{"id":166,"date":"2009-01-22T12:20:03","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T12:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/is-motherhood-a-calling.html"},"modified":"2009-01-22T12:20:03","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T12:20:03","slug":"is-motherhood-a-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/is-motherhood-a-calling.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Motherhood a “Calling”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My dear friend, Carla<\/a>, and her co-blogger Caryn<\/a> over at TheMommyRevolution<\/a> answer with a robust No!  Money Quote:<\/p>\n

It boarders on idolatry.<\/strong> Dave made a statement that
\ntroubles me to no end. It is just the kind of statement that sends a
\ndeeper message to mothers: Dave mentions that a woman’s proper focus is
\nthe family. I’m not sure where he gets that. Well, I know where he gets
\nit, but I don’t know what biblical basis he has for that statement. As
\nI said, the gospel doesn’t include specifics about parenting. Jesus
\ndidn’t exempt mothers from participating in God’s work in the world.
\nAnd Jesus wasn’t just talking to the men when he told his followers to
\nfeed and clothe and visit the poor and imprisoned. The idea that my
\nthree children are more important than other people goes against
\neverything the Bible teaches. It makes an idol of my family. So I can’t
\njustify having tunnel vision about my parenting. I can’t call myself a
\nChristian and then live a life that centers only on a small, select
\ngroup of people-no matter how much I love those people. And I can’t
\nfathom God giving me gifts and passions and dreams with the intention
\nthat I limit the use of those to the lives of three people. There is a
\nhuge, hurting world out there and mothers-with our heightened
\ncompassion, our deepened sense of justice, our ever-growing longing for
\na better world-are uniquely qualified to get out there and work toward
\nbringing about the kingdom of God. I could go on and on about mothers
\nwho have changed the world, but we’ll save that for another post.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dear friend, Carla, and her co-blogger Caryn over at TheMommyRevolution answer with a robust No!  Money Quote: It boarders on idolatry. Dave made a statement that troubles me to no end. It is just the kind of statement that sends a deeper message to mothers: Dave mentions that a woman’s proper focus is the family.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Motherhood a "Calling"? - The New Christians<\/title>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/is-motherhood-a-calling.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Motherhood a "Calling"? - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My dear friend, Carla, and her co-blogger Caryn over at TheMommyRevolution answer with a robust No!  Money Quote: It boarders on idolatry. Dave made a statement that troubles me to no end. It is just the kind of statement that sends a deeper message to mothers: Dave mentions that a woman’s proper focus is the family.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/is-motherhood-a-calling.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-22T12:20:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Motherhood a \"Calling\"? - The New Christians","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/is-motherhood-a-calling.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Motherhood a \"Calling\"? - The New Christians","og_description":"My dear friend, Carla, and her co-blogger Caryn over at TheMommyRevolution answer with a robust No!  Money Quote: It boarders on idolatry. Dave made a statement that troubles me to no end. 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