10-31: A Video Interview Ideal Husband

Although I don’t know many women over the age of 35, the pastor from my church back home, Pastor Wade, allowed me to have a video interview his wife. His wife, Nicole, was very accommodating and was very happy to answer questions about her faith. During the interview, she was able to tell me about how she became a Christian, how she feels about women in her faith, and I was able to reflect on what I learned from here. I have talked with Nicole before, but this will be the first time I will speak to her on a personal level. At age 41, Nicole grew up and lived in Hawaii for her whole life. She was introduced to Christianity at a very young age due to both her parents being Christians and attending a private Christian school since pre-school.

When she was a child, she was taught that men and women were considered to be equals before God, and she still believes this. However, there were times when she felt like the desires of women were suppressed in the Bible. Like so many women, she has heard Proverbs 31:10-31 and how it gives a description of what the ideal wife is. While she agreed that women should have a code of conduct to be responsible wives, she thought Proverbs 31 was too perfectionist and that no real women could actually follow through on the entirety of the description. Plus, she doesn’t believe that the description was a direct command from God of how women should be, but rather, a message to women that they only be wise in their choices. She showed me another passage, Titus 2:3-5, that had similar content to Proverbs 31. This passage described older women as being loving towards husbands and children, wise, sensible, pure, workers at home, and subject to husbands. To me Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 sounded very similar. Nicole held on to her beliefs that women don’t have to be the exact type of women described in these passages. However, she did believe women should always strive to better themselves to show love and kindness to man, women, and children alike. She wanted to develop herself to have the loving and patient personality that would make people smile in accordance with God’s command to love others as God loves her and believed that men should try to develop this personality as well. I was surprised since, this is the kind of personality I’ve been trying to develop for myself. Also, like me, Nicole believed that man and women would achieves so much if we became people that desired support each rather than one being dominant over the other. As mentioned before, she loved reading about the Book of Ruth due to the story showing women with a strong belief in conviction and loyalty. She also admitted that she loved