A Girls Catechism
NOTE: The following catechism is for high school girls. The corresponding catechism for boys can be found by CLICKING HERE. This is designed to be recited by girls grades 7 - 12 at the beginning of every school day.
What is a pointless life?
A pointless life involves no sacrifice, no discipline, and no courage.
From where does purpose come?
Purpose is not something I create. It is something I receive from the Lord. Each Christian receives different talents and gifts which establish their role in God’s Kingdom. Yet each Christian, united to Christ by faith, has the same responsibility to worship and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do I live with spiritual purpose?
The only way is to depend entirely upon the grace of God, which, through faith in Jesus, covers my sin and enables my fight against it. Faithfulness is as active as ants. It is the virtue of drinking up as much living water as each situation spouts. It requires exceptional vigilance, which is why I pray for the Holy Spirit’s help.
How are men and women different?
Women are not driven by the same goals and inner springs as men. The distribution of wants among the two sexes is distinct enough that they don’t want the same things from their lives. With respect to work outside the home, men want competition in the market. With respect to work inside the home, women want to provide care for the family.
What is the source of such differences?
Since the roles and gifts of men and women are from God, equality-of-result ought not be socially engineered or biologically buffeted. God hard-wires into women a feminine nature that is not a prison crippling her humanity, but a clarifying summons enabling her faithfulness.
How are men and women most themselves?
C.S. Lewis said that the masculine is oriented toward strength, rigidity, and protection of life, while the feminine is oriented towards softness, fluidity, and creation of life. So, men act according to their nature when they embrace their strength and duty to protect others. Women act according to their nature when they create environments that nurture life.[1]
How should I spend my time?
I must reject the self as my sole obsession and cultivate a love for others. This happens by making things in real life to build culture and life outside myself. My time and attention are too valuable to give it away to social media companies. Instead, I will rouse up myself and fill my days with creativity and labor directed to worthy objects that bring value and esteem, such as learning a foreign language and how to play an instrument, learning to grow things and corral a group of kids, learning to organize events and a lead a book club, and learning to sew and prepare a meal.
How does displaying the fruit of the Spirit affect those around me?
When I live out the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—I am most myself. When I live in sin—sexual immorality, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, envy, drunkenness—I am less myself.
By living the fruit of the Spirit, dressing modestly, acting with self-control, and adorning myself with good works (1 Tim. 2:9-14), I have the power to transfer the sincerity and love of Christ onto every person I know and to strike at error and wrongdoing in a way that makes the adversary cower.
Should women be educated?
Women should be educated in God, God’s Word, and God’s world. Those who are so inclined are free to pursue higher education, provided it leads to the fulfillment of God’s design. Scripture provides the example of Mary, who nurtured baby Jesus and also wrote the stinging words of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). And there is the example of Jael who was a homemaker who turned her domestic tools into weapons of violence when needed (Judges 4:17-5:27).
What does Titus 2:4-5 says about the education of girls?
“Train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” The Bible does not prescribe preparation for a girl boss feminism of hustle culture that says career success, promotions, and prioritizing job above family are the most important things. The Bible does affirm the goodness of marriage, the blessing of children within marriage, and the virtues, skill, and honor necessary to run a home well.
What does 1 Peter 3:4 say about a woman’s beauty?
“Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” This means I should cultivate the quality of soul that makes me loved by little children, strong to help those in sorrow or trouble, and sympathetic to the human heart because of genuine concern for other people.
How can I become the Proverbs 31 woman?
I develop skills for being a faithful woman who works from home, is productive, hardworking, skilled at management, and able to conduct family business. I must become competent to make decisions and exercise my agency with intelligence, cultivating the skills of discernment, shrewdness, resourcefulness, hospitality, and wisdom. It’s not that women will never or should never work outside the home. But as a girl in training, I ought not be burdened by career expectations as my paramount concern.
What does 1 Timothy 5:14 say about young women?
“I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander,” meaning girls must be trained to become housemasters, exercising real authority to manage the house in submission to the headship of her husband (1 Tim. 3:5). I must beware of the Betty Friedan message that centralizes career as a woman’s path to self-actualization, and regards children and marriage as perfunctory.
What did G.K. Chesterton mean when he said that only “domestic education” is particularly true?[2]
The opening line of G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man, explains that “There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there.”[3] His point is that domestic life is the larger matter. Commercial or official life is the lesser matter. This is why Titus 2:5 instructs women to be about the greater matter of “working at home.” This means a mother providing conversation, culture, meals, and moral support for her own child is more important than social work for one hundred children absorbed by the system. Chesterton’s point isn’t that girls can never choose public life. The point is to teach them that commercial life is the smaller life.[4]
If the role of a wife is to respect her husband, what should women be looking for in a man?
Respectability. If she respects him, and if her parents and pastor respect him, then that enhances the chances that she can respect him for the rest of her life. A woman might desire her husband to be a certain height, make a certain amount of money, or take her on fancy dates. But God’s standard is that she respects and submits to him (Eph. 5:22-33).
What should a woman be working toward in preparation for a husband?
Since the husband’s job is to (1) love his wife sacrificially, (2) nourish her, (3) cherish her, and (4) lead her like Christ leads the church (Eph. 5:23-29), then a woman looking for a husband needs to become the sort of lady that a man can (1) love sacrificially, (2) nourish, (3) cherish, and (4) lead.
What does living the good life require?
Because of Christ, life is strong in me. I will press on and live with gratitude. I will seek truth, make beauty, live well, and love big. This is my spiritual act of worship as a happy warrior of the Kingdom of God.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
[1] C.S. Lewis, Perelandra (New York: HarperOne, 2003), 172-174.
[2] Dale Ahlquist, The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves its Own Citizens (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2022), 172.
[3] G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man (Rough Draft Printing, 2013), 7.
