reproductive choice
Protected: Vyckie’s Story ~ Part 27: Whatever …
by Vyckie
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)
For the past week and a half, NLQ has been presenting the excellent material in Tapati’s Body Image Workshop. As I’ve read through the posts and all the related comments on the NLQ forum, I’ve been thinking about how the Body Image issue is incredibly relevant to No Longer Quivering and the stories here of women who’ve left the Quiverfull philosophy and lifestyle.
In theory, virtuous Quivefull moms do not have body image issues. I say this because, of course, there is no “you” in qivering ~ in other words, QF women are taught not to think about ourselves, our bodies, our issues.
About 10 years ago, I attended an Above Rubies retreat in California taught by Nancy Campbell. The theme verse for the weekend was Romans 12:1, which Nancy had us memorize ~ with special emphasis on ”that ye present your bodies.”
While acknowledging that moms of many face some special challenges physically, Nancy encouraged us not to regard our bodies as our own personal property: our bodies belong to Jesus ~ He paid a very dear price to redeem us from eternal destruction ~ and in so doing, the Lord set an example of the sort of self-sacrificial love which we were to have towards God, our dear husbands, and our precious children: a Christ-like ”in the flesh” sort of self-sacrificial love.
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice was our “reasonable service.” In giving over our reproductive lives to His service, we could not claim to be extraordinary Christians ~ no, we were only doing our duty ~ our reasonable service.
So that’s the theory. Continue reading »
Michelle says, Never enough babies!
What the quiverfull movement doesn’t have is satisfaction. It casts itself as only looking for “blessing” but in many cases it seems to go far beyond that to reach the collectors’ mentality which bespeaks more of greed, grabbing for every child you can, and if you don’t do that, you fail spiritually. It’s an insidious teaching and my only regret in accepting my atheism is knowing that there will be no ultimate reckoning where those who promoted and gained from this teaching do not face what they have created and see it for what it really is. The quiverful movement claims to welcome every child, but it never allows you to be happy with just what you have already. Satiety and peace are foreign to it.
~ NLQ forum member, Jemand
