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Saturday, April 14, 2007
Doug Giles :: Townhall.com Columnist
The 10 Commandments for Husbands
by Doug Giles
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I hate to sound like some religious nut job here—but I really felt (sort of) for certain that God gave me, and me alone, the 10 Commandments for Husbands, last Wednesday while I was watching American Idol.

“God inspired you to write this?” you say. Yep, God did. The way I’m almost certain it was maybe God speaking to me is that every time He speaks to me about something (and it’s pretty often), I begin to smell WD40, packing popcorn begins to fall from the ceiling of my trailer house, and then a voice begins speaking to me in English—but with an angry and commanding high-pitched Chinese accent. It’s quite an experience.

Given all these divine attestations, who can doubt that what I have penned for you husbands is anything but inspired. Stand in awe, all ye husbands, because herewith are 10 things that thou must doeth . . . or I guess not doeth—actually, there’s both—to have a successful marriage.

1. Thou shalt not demand that thy middle aged wife look like one of Hef’s 20-year old chicks. Staying attractive for each other via exercise, diet and, possibly, a little nip/tuck, is one thing. Demanding that thy 45-year old wife look like a 19-year old Hillary Duff after she’s received multitudinous stretch marks from giving birth to thy three kids puts thou solidly in the running for the “Ass of the Universe” crown. Yea, such an attitude officially ticketh off the Lord thy God.

Palm Pilot, listen to the prophetic word, thou must be content with loving thy wife and appreciating her as an attractive and mature woman. She’s not 20 any more, and by the way, neither art thou (or is it thee?). As a matter of fact, thou probably art a paunch gut sluggard with severe halitosis whose hair is both turning gray and loose. Thou shouldst be real thankful that she doesn’t turn the plastic surgery/male enhancement gun on thou and thy . . . uh, shall we say, challenged areas.

2. Thou shalt not hang out with horndogs. Hanging out with guys who hateth their wives, who loveth to indulge in the superfluity of naughtiness and who are out to convert the faithful to the Cult of Infidelity is muy goofy. Be not deceived: bad company will land thee in a strip club or an illicit affair which will causeth thou to meet with the chainsaw of Jehovah. Be afraid.

Husbands, if thou hast failed in the fidelity field, followeth these simple instructions: own it, tell thy wife that thou art an idiot, beg her forgiveness, goeth to counseling and have the sage tell thee what a bass ackwards brutish fellow of the baser sort you are. From there, go on, thou penitent one, to don thy frame with sackcloth, sit thyself on the front row of a goodly church and let God divinely redirect thy blood to thine big head so that thou can thinkest with that for a change. After that, pursue ye goodfellows who diggeth the whole married/family experience and let their light give thee light.

3. Thou shalt get a frickin’ job. Thou sluggard, here’s a little 411 regarding what thy wife is really thinking about thou not working: your unemployed state is getting really, really, really, I’m talkin’ really old. Sure it was okay for a fortnight. But after a year of thy lady bringing home the drachmas while thou surfest porn sites and watcheth Flavor Flav—I’m sorry, I mean, as thou lookest for employment online . . . well, that’s not cutting it any more.

Not only should thou get a job, but thou should be aggressively making certain that thou art constantly excelling at what thou doest and thereby, securing for thine homestead some serious flow. Hold on a sec . . . I’m smelling a fresh whiff of WD40. Yea, it’s God instant messaging me . . . here it is: God IM’ed me just now to tell thee that thou needeth to roll out of bed, quit looking for a job out of thy window, feel the responsibility to feed thy family, be a big boy and do whatever it takes to provide for thy house—or get ready for Him to kick your butt (BTW: that was a direct quote).

4. Thou shalt lead thy family. (Duh.) Guess what, O man? You’re to be king of your castle. I know, I know, metrosexual devilish misandry has taught thee to be thou a little princess; however, God would like, thou squeamish one, for thee to rise up and play the Spartan in the spiritual, physical and financial well being of that which you betrothed and spawned.

Therefore, cease thou from shoving everything onto thy wife. Okay, thou passive twit? Learn how to manage thy money, get involved in thy teenage girl’s life so she doesn’t end up on a hip-hop video having beer poured down her cleavage while being called a “bitch and a ho” by a some punk thug that the hypocrites, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, still won’t condemn.

