ways (like telling women that it means they shall desire to have husbands, i.e., not be free of the desire to have a man in their life). KJV translates it as “thy desire shall be to thy husband.” I think a more accurate rendering of this verse is that woman’s will shall be bent to that of her husband.
I should point out that I don’t mean that men should never listen to the counsel of their wives. (The saying “behind every great man is a great woman” didn’t come from nowhere.) But there are a LOT of stories of men whose downfalls came from listening to their wives/girlfriends and not having the fortitude or wisdom to tell them no.
Indeed, if a man is wise, he will seek, as ‘an helpmeet’, a woman who is also wise, and will ask her for her opinions on things regularly, and take them into consideration in his decision-making. He’d be a fool not to.
Actually Hyena’s give birth through their clitoris which often tears during the birth. I doubt most women would want to swap out for their pain.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/060426_hyena_cubs.html
But the article doesn’t say that female hyenas experience great agony in the process. I’ve never given birth, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but human history seems to indicate that for most women, giving birth sans drugs is pretty darn excruciating.
Found you through Roissy. I’ve read two of your posts and encountered game discussion; biblical perspective; general wisdom… Impressive from a woman.
Hi, Cane, thank you and thanks for commenting.
“… no other animals experience pain in giving birth”
I understand that hyenas do. But then, male hyenas are uber-betas to their females.
I think this is horsehit, basically. You don’t comply to any “orders” from a woman (or a man), but you should never do what they ask? The Eden story is a deliberately twisted tale to make men fear any compliance on their parts.
On the flip side, if Pontius Pilate had listened to his wife, he wouldn’t have executed an innocent man. Also, Nabal should have listened to Abigail, and Sapphira followed her husband Ananias into sin.