{"id":1404,"date":"2013-05-31T21:46:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T21:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/are-women-really-saved-through-childbearing.html"},"modified":"2013-05-31T21:46:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T21:46:00","slug":"are-women-really-saved-through-childbearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/are-women-really-saved-through-childbearing.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Women Really Saved through Childbearing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
During a panel discussion at my Christian college years ago, one scholar explained that bearing children is God\u2019s plan for womanhood, referencing 1 Timothy 2:15\u2014\u201dWomen will be saved through childbearing.\u201d A graduate student stood up and addressed him tearfully, \u201cI have just learned that I can never have children. Where is there room in your gospel for me?\u201d The panelist paused for a long time. Then he said, in a broken voice, \u201cI don\u2019t have a theology for that.\u201d There was no resolution, just pain.<\/span><\/div>\n
What I witnessed that day was one of the rare moments when such pain is acknowledged out loud; the rest of the time, much of the Christian community can seem oblivious to the agony of women who do not want to be childless but find themselves aching as they read Bible passages celebrating motherhood and watch moms get their Mother\u2019s Day carnations at church each year. If we consider stats on infertility from the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control<\/a>, at least 1 in 10 women in our pews won\u2019t receive a carnation, no matter how desperate they are to become mothers.<\/span><\/div>\n
During the anguished time when a woman from my church was trying to conceive, she asked for prayer from a Christian coworker. \u201cShe flat out told me that I wasn\u2019t getting pregnant because I didn\u2019t have enough faith. I wanted to hit her,\u201d my friend said. Another friend was repeatedly told, after each miscarriage, \u201cIt must be that God has a reason.\u201d She was sitting next to me in our small group when an older woman, herself childless, beamed at my pregnant belly and said, \u201cWhat a blessing, so many babies in our church!\u201d The older woman then looked around and said, \u201cIsn\u2019t it wonderful, how God is blessing us?\u201d\u2014all the while benevolently unaware that my friend was not only grieving her lost children, but would most likely never have more. If I was uncomfortable, wanting to hide my belly and change the subject, my friend was shattered.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a panel discussion at my Christian college years ago, one scholar explained that bearing children is God\u2019s plan for womanhood, referencing 1 Timothy 2:15\u2014\u201dWomen will be saved through childbearing.\u201d A graduate student stood up and addressed him tearfully, \u201cI have just learned that I can never have children. Where is there room in your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Women Really Saved through Childbearing?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During a panel discussion at my Christian college years ago, one scholar explained that bearing children is God's plan for womanhood, referencing 1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/are-women-really-saved-through-childbearing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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