Get thou spiritually briefed and then establish for thine offspring a moral foundation that’ll assist them to withstand the hedonistic hailstorm thy kid will face in . . . kindergarten. Pull thy head out of from thy buttocks, shake the irresponsibility from thy soul, reject passivity and now go . . . lead your family courageously, thou formerly neutered Nancy boy.

5. Thou shalt not fart at the dinner table. Another thing that maketh thy woman want to trade thee in for something that runs on batteries, or for the young squire which cleanest thy cement pond, is to not treat her with R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Lo, in all the places in which thee dwells and at all the times in which the Lord thy God allots your crippled butt to live, thou shalt show thy lady love.

This means that when thou sittest down to eat thou shalt not release thy fecal fumes. Unless of course, she does it first and bids thee to compete with her. Other than that, pinch it or excuse thyself to the land which is in back of the house in which thou liveth.

6. Thou shalt not speak down to her. Do not at any given time during the day in which God grants thee breath talkest thou to thy wife as if she is an ignorant and deaf dromedary. Yea, leave off being cruel if thou carest for the law of God, thy reproductive organs and if thou doesn’t liketh thy coffee to strangely taste salty and if thou wishes to forego thy good lady lacing thy chocolate chip cookies with ExLax. Which leadeth me to the next decree.

7. Thou shalt cherish her. Thou shalt scrub from thy barely used brain the notion that tenderness is for wussies. Never taketh who she is and what she doeth for you and thy family for granted. Yea, the mother of thy offspring and the wife of thine youth is to be treated better than thy bass boat, West Coast Chopper and thy custom guns.

In addition, know this: the Lord thy God mandates that thou be courteous to thy mate, showing unto her gratitude and honor even when thou art so mad thou could spit.

8. Thou shalt give her time to chill. O man, that likest to sit back, relax and scratch thyself, guesseth what? So doth the woman. Therefore, relieve her of her duties and provide unto her the opportunity to do whatever the heck she wanteth to do. Thou diggest?

9. Thou shalt apologize when wrong, PDQ. If thou hast wronged thy wife, then thou shalt own it with sincerity and zeal. If not, the festering root of bitterness will develop and cleave thy union. In addition, thou mayest wake up with thy skivvies super-glued unto thy privy parts for being thou the stubborn unrepentant jackass. Selah.

10. Thou shalt cut off communication with and never talk about your old girlfriends. Art thou so thick that thou needeth God to explain this one further unto thee?

Blessed is the man that obeyeth what has been written right here by this mediocre scribe. Woe unto the husband who thinketh that he can blow off the above and not feel the Lord’s deep displeasure—not to mention the woman He fashioned. Amen.

* Logon to ClashRadio.com and check out Giles’ interview with Richard Land author of the book, The Divided States of America?

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About The Author
Doug Giles’ new book “If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going!" is now available. Ann Coulter says "Doug Giles is a substantive and funny tour de force for traditional values.” Doug’s talk show and video blog can be seen and heard at www.ClashRadio.com.
 
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Interesting
I noticed right away that the difference in tone between the admonitions to women and the joking, let-boys-be-boys 'tude in this one says more about D. Giles than it does about Men OR women.

Trolls will be Trolls...
Jojo, I wasn't feeling the "let boys be boys" 'tude from this, although it would have been cool if Doug had dropped Ye Olde English at some point, it isn't a good device to use for an entire column.

Summarized in Modern English:

1. Don't have unreasonable expectations for your wife's appearance. Standard grooming? Expect it. Looking like one of Hef's slutbunnies? No.

2. Don't sleep around, beg for frogiveness if you did, and don't hang out with sex-obsessed wretches reminiscent of your college days.

3. Get a fricken' job.

4. Be the leader of your household and take care of your family's spititual needs: be the solid rock of moral living.

5. Axe belching and farting at the dinner table. (this is where the "let boys be boys part falls apart.)

6. Don't speak down to your wife.

7. Cherish your wife.

8. Give her some time to chill when she is angry.

9. Apologize when you screw up.

10. Don't talk about your old girlfriends.

"Let boys be boys?" I don't think so, but trolls will always be trolls.

