J.Maxwell rents home to parents?

[WonderingInWA]

I wonder if they don't rent it out because it promotes the idea that people shouldn't live in a house they don't own? Like maybe, even if the family is a "good Christian family" and passes "the test", that they are still sinners because they are renting instead of buying?

[DrPusey]

Who the hell really says stuff like "I always enjoy a small chuckle with myself?" It's like Joseph is acknowledging a dual personality or something.

[jinx_apologist]

I think the best part is how he makes it sound like it's written for the benefit of other fundies to know how to address these questions, rather than directly to the naysayers. The Maxwells would never want to acknowledge that some heathen criticism gets to them.

[anjulibai]

I wonder if they don't rent it out because it promotes the idea that people shouldn't live in a house they don't own? Like maybe, even if the family is a "good Christian family" and passes "the test", that they are still sinners because they are renting instead of buying?

I'm guessing that's probably it, but my response to that would be, what does a "good Christian family" do while they are saving for a home? What if they were saved after marrying before being converted to the one true path of debt free? Do they just live in a tent until they have saved enough money for a house?

[Marian the Librarian]

If you're in your 20s/30s and still need your parents and siblings to serve as your "accountability partners," what does that say about the degree of confidence you have in your upbringing?

Steve? Teri? Anyone??

[WonderingInWA]

I'm guessing that's probably it, but my response to that would be, what does a "good Christian family" do while they are saving for a home? What if they were saved after marrying before being converted to the one true path of debt free? Do they just live in a tent until they have saved enough money for a house?

I don't know and I'd love to hear Stevie's answer on that. I'm sure deep down he feels even the best of Christian families, if they rent, that's a nick in their perfection. And, apartments and rental properties are for heathens. Something like that. Although he'd probably never be so bold as to say it in those terms.

[anjulibai]

I don't know and I'd love to hear Stevie's answer on that. I'm sure deep down he feels even the best of Christian families, if they rent, that's a nick in their perfection. And, apartments and rental properties are for heathens. Something like that. Although he'd probably never be so bold as to say it in those terms.

I'd love to hear the answer on that, too, along with a host of other questions. The big one being, what does a "good Christian young man" do if he wants to become a lawyer or engineer? And, why is it okay for "good Christian women" to go see female doctors, when a woman's place is in the home?

[fundiefan]

Joseph's explanations are party line down the the vowels. I laughed all the way through reading it.

I also have to ask Stevie boy and those like him, if your son needs 'accountability' to prove his virginity when he starts a'courtin', then can you say you've raised him 'right' and done all the perfect things god says? His word SHOULD be enough, because he is an honest, godly, pure young man for Christ; he shouldn't need the 'accountability' of living with his parents and adult siblings to prove a damn thing.

A friend's niece just got married in August. Their family has it's own weird religion thing going on...the girl is 25. She and her now husband met when they were 21 and started dating - not courting, dating - when they were 22. She went away to college (bible college in Indiana somewhere, but 'college' at least, she's a teacher now) from 18 - 22. College is where the two met. When she got her first teaching job, she got her own apartment. Her boyfriend has his own apartment as well. Their families got to know each other, the couple attended church together, and did everything dating couples do. Except sex. While one can always say 'you never know' when two people say they're virgins, especially when they've spent 4 years in each other's company, often alone, these two young adults were trusted implicitly by their families. They were raised to remain virgins until the wedding night. There isn't a soul who thinks either of them lied, at least none that said so publicly. And, given a few things my friend said her niece discussed with the women of the family at a post-honeymoon event, any doubt was tossed out the window.

The way they did things is not my way and not what I would choose for any child in my family. But, whatever. The point is....both these young people went out and lived their lives, but their family and church and religious ties kept them 'pure' until their wedding; actually, per my friend, the first night of their honeymoon, two nights after the wedding, in Cancun. Which, as a side note...I saw the honeymoon pictures of them in Cancun. They thoroughly 'did' tourist Mexico, without a drop of alcohol. (Which is odd...because the girl's parents are pretty big parties even in their religious stupor...then again, her father left the family about 5 years ago to shack up with an old high school friend for two years...but saw the light and went back to the loving arms of his godly family without ramifications, except for the chick he shacked up with who was left holding the bag on a joint business venture and a house)....anyway, the decisions of the 'kids' just show that they are even more strict than their parents and made their own choices.

