Breast feeding.

[Paidiske]

What feeding only in private means, in practice, is that nursing mothers are very restricted in what they can do and where they can go. Want to go somewhere for more than an hour or so? Can't, because baby might need a feed. Want to go somewhere that doesn't have an appropriate private space? Can't, because baby might need a feed. There are lots of situations where "private" isn't an option.

Do we really want mothers caged at home in a sort of lactation-induced purdah, succumbing to PND at greater rates and unable to work, study, run errands, socialise, and so on? Or can we cope with the idea that someone might occasionally glimpse the curve of a breast, and survive?

 

[mina]

Best to feed in private.

Where does the Bible say that or support that? It is all opinion unless the Bible instructs on this.

 

[ms.smith]

Best to feed in private.

I sincerely hope you never find the need to eat in public either.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I think it's a bit deeper than that.

I recall hearing back in Jesus day, there were these people called "bleeding head" Pharisees, they refused to look up in case they gazed upon a woman, so they'd bump into walls so much their foreheads bled.

Since we have the Holy Spirit now, I thought maybe there's something "new" you know ... since Jesus didn't die for nothing?

Jesus didn’t die for nothing but I’m reasonably confident he also didn’t die so we could shame breastfeeding moms for being indecent. As an enlightened society I feel certain we can find the happy medium ground between telling breastfeeding women they’re being immodest and running into walls.

 

[Archivist]

Arch, that only covers scriptures that exclude those scriptures in the bible that do relate.

I presume this was directed at me. Perhaps you could explain what you mean.

 

[Archivist]

The question posed in the OP was how do you think God would feel about the exposure of breasts for breast feeding in public. Given that God designed the female breast for nursing the young, why would He object to it? Our current attitudes in western culture towards the female breast are cultural only; in some parts of the world exposed female breasts are the norm.

In 1 Timothy 2:9 Paul writes "likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control." If taken out of context that could be read as saying that women should not nurse in public. However, read the rest of the sentence: "not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire." Obviously Paul is talking about overdressing, not nursing in public. There is, in fact, nothing in scripture saying that women should not nurse in public. It would have been common practice in Biblical times.

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

Its doing it in public that I wonder how God feels. There are so many scriptures on covering, modesty, etc.

Please give me a sampling of the scriptures you are talking about.

As I see it, there are NO scriptures that command that the female breast be covered.

And there is only one passage that seems to mention "modesty"... and even there, the "modesty" it's talking about is not "covering" but the avoidance of ostentation (Paul tells what NOT to wear... not what TO wear).

What "so many scriptures" do you have in mind?

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

(Sorry... duplicate... I couldn't find the delete button)

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

Considering the exposure of breasts for breast feeding IN PUBLIC how do you think God would feel about it. There are many scriptures concerning modesty, etc.

Translation:

Does God intend for us to sexually objectify the female breast so holistically that even when a mother is using her breasts to feed her infant, our sexualized view of her breast still demands that she keep her breasts covered?

Stated this way, the utter absurdity of condemning the exposed breast for breastfeeding is obvious.

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

Honestly, "breast feeding in public" doesn't bother me.

I think the general perversion "on the surface" (that triggers a reaction) that is common at least in North America is a sign of excessive soul decay.

Any ideas on a remedy in terms of individual application?

You are absolutely right... treating the exposed breast as if it were an automatic sexual enticement is a perversion!

The best solution is not "don't ever let yourself see it," but "change how you see it!"

God never intended for men (or women) to sexually objectify women's breasts. The Bible certainly does not do so. The Bible never commands that women keep their breasts covered. The Bible never warns men against seeing the female breast.

Of the 70+ times the Bible mentions breasts, only two times outside of the Song of Solomon can they be remotely considered a "sexual" description. Even in the Song of Solomon, only 2 of the 8 mentions could imply a sexual meaning... and even then, the breasts are not any more "sexual" than the lips or the eyes.

Here's an idea for a remedy in an individual application:

MyChainsAreGone.org

It's a site about overcoming pornography by renewing our view of the unclad human form. And it works... I know... personally.

 

[MyChainsAreGone]

I think you all should start your own threads. You're so good at evading.

OK... I started my own thread. It's called:

The Bible Never Condemns the Exposed Female Breast. Period.

