Last week we discussed the deacons of the First Baptist Church of
Berryville closing down the church-sponsored day care because they
say running such a center encourages women to leave their hearths
and homes and go play in the marketplace.
To illustrate their point they quoted from the Bible, citing
Paul's letter to Titus, which the deacons state is the stricture
on how a proper wife should behave.
Well, I'm not going to argue Biblical theology or try to carry on
a discussion about women's rights with the Apostle Paul 2,000
years after he wrote to Titus -- although that certainly would be
a most interesting conversation.
I would suggest that the Berryville Baptists go back and read
another chapter in the New Testament. This chapter is also in
Titus instead of just stopping at chapter two, verses four and
five, continue reading into chapter three, verse 14: "And let ours
also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they
be not unfruitful."
What else could a day care center which provides children a safe
place be but a good work for necessary uses and a place to train
a child to be fruitful?
Yes, the deacons made a good point about a child's needs never
waiting until "quality" time could be found, that constant adult
supervision is vital to a child's well-being. Sheesh! Any parent
can tell you the same thing.
There's not one of us who hasn't sat up all night with a sick
baby in our arms, or cuddled and soothed a child's fears. Each of
us has poured a million glasses of juice or read a favorite story
over and over again.
Yes, a child's needs are immediate -- duh -- that's just plain
ole common horse sense! It doesn't make sense, though, to close
down what could be a safe haven for children, a place where they
can receive the immediate attention they need, when it is
imperative that both parents hold down jobs.
Furthermore, that constant supervision does not have to come from
the parent. Teachers, even day care teachers, are considered
acceptable substitutes in most of the known world as day-to-day
providers of the child's needs.
Even the Berryville Baptists would have to concede this point, or
are they next going to tell their congregation that all children
should now be home-schooled?
The Berryville deacons stated that most women work outside of the
home only because they are greedy; that working mothers are
faithless and sinning women, lusting after worldly luxuries -
- longer and more expensive vacations, dinners in fancy
restaurants, bigger television sets.
According to those good, God-fearing people up in Berryville,
these are "unnecessary" fripperies.
I hate to burst the deacon's bubble, but that is not the reason
many, if not most, women work outside the home. Frankly, many
mothers have to work, just to put food on the table, clothe and
keep a roof over the family's collective heads. That is not what
I would call unnecessary fripperies.
It also struck me that, by closing the day care, the Berryville
deacons were overlooking a vital opportunity to bring several
additional souls to salvation. You'd think that would be the main
objective of a bunch of Bible-toting Baptist deacons.
But no, they'd rather condemn working "wimmen-folk" as sinners
and nay-sayers, and otherwise un-Godly vessels and close down what
they think is an avenue of sin for these temptresses -- a day care
held in their church's building.
It seems the Berryville Baptists are completely missing the point
of why they have a church building in the first place -- which is
to give them a base of operations from which they can obey the
stricture of the Lord.
I would remind the deacons to read Matthew 28:19 -- "Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
I would also remind the deacons that this verse in Matthew is a
stricture to the Apostles from Jesus Christ to spread the Lord's
message. And from every sermon I've heard on this verse, it's also
a stricture for the rest of us to spread to the word of the Lord.
This verse seems to bear a little more authority on how church-
folk are supposed to behave than a letter of instructions from
Paul to Titus on how to begin a Christian congregation in
Crete -- which is the verse the deacons cited as the reason for
their decision.
Hel-lo?
What greater opportunity would they have to train a young person's
mind and heart to the ways of the Lord, than as a captive
audience in a church-run day care?
Another opportunity the deacons overlooked is a chance to offer
the promise of salvation to the child's mother. Think about it.
They would have access to the children throughout the day -
- children innocent and trusting, fresh as unwritten pages, ripe
and thirsting for knowledge. What better chance would they have
to teach the word of the Lord?
And through the child, the parent could also be exposed to the
scripture, either when the parent picked their child up at the
day care or later at home as the child brought home Bible stories
learned in the day care.
What a shame! All these thirsting, sinning female souls out there,
and the deacons turn their backs on them -- throwing them, their
babies and the bath water out into the streets.
Sigh! Maybe it's time for the Berryville deacons to go back to
Sunday school -- not the rarified, erudite teachings that are
the usual fare in most adult Bible studies -- but back to the
basics and such scripture as that found in Mark 10:14 -- "But
when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said unto them,
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of God."
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