***I’ve been busy lately, so here’s a guest post from Bee. There’s a decent chance this post was submitted to me to advertise a particular site (Edit: From the comments it seems not. My apologies to Bee.) but the post is readable and on topic and cleaning and routines is something I struggle with (or, more accurately almost completely ignore in my bachelor home) so some encouragement to keep on top of things is helpful.
As well, the idea of scheduling sex is interesting and not something I’ve thought of. On one hand, it seems like it could be a good to get it regularly, but maybe it’s a bit of a forced buzzkill. What do y’all think?
I do accept and post guest posts that may give my readers some value or information related to the topics of this blog, so if you have something worthwhile feel free to submit it. Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of people submitting near illegible spam. So for those people sending me spam, this post represents the bare minimum of quality I will accept for future guest posts, so if you can’t reach this, don’t send anything. ***
In this world, risk can never be eliminated or fully controlled; it can only be reduced and managed. My two suggestions can minimize the possibility of ending up in a sexless marriage. My two suggestions can not guarantee you will not end up in sexless marriage.
This post is for single, Christian men. Because Christian men can only find sexual release in marriage with their wife this makes avoiding a sex starved marriage very important.
We see from Genesis 2 that the wife was brought into Adam’s existing life. Before Eve was created, Adam was an adult and was working a job given him by God.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. (Genesis 2:15 – 20 NASB)
For most Christian men their God given job is:
- to worship and give thanks to God.
- to grow the church by having more than 2 children.
- to disciple their wife and children to grow in Christ.
Eve was brought to Adam to be his helper in his already existing work and life. Eve needed to fit into Adam’s existing life and world.
I believe that one important part of being a helpmeet is to meet her husbands’ sexual needs.
In the pioneer days of North America mothers taught their daughters a weekly routine that organized and prioritized their work as married home helpmeets. Monday was washday, Tuesday was ironing, Wednesday was mending, etc. This weekly routine focused their energies and helped prevent discouragement or depression. Mrs. Bee has told me that looking at her weekly schedule helps her when she forgets or loses track of what she should be doing.
As a single man you want to be able to practice what you preach about schedule and routine. While single, begin to incorporate the power of routine into your life. Start going to bed at the same time each night. Designate one evening a week for cleaning your apartment or home. Incorporate exercise, grocery shopping, Bible study, fasting into your week. The FlyLady is a good source for help with cleaning and routines.
My solution to minimize the chances of a sex starved marriage is based on two foundations.
Choose a woman who believes in personal submission to her husband. A sexually available wife is also a submissive wife.
Make sex a regularly scheduled event. Begin with a 20 or 30 minute session three times a week. Most married men will be fine with that but if you need sex more frequently, then change the schedule after awhile. For the Christian man who married because he “burns’, sex is too important to let happen only when his wife is emotionally in the mood.
Like Adam, you have job and a regular schedule before getting married. As a Christian man, you are not scheduling sex in your routine before marriage. But, as soon as you are married, you adjust your existing bed time 3 or more nights a week to accommodate your sexual release, your wife’s sexual release, fleshly uniting with your wife, and your procreation duties.
Jesus told two short parables illustrating that major decisions should be considered carefully before commitments are made.
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends [o]a delegation and asks for terms of peace. Luke 14:28 – 32 NASB
These parables means you should inform a women of what your schedule after marriage will be like and allow her to decide, without pressure or coercion, if she is willing to enter into this kind of relationship with you. Be wise, don’t bring this up on the first 3 dates, but do bring it up shortly before you are ready to propose. It would be natural for most women to experience some trepidation at the thought of performing sexually three times a week, or more. Trepidation alone should not be a deal breaker. Try to discern if willingness is present with any trepidation.
Your convictions regarding birth control and sex during menstruation (Leviticus 15:19) may be factors in adjusting your schedule with your wife. Those details are best left up to each couple to work out.
If your wife gives you regular sex make a special effort to reward her. An occasional longer time with more romance for her can be a reward. Helping her with house chores so she can get to bed on time is also something I have done that has not hurt my sex life. I have not done chores to get more sex, I have done chores because my wife was freely giving me plenty of sex.
I hope these ideas help single, Christian men avoid a sex-starved marriage.
About myself; I met my wife at church in North America. My N was zero. Her N was greater than zero but she has not had a problem bonding to me. We have been happily married for 21 years. My wife has never sexually refused me even though I did not know these principles before I got married. I was fortunate that my wife believed in being submissive and in serving me sexually – I was not wise enough to look for those qualities when I was looking for a wife. In the last 9 months we have been scheduling sex 4 times a week. I am very happy.
One thing on routine and depression: exogenous depression can be caused by stress, a lack of routine or disappointment (I wanted to do this, but I needed to do that and my day is ruined). Therefore, a routine can stop it forming. However, if someone has endogenous depression, a routine makes it worse, as it’s not triggered by an event, but instead a hormonal cycle, where the worst bouts are based around boredom and stress cycles caused by routines.
“There’s a decent chance this post was submitted to me to advertise a particular site,….”
I understand FN’s skepticism about me linking to the FlyLady. I am just a random, anonymous commenter in the manosphere – FN does not know me well enough to be able to discern my motives.
Myself and Mrs. Bee have visited the FlyLady’s site and her Youtube channel and learned some things about routine and cleaning.
Neither one of us have ever communicated with or contacted the FlyLady, or her staff, or her company. Neither Mrs. Bee or myself have any financial links, referral fees, or compensation agreements with the FlyLady, her website, or her company. Neither of us have ever received any financial compensation, gifts, links, referrals, or any non-financial compensation from the FlyLady, her staff, or her company.
I’ve heard others suggest setting up similar schedules before. I don’t think its a good idea for every married couple, but for some it might have value. Perhaps for those with children already or odd schedules for work and such. Otherwise, I’m not so sure. I suspect it probably works better if aimed towards more often, rather than less. As an alternative perhaps a quota system?
@donalgraeme,
The newly married man should set the schedule and direction for the new life together. The first one or two years of a marriage are foundational and significant. Risk management. It would be much less risky for a man to start his marriage with scheduled sex. Later, a decision to drop the schedule could always be made. Starting out with a schedule lets your bride know how important sex is to the Christian man who “burns” and thus marries.
Reddit has a sub entitled “Dead Bedrooms”. The Marriage Bed has forums under “Lack of Desire.” I don’t want newly married, Christian men to end up there.
a sexless marriage will not be addressed via a schedule for nookie. What needs addressed is the woman’s attitude toward her husband, in a nut shell she despises him and holds his well being in no regard. The Biblical answer is taking on a second wife, but Christian men lack the stones for any direction action
“I met my wife at church in North America. My N was zero. Her N was greater than zero ”
Even months later that is depressing. Marry a carousel rider and hope for the best. Is that really something Christ would have taught?