Hey Doug!
Can you do a quick rewrite with really vicious tone just to make JoJo happy? Apparently the content is not what counts. Right, JoJo?

Better yet, why doesn't JoJo do a quick rewrite and tell us WHAT Doug should say, and HOW he should say it.

Some people are never satisfied.

BrianR
Thanks for doing the précis of points for those concrete thinkers like JoJo.

BTW JoJo, "concrete thinking" is not a "strong" point in terms of mental status.

Basically, It All Comes Down To:
Thy Wife is Thine Queen.

uhh, YEAH
"Would you invite him to your "boys night out"?"

TOTALLY!

I will add
That if you marry the right wife and follow these ten commandments with the furvor of a pilot studying his pOH and flying his airplane the odds are your wife will never follow the 10 ways she can to kill the marrige.

For once...
I agree with every thing Mr Giles has said.

Except maybe the flowery language. Gotta make it easy and simple to follow, you know?

Yeah!
Here's a version (with credit to Brian) that you will never see in a Giles column:

10 Commandments for Wives

1. Don't have unreasonable expectations for your husband's appearance...spare tire? beer gut? rapidly expanding forehead? Look the other way. Should he try to look like a boy toy? No. In fact, eeuw.


2. Don't sleep around, or better yet, don't sleep with anybody even if he can no longer make you happy at home. It's probably better to relieve your frustrations by learning to knit. Also, don't hang around with friends who are getting it elsewhere. Even if they are smiling all the time.

3. Get a frickin' job. Assume some responsibility for feeding the kids and paying for their athletic fees.

4. Be a leader of the household and concern yourself with your family's spiritual needs. Be the solid rock of wise living.

5. Be glad that you were never so desperate that you had to settle for a man who is stupid enough to belch and fart at the table, and that you are strong enough, and have high enough standards to leave him if he did. (This also goes for men who say they get direct messages from God.)

6.Don't speak down to your husband, even when he asks you for the 10th time for the first names of the couple you are meeting for dinner. And, if you are smarter than he is on a variety of subjects, it doesn't really matter in the long run.

7. Cherish your husband. After all, no one is perfect, and he did remember your birthday this year, even if his present was a new aluminum storm door and a battery for the car.

8. When he's angry, give him some space, just as you needed and deserved to take a night by yourself at the local hotel when he told you you were like your mother.

9. Say "I'm sorry" when you screw up, but only if you really have screwed up. (This goes back to #6, don't talk down to him by acting as if you are weaker than him, or pretending remorse when you have done nothing.

10. Don't talk about your old boyfriends. This includes the one who just won a Nobel prize for solving the cold fusion problem. After all, he never talks about his old girlfriend, even when she won her parole.





No commandment greater than these...


Mr. Giles thank you for your commentary, but there are but two commandments necessary to guide a husband in his relationship with his wife…

‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’ And again, ‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’ [Jesus Christ from Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30]

The question is how do we obey these commandments?

The apostle helps us by considering Christ’s great love for His church as an example of what it means to love our closest neighbor…‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…’ [Ephesians 5:25-33] In this passage Paul quotes Genesis 2:31…’A man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh.’

The second commandment cannot be separated from the first. The power to love our neighbor comes from knowing and loving God. By faith we believe that the marriage relationship is the best God has for us. When sometimes we are tempted to believe otherwise, we ask Him who has borne our sin to help us to think and live according to truth. Knowing our own faults and the mercy of God we are quick to forgive. Grace has taught us that love does not consider a wrong done, but rather covers a multitude of sins. Love rejoices in the truth.

Without condition we commit to do good to the one we have set our affections on. We will live our life for her good because love never fails. For those of you not married to a gracious woman, what will you do? Love hopes all things, and it endures all things. Remember the cross. ‘For the joy set before Him…’ [Hebrews 12:2]


You addressed Sloth, but you forgot
God created the heavens and the earth and all that dwell above, upon, and beneith, and on the 7th day God rested. "Thou shall keep holy the Sabbath"

Many a husband, and father works, and then works some more. They have not the joys of their labor, nor the fruit of their brow, their children grow in want for a father, and a woman's soul thirsts for the attention of her man.

Be not married to both a wife and to the job, you can love one or the other, not both, but only one, your spouse will see you to old age -- if you pay attention, or to the poor house.