So, suck it Stevie boy. If you raise your kids 'right', they don't need accountability by living with mommy & daddy until the wedding night. If you instilled the right values into them, they wouldn't think of ruining their purity before the big night.

Financially, whatever. If you can live rent free with mommy and daddy, I guess I don't fault that. But, as others said, rent the damn house out. It's sitting there, being wasted.

The whole 'best friends' thing was total kool-aid bullshit.

[WonderingInWA]

If you've never had a friend outside of your family, you'd never know what a "best friend" looks like, what they share, what makes them different from your family members. And sure, you can call a family member your best friend, but I have shared much more of my private life with my friends than I ever have with my family, warts and all.

[kpmom]

It occurred to me while reading Joseph's post, I'm sure Steve would expect this "accountability" from any young man who might want to court his daughters.

So, basically, any guy who is not living at home would be rejected by Steve.

[Kira]

He seems pretty confident that he will marry. His own brother didn't find a wife until he was 31. His sister is nearly 32 with no courtship in site. Anna will turn 21 in a couple weeks and is "prime" marriageable age, yet has no prospects in site. "Somebody" is not happy with all things Maxwell as they are not being "blessed" in the marriage area.

Maybe the next post will have something to do with 5 unmarried adult children. Clearly, something is wrong.

I wonder if they'll address it. Next year all of the unmarried children living at home will be adults. I think Joseph will get married soon. Christopher's recovered quickly from his failed courtship. Maybe Joseph has a good reason to be confident.

[WonderingInWA]

It occurred to me while reading Joseph's post, I'm sure Steve would expect this "accountability" from any young man who might want to court his daughters.

So, basically, any guy who is not living at home would be rejected by Steve.

Agreed. Which brings up John-Marie again. He's got to be a candidate for Anna. My guess is NR-Anna will have her baby in February (is that right?) and then there will be some Spring courtin' announcement. And before all that fun, one of these Naysayer lectures will be from Sarah talking more in depth about why she doesn't mind being a spinster.

[fundiefan]

If you've never had a friend outside of your family, you'd never know what a "best friend" looks like, what they share, what makes them different from your family members. And sure, you can call a family member your best friend, but I have shared much more of my private life with my friends than I ever have with my family, warts and all.

Exactly. Best friends - any friends - are a choice. People you choose and who choose you, not people you spend every second of life with. Friends don't always share your views or choices, friends don't live as you do, but they choose you anyway, and you choose them.

Friend does not = family. That can be the case, but they're independent of each other. I am friends with my siblings and cousins, but we most likely wouldn't be friends if we didn't already know each other/have a common bond.

My friends are my friends, we met, we built a relationship, we keep that relationship going - because we choose to, not because we have to.

The Maxwells don't know what friends are or how they enrich life and make it worth living. They don't have choices. They have indoctrination and the world of Steve.

[Justme]

My youngest sister and I are "best friends". I left home when she was 2 to go to the 'ebil college and never returned. (After college, I got a job and "life".) We live over 1500 miles apart and have our own families.

Stevie/Joey, you don't need to "live together" to be "best friends".

[VooDooChild]

For a Scriptural basis for this thinking, I look no further than the first family that God created—Adam, Eve, and eventually their children. Genesis 2:18 says, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.†A very practical secondary application in this verse is that it is not good for me to live alone.

:? Er...maybe it just means that being the only human on earth would be lonely. Oops! Did I just do logic?

[singsingsing]

One of Adam's sons murdered his other son, so I don't know if I would want to model my family unit specifically after that...

[BornFree]

He seems pretty confident that he will marry. His own brother didn't find a wife until he was 31. His sister is nearly 32 with no courtship in site. Anna will turn 21 in a couple weeks and is "prime" marriageable age, yet has no prospects in site. "Somebody" is not happy with all things Maxwell as they are not being "blessed" in the marriage area.

Maybe the next post will have something to do with 5 unmarried adult children. Clearly, something is wrong.

It could be that Steve and Teri reap much benefit by keeping their adult children (especially the daughters) unmarried. I've often thought Steve has selected PoorSarah to be the one to care for him and Terri in their old age. Anna does most of the shopping and cooking. Together the daughters do almost all the cleaning. The sons do all sorts of home and car chores. All the kids do the grunt work for the dog and pony shows. Plus, who would Steve and Teri have around to manage and control if their kids were all out of the house? An blindly obedient household staff of 6 is not too shabby!

