First the pictures, so that anybody who doesn't want to hear me ruminate about the latest heresy I've run across can just enjoy the Christmasyness.
This is a present that is very, very, very difficult to resist poking. Miss Boo has been trying manfully (womanfully?) but it's hard. It's also hard not to pull on the pretty, pretty tree.
So she has her own tree, which she decorates and undecorates regularly.
This is the Brother Barricade. It's so far about as sucessful at keeping him from grabbing the presents as the Maginot Line was at protecting France, but at least it's cheaper and we're not relying on the Polish to keep the plans safe.
Speaking of Brother, he believes he likes rice cereal. I say believes, because every time I try to get him to actually eat it he just happily spits it out and guggles at me. But at least we're trying. He's got to start using those teeth on something other than mama.
"HUUUUUUUUUG Buddy!"
(Miss Boo has taken to calling Brother "Buddy", or, for variety, "Baad" which I think means "Bud", because she doesn't pronounce it quite "bad".)
Do you think we are supposed to be standing here?
Answer: no, but Mama took a picture before getting us out of CD-player range, because we were looking at the snow and it was so very, very cute.
End of pictures, start of rambling theological discourse. The disinterested may stop reading: now.
Some of you may be aware of a movement called "Quiverfull", and another related movement called "Patriarchy". Before I start discussing them I should say I'm a Christian, and I believe several things that opponents of these two movement might not. For instance:
1. The Bible is the literal word of God, and has authority over how Christians live their lives.
2. Men and women are different, and in a marriage the wife is to submit to the husband and the husband is to cherish the wife (BUT see my discussion below).
3. Children are a blessing from God and life is utterly precious.
So here is my thinking on Patriarchy, and also Quiverfull.
Patriarchy is a movement that takes the second proposition above and words it this way: "Men and women are DIFFERENT, and in marriage the wife is to SUBMIT TO THE HUSBAND and the husband is to cherish the wife." You may wonder why I even read/know/am discussing this movement. The same reason I read "The Feminine Mystique", although I knew before I started it that I probably would disagree with it. I find the "politics of gender", as they are sometimes called by people who doubt gender exists, fascinating.
Here are the problems I see with the teachings of the Patriarchy movement:
1. The idea that the primary thing wrong with humanity/America/the world is feminism. This is just not true, and it's not Biblical. The primary thing wrong with humanity, according to the Bible, is sin. All sin--lying, stealing, adultery, covetousness, blasphemy, all of it. Feminism is, in comparison to, say, Baal worship, pretty tame. Am I saying that Andrea Dworkin was right? Of course not, but I am saying that focusing all your attention on combating feminism to the exclusion of preaching the Gospel is flat wrong. Although feminism (in the Dworkin/Freidan/Ireland model) is a lie, it's nothing to be afraid of. Just tell the truth, and the lie looks pretty hollow.
2. The idea that the primary factor in bad marriages, apostate children, and the sorry state of the world is unsubmissive wives. There is a logic problem here. According to what I've read of Patriarchy books and websites, the husband/father is supposed to be The Leader in the home, and he controls the direction of his house. (Even down to really stupid things like what colors of clothes people wear, what time dinner is, and how the day's time is organized--even if he's gone all day.) Ok, not for me, but whatever. The logic problem occurs when a bad marriage/apostate child/sorry state of the world is, in spite of the husband's Leaderly responsibility, attributed to a wife's unsubmissiveness. It seems like there would be at least a 50-50 split here--like husbands are at least as likely as wives to make mistakes that would produce bad marriages. Since the Patriarchy movement looks with distrust on wives correcting their husbands for any reason, it seems like the husbands would be even more likely to make mistakes than the wives, because they lose the benefit of their wives' input.
3. The misuse of Scripture. This is the biggie. There is a lack of respect for the depth and complexity of the Bible. I am typing with a baby on my lap and am unable to reach my Bible for the references, but many verses in Scripture are balanced by the tension of another verse (or the second half of the same verse). For instance, in James it says "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" - which sounds like you do a lot - and then "for it is God who works in you" which sounds like you don't do much. Likewise, the verses about the differences between men and women are balanced by the tension in the verses about how all humans are the same in God's eyes--male and female, Jew and Greek, rich and poor. The Patriarchy (and the Quiverfull, too) movement tends to quote the same verses over and over, out of context, without allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. ANY MOVEMENT THAT DOES THIS SHOULD BE HIGHLY SUSPECT.
(Yes. That was me cyber-yelling.)
4. The tendency to use name-calling during arguments. I mean serious name-calling-- calling your opponents "Jezebels", "wimps", "demon-possesed" and worse. Ad hominem attacks reveal a lack of factual arguments. 'Nuff said.
5. The use of fear of the World and the Devil as a tactic. Christians get afraid because we're human. Christians should not, however, be motivated by fear. Listen to me, because this is a very serious accusation I'm going to make: anyone who uses fear as a primary motivator and consciously sets out to produce fear--of anything other than God--in their audience is a terrorist and an idolater. Did you hear me? That's right--Idolater. God is the only person or thing we are to fear. Got it?
Had enough yet? This is a looooooong post. My thoughts on Quiverfull will do for another day. ;)
Cheers,
Breanna
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