JoJo
That was b@d@$$!

And
Could you add to the one about what to do if you have been bleeping the babysitter -- "go to the doctor immediately and get tested for every STD the doctor has ever heard about, and stay away from thy wife until thy test results come in?"

And perhaps, "Use the phrase 'ask thy mother' with discretion. Sometimes thou canst simply say Yes or No -- I am Thy Father And I Have Spoken."

Finally, adding on to the admonition (a good one) not to either expect your wife to look like Hilary Duff, or imagine that you personally look like Leo De Capria -- don't wear anything designed for anyone 25 years younger than you are, or anything 'retro' that you wore 25 years ago. You're not fooling anybody. Yes, they ARE laughing at you.

Husbandry
As a husband of some 39 years, I have ideas on how to have a successful marriage.

1. You're going to argue. Argue right.
Keep points to the current situation. If you start dredging up the past, you'll never accomplish anything except to make it much, much worse.

2. Settle. If it doesn't cost you anything and you're not far into the argument, just agree with her/him. Rather than argue ad nauseum, leave the house for an hour or two. Let things cool off. Bring back a nice treat and don't mention the argument. I find a 4 ounce cup of her favorite frozen yogurt smooths things out nicely, along with " I love you."

3. Men, tell your wife you would die for her.
Tell your children that too. It is your job as man of the house. If you can't say that and mean it, you didn't really mean your wedding vows.

4. Open her car door for her, if not every time, well over half the time.

5. When she makes a meal, you clean up the kitchen.

6. Learn how to dust, vacuum, clean the kitchen floor, and toilets, and do those chores with mind-numbing frequency, unless your wife does not work full time.

7. Try to have sex with her in mind. You always get what you want, men. Be a giver.

8. Wash her car regularly and keep it full of gas and in good tire.

You focus on your wife, and how important she is in your life, and you will be much happier for it, I promise you.

Love isn't an emotion so much as it is how we act towards the object of our affection.

Paucor
I like your list. And, the fact that you said "Man of the house" and not "head of the house".

I can see why your marriage has been a happy one, I think Giles could take some 'tude lessons from you.

Paucoremhominem
Your wife is one lucky women. I hope she knows it. You should be writing columns too.

Doug Giles' column was entertaining and worth passing on, as well.

King James
An excellent column...as far as I read. I couldn't get all the way through it with all that King James English. Spare me! We don't talk that way, and neither does God.

I don't usually care much...
... for Reverend Giles' columns, but I like this one. I think it would have been better to have released this one before or between his two on how women can destroy a marriage, just for balance (and so he won't look like a misogynistic neanderthal).

Anyway, what's with the skirt comments? That's just lame. People who can't ever let down the macho exterior say far more about themselves and their own insecurities than they do the person they're attacking.

JoJo and Paucoremhominem
Applause for JoJo's and Paucor's commandment lists. Those are many of the reasons why my husband and I have been married for nearly 28 years, and we're still having a good time! Now, if you'll excuse me, he asked me to help him paint some gardening boxes. Not what I really want to do on this sunny day, but he doesn't exactly get a thrill from cleaning the catbox, either.

10 commandments
I'm pleasantly surprised that he almost got this right

Married to An American Girl
And after you have doneth all these things, remember, your American-Girl wife will still, because of the peer pressure, think it is beneath her to respect you. You can work 100-hour weeks, and she will still tell you that you are boorish, stupid, and lazy. After you come home from work at midnight, she will demand that you mow the lawn immediately because her mom is coming over tomorrow. Heer mom thinks you are a bum. She will complain that you don't do enough housework. She will spend $1,000 a month on clothes. She will tell jokes about you behind your back. She is smarter than you. She hates your dad. She hogs the television and watches "Desperate Housewives." She voted for Bill Clinton. You may get sex, but only on Saturdays, and only when she can file her nails at the same time. You are Ralph Kramden, Homer Simpson, and George Costanza all rolled into one rotund, disrespected American Male. Warning to all: If you want a woman to love you, don't marry her.