[Haligh the Liar]

That was a hilarious read. But I don't see Joseph ever responding to comments asking, "why he doesn't rent it out?"

I asked again. We'll see if it passes the Steve filter.

[Patsy]

Oh, Kylie. :doh: I'm wondering if abba12 (fundie lurker who used to post here and who would often report to various bloggers) will report it to Steve - she's Australian and I'm sure she's commented at the blog a few times.

[anjulibai]

I asked again. We'll see if it passes the Steve filter.

I asked, too, no response, but this is Part I. Maybe they will address such naysayers as us in the next post.

I like how they characterize people that disagree or critisize them or just ask a question as having an agenda. As is the Maxwells don't.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

That was a hilarious read. But I don't see Joseph ever responding to comments asking, "why he doesn't rent it out?"

Exactly, because that is the obvious question.

He has to pay utilities on his remodelled house even if he doesn't live in it. We're not THAT naive, Steve-O. Yeah, you can maybe leave the heat at 50, but you can't not have it on, in the winter, and you better well have insurance on the house if you know what's good for ya, I'm just speaking as someone who has lived through arson, here. Also there's property taxes.

...at which point, it makes more sense to rent the house. You have someone else living in it and keeping it up, watching out for it, keeping up the yard, and also paying the utilities too, plus if you can swing it in your market, you set the rent to a point where you make some small profit - not huge, if like me you feel that it's a "paying it forward" thing to offer a nice cheap rent, but just a bit.

The Maxwell kids have enough home maintenance skills to be fine landlords, they can easily rent out houses they own and don't care to live in. In fact, they can do that, and gather money to buy more houses, if they want. Eventually you can make a living doing ONLY that.

But what do I know, I'm just a girl.

...who owns and rents out the house I lived in before marrying :)

[fundiefan]

I just asked if Adam & Eve are their example for life why doesn't Joseph marry Sara and just propagate? If Adam & Eve created all beings and are their role models for life/marriage/family fine, but they obviously married and pro-created with their siblings; and if they're the example/guide lines for life, why haven't Joesph and Sarah married up and made babies? I also said I was expecting the perfectly godly, bible following family, to announce one day soon how their godly son killed another son.

[thoughtful]

There are 13 comments, all supportive, which strikes me as quite a lot for their blog. I wonder if people were alerted.

I don't think they could rent the house out. In their world:

- all good Christian men who are married purchased a home before they wed.

- all good Christian men who are single live with Mom and Dad, are very happy doing so, and have no need to rent.

- women don't buy homes.

- someone with a temporary work assignment in the area is not their kind, because they work for Outsiders.

- anyone who isn't a Maxwell-clone is suspect, and might destroy the holy perfection of the house (or at least not keep the cabinet doors and ceiling fans clean -- hell, they probably throw cheese paper all over when they cook!).

Who's left?

BTW, Steve, do you consider your children people who are keeping you accountable, or does it only work in one direction?

Steve, I went to college, lived on my own for decades, and still remained good friends with my parents. I was always eager to see them, whether we lived far apart or close.

My father died over a decade ago. My mother lives with me now, and we are still close friends who adore one another.

My getting educated, choosing a career that was completely unlike theirs, supporting myself, moving away, and having other friends only made us appreciate one another more.

Something to think about.

[fundiefan]

There are 13 comments, all supportive, which strikes me as quite a lot for their blog. I wonder if people were alerted.

I don't think they could rent it out. In their world:

- all good Christian men who are married purchased a home before they wed.

- all good Christian men who are single live with Mom and Dad, are very happy doing so, and have no need to rent.

- women don't buy homes.

- someone with a temporary work assignment in the area is not their kind, because they work for Outsiders.

- anyone who isn't a Maxwell-clone is suspect, and might destroy the holy perfection of the house (or at least not keep the cabinet doors and ceiling fans clean -- hell, they probably throw cheese paper all over when they cook!).

Who's left?[/quote]

No one. That's why I just came out with it - marry the children to each other. No one else will ever bee godly/good enough. No one else will just drop from the sky into Stevie's lap. No one else will pass their absurd tests of worth.

[anjulibai]

What about a convert family? Someone who has been encouraged and inspired by the great Maxwell example, and are working to live more Godly, but need a place to live in the meant time. You know, the cult converts?