(That, by the way, is THE answer to your OP)

At least three times in this thread, you have reiterated that the Bible speaks a lot about "covering" and "modesty." Yet you have not once articulated a single example.

My thread is a challenge to anyone who disagrees with that assertion... but it is specifically a challenge to you.

Use the Bible. Make your case.

 

[Tetra]

Considering the exposure of breasts for breast feeding IN PUBLIC how do you think God would feel about it. There are many scriptures concerning modesty, etc.

I'm confused by the question, why would it matter if breasts are exposed? Why would God feel anything about it?

 

[blackribbon]

God designed breast for feeding babies. It is the right time to expose them. Those covers make it harder to breast feed for many babies and their moms. My son would not breast feed with a blanket over him. He wanted to look around. Society having stupid modesty issues over breasts being used the way God meant them to be meant I had a lot of difficulty feeding him the way God meant him to be fed. I teach breastfeeding to new moms and it is much better, especally in the early days for the mom to be able to look at how the baby is latched on her nipple. Babies also want to look at their mothers during feedings...and in fact, the distance from a mother's nipple to her nose is the exact distance a newborn can see clearly ... so he is designed to look at his mother.

Any man who gets turned on by a breast with a baby attached to it needs to get help and learn to control his own thoughts. Back in the 80s, people also thought we should breast feed in a toilet stall....how gross of a place is that to get your dinner?

 

[blackribbon]

Okay...large breasted women will show breast tissue and likely nipple too. Did God not design those babies to nurse or those breasts to provide the proper food their babies?

It isn't a modesty issue. It is a "do you feed your kid issue". And if someone has an issue with your kid eating, then why is the mother or baby's problem?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Jesus didn’t die for nothing but I’m reasonably confident he also didn’t die so we could shame breastfeeding moms for being indecent. As an enlightened society I feel certain we can find the happy medium ground between telling breastfeeding women they’re being immodest and running into walls.

I'd agree. If you get my point in the future, I remain open to new testament suggestions.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

You are absolutely right... treating the exposed breast as if it were an automatic sexual enticement is a perversion!

The best solution is not "don't ever let yourself see it," but "change how you see it!"

God never intended for men (or women) to sexually objectify women's breasts. The Bible certainly does not do so. The Bible never commands that women keep their breasts covered. The Bible never warns men against seeing the female breast.

Of the 70+ times the Bible mentions breasts, only two times outside of the Song of Solomon can they be remotely considered a "sexual" description. Even in the Song of Solomon, only 2 of the 8 mentions could imply a sexual meaning... and even then, the breasts are not any more "sexual" than the lips or the eyes.

Here's an idea for a remedy in an individual application:

MyChainsAreGone.org

It's a site about overcoming pornography by renewing our view of the unclad human form. And it works... I know... personally.

Good, some application.

If no one provides a route for alternate living, repentance will never be considered.

 

[RDKirk]

First, public breastfeeding is legal in 49 US states. There is no requirement that women be discrete when doing so in most of them. Since Christians are to obey the laws, wouldn’t it be wrong for a Christian to tell a woman that she needs to cover up?

Second, when the Bible speaks of modesty it addresses overdressing not underdressing. It says that women shouldn’t wear jewels or braided hair but says nothing about breastfeeding.

Third, nudity was much more common in ancient times. Breastfeeding in public would have been common just as it was common for fishermen like Peter to fish on the nude.

I doubt Peter fished in the total nude. His loins were most likely girded. Fishing with a net on a sailboat is extremely hard work. Almost no men anywhere ever have done manual labor with their jewels unprotected.

 

[Archivist]

I doubt Peter fished in the total nude. His loins were most likely girded. Fishing with a net on a sailboat is extremely hard work. Almost no men anywhere ever have done manual labor with their jewels unprotected.

Actually one man who got in the water and worked the nets was usually naked, and scholarly research confirms that.

 

[RDKirk]

Actually one man who got in the water and worked the nets was usually naked, and scholarly research confirms that.

I'd like to see that research where someone with his testicles flapping in the breeze flung a leg over the gunwale of a rough-hewn ancient boat.

Also, research on who "got down in the water and worked the nets" in the Sea of Galilea, out deep in the lake where the fish were.

 

[Saint Steven]

I think exposed breasts is a social/cultural issue.
When I was in Junior High School I had a race relations class teacher that was a man from Africa.
He laughed at American men about their fascination with "dangling breasts", as he put it.