Wise Counsel
I've been married to the sme woman for 34 years, have two boys who have fought in Iraq, one for the second time. I hope and pray that my boys have seen in me the respect for their mother that Doug describes in his most recent column. This is because they must fight for their mothers, wives and daughters as Christ was raised up on the cross.
Any man who does not think of himself as the suffering servant leader that was Christ should look at our brave soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who sacrifice it all for their countrymen. They endure hardships unimaginable to most any civilian, and do it without complaint.
Though feminism and MTV, BET have taken over our media, that does not change the basic mission of men, to die and rise each day just as Christ did for his Church, the bride.
Men need to suck it up, and be real men, as Christ was lifted up on the cross. As I tell my fifty something friends, "Stay away from the young broads." They won't change your diapers when you are old and grey. Stay with the woman of your youth. She may be a bit difficult, but she married you, the most amazing thing ever.

I had to laugh
at number 5. This one describes my niece and her husband perfectly. They both do it.

Paucoremhominem re Husbandry
Is your wife, by chance, a horse?

MarkMcLemore
If you married her just to get a Green Card, you deserve her. American women (not girls), like American men (not boys), are productive, round the clock producers, who don't waste their time on people they have to kick up the backside every step of the way to get them out of their own way unless they think there's something there worth salvaging.

Maybe you should listen to your American wife. She may just be the making of you.

youmakemelaugh2
Laughing at YMML2's question about boys' night out...if you seriously wouldn't invite Doug Giles to your night out with the *boys* (a very apt word in this context), you're exactly the kind of guy he wants to avoid, it seems to me...

Good Column Doug

We could have done without ye Olde English.

Jojo - why do you hate so?

Commandment Three
I had no idea 'fricken " was an old English word.
Such splendid advice throughout.

Me thanketh thee, fine sir, for an excellent-eth column-eth.

AudiR10
It is good to see that John Wayne still lives. I feel so much better. I bet AudiR has a stack of Dr. Laura books under his pillow.

Hey "Commentators"
As usual, some great comments, some foolish. The column was very funny, and brilliantly based on sound wisdom, (mostly). Next month the chick and I celebrate our 50th, and I offer this as a concise recommendation for a great marriage (and for a great any/every-thing else!). Go to the Word of God for wisdom and guidance in all that you do. Perhaps more would be familar with the "Old English" if they had spent more time there. (Not saying use only the KJV, best is the scholarly version, NASB). And, please, spare me the "feminine side" nonsense - if you can't grasp that "masculine" can include gentle and caring without devolving to "wimp" you've been deceived by modern pseudo-intelligent thought. Do it right, (to the best of your imperfect ability), and receive GREAT blessings! We have a great marriage, 5 great kids still in their 1st marriages to 5 more great kids, 10 super grandkids, and the 1st (also super of course) great-grandkid. Best of all -- all are faithful Christians! Follow "Him" -- that's where the blessings are! I wish you well.

tragic...
Ten thousand years too late...

merry-gay-boy
Nuff said.

Jo-Jo
I take it you are single or soon will be?

Mark McLemore
Sounds like you made a bad choice.

Sorry charlie
*Try to have sex with her in mind. You always get what you want, men. Be a giver.*

I'm pretty sure in this day and age, men almost never get what they want. In fact, men rarely get what they need. The least funny joke I hear from my friend's wives is "its great being married, now we don't have to have sex anymore"

Hahahaha @#@!#! hilarious.

Good column- but these commandments ONLY work on good hearted woman.

Also,..
Go easy on Mark. While there seems to be alot of woman of quality who comment at Townhall,many of the woman I have met and dated in the not so distant past fit Mark's model. He's not wrong when he says there's an incredible amount of peer pressure out there on GFs/wives to dominate their man as a sign of their "independence". Sadly, this frequently involves power plays involving sex- its the cookie for guys -and turns what should be a wonderful intimate experience into a "can I push the right button and get a fish biscuit for doing so".

Good one!
Occasionally, Doug hits one out of the ballpark.

The thing about JoJo
How JoJo can read this and somehow think it is anything but an criticism of bad husbands is beyond me. Shows how the Victim Mentality makes people dissect sentences for offense like a gene splicer sequencing DNA.

Tough medicine
Hard as it was to read, there was a lot of this I liked. marriagetoday.org is a fantastic site for marriage and family issues. I've learned that my wife needs security, communication, leadership and non-sexual touch most of all from me. If I hit on all four of those cylinders, she is one happy camper.
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