[4] Dale Ahlquist, The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves its Own Citizens (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2022), 170-180.
What is a pointless life?
A pointless life involves no sacrifice, no discipline, and no courage.
From where does purpose come?
Purpose is not something I create. It is something I receive from the Lord. Each Christian receives different talents and gifts which establish their role in God’s Kingdom. Yet each Christian, united to Christ by faith, has the same responsibility to worship and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do I live with spiritual purpose?
The only way is to depend entirely upon the grace of God, which, through faith in Jesus, covers my sin and enables my fight against it. Faithfulness is as active as ants. It is the virtue of drinking up as much living water as each situation spouts. It requires exceptional vigilance, which is why I pray for the Holy Spirit’s help.
How are men and women different?
Women are not driven by the same goals and inner springs as men. The distribution of wants among the two sexes is distinct enough that they don’t want the same things from their lives. With respect to work outside the home, men want competition in the market. With respect to work inside the home, women want to provide care for the family.
What is the source of such differences?
Since the roles and gifts of men and women are from God, equality-of-result ought not be socially engineered or biologically buffeted. God hard-wires into women a feminine nature that is not a prison crippling her humanity, but a clarifying summons enabling her faithfulness.
How are men and women most themselves?
C.S. Lewis said that the masculine is oriented toward strength, rigidity, and protection of life, while the feminine is oriented towards softness, fluidity, and creation of life. So, men act according to their nature when they embrace their strength and duty to protect others. Women act according to their nature when they create environments that nurture life.[1]
How should I spend my time?
I must reject the self as my sole obsession and cultivate a love for others. This happens by making things in real life to build culture and life outside myself. My time and attention are too valuable to give it away to social media companies. Instead, I will rouse up myself and fill my days with creativity and labor directed to worthy objects that bring value and esteem, such as learning a foreign language and how to play an instrument, learning to grow things and corral a group of kids, learning to organize events and a lead a book club, and learning to sew and prepare a meal.
How does displaying the fruit of the Spirit affect those around me?
When I live out the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—I am most myself. When I live in sin—sexual immorality, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, envy, drunkenness—I am less myself.
By living the fruit of the Spirit, dressing modestly, acting with self-control, and adorning myself with good works (1 Tim. 2:9-14), I have the power to transfer the sincerity and love of Christ onto every person I know and to strike at error and wrongdoing in a way that makes the adversary cower.
Should women be educated?
Women should be educated in God, God’s Word, and God’s world. Those who are so inclined are free to pursue higher education, provided it leads to the fulfillment of God’s design. Scripture provides the example of Mary, who nurtured baby Jesus and also wrote the stinging words of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). And there is the example of Jael who was a homemaker who turned her domestic tools into weapons of violence when needed (Judges 4:17-5:27).
What does Titus 2:4-5 says about the education of girls?
“Train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” The Bible does not prescribe preparation for a girl boss feminism of hustle culture that says career success, promotions, and prioritizing job above family are the most important things. The Bible does affirm the goodness of marriage, the blessing of children within marriage, and the virtues, skill, and honor necessary to run a home well.
What does 1 Peter 3:4 say about a woman’s beauty?
“Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” This means I should cultivate the quality of soul that makes me loved by little children, strong to help those in sorrow or trouble, and sympathetic to the human heart because of genuine concern for other people.
How can I become the Proverbs 31 woman?
I develop skills for being a faithful woman who works from home, is productive, hardworking, skilled at management, and able to conduct family business. I must become competent to make decisions and exercise my agency with intelligence, cultivating the skills of discernment, shrewdness, resourcefulness, hospitality, and wisdom. It’s not that women will never or should never work outside the home. But as a girl in training, I ought not be burdened by career expectations as my paramount concern.
What does 1 Timothy 5:14 say about young women?
“I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander,” meaning girls must be trained to become housemasters, exercising real authority to manage the house in submission to the headship of her husband (1 Tim. 3:5). I must beware of the Betty Friedan message that centralizes career as a woman’s path to self-actualization, and regards children and marriage as perfunctory.
What did G.K. Chesterton mean when he said that only “domestic education” is particularly true?[2]
The opening line of G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man, explains that “There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there.”[3] His point is that domestic life is the larger matter. Commercial or official life is the lesser matter. This is why Titus 2:5 instructs women to be about the greater matter of “working at home.” This means a mother providing conversation, culture, meals, and moral support for her own child is more important than social work for one hundred children absorbed by the system. Chesterton’s point isn’t that girls can never choose public life. The point is to teach them that commercial life is the smaller life.[4]
If the role of a wife is to respect her husband, what should women be looking for in a man?
Respectability. If she respects him, and if her parents and pastor respect him, then that enhances the chances that she can respect him for the rest of her life. A woman might desire her husband to be a certain height, make a certain amount of money, or take her on fancy dates. But God’s standard is that she respects and submits to him (Eph. 5:22-33).
What should a woman be working toward in preparation for a husband?
Since the husband’s job is to (1) love his wife sacrificially, (2) nourish her, (3) cherish her, and (4) lead her like Christ leads the church (Eph. 5:23-29), then a woman looking for a husband needs to become the sort of lady that a man can (1) love sacrificially, (2) nourish, (3) cherish, and (4) lead.
What does living the good life require?
Because of Christ, life is strong in me. I will press on and live with gratitude. I will seek truth, make beauty, live well, and love big. This is my spiritual act of worship as a happy warrior of the Kingdom of God.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
[1] C.S. Lewis, Perelandra (New York: HarperOne, 2003), 172-174.
[2] Dale Ahlquist, The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves its Own Citizens (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2022), 172.
[3] G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man (Rough Draft Printing, 2013), 7.
[4] Dale Ahlquist, The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves its Own Citizens (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2022), 170-180.
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