Who can guess why I've been thinking about the following scripture lately?
Genesis 3:16 "Unto [Eve] he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."
Let's ignore the last clause, shall we? That's not where I'm focused today. Rather, I'm looking at the statement wherein women's sorrows are multiplied and we're told that women will bring forth children in sorrow. I thought we weren't supposed to be punished for Adam's (or Eve's) transgression.
I guess I just don't understand why women were given this "punishment." I'm not saying I don't want to bear children, but why does it have to be in "sorrow?" Because really, right about now (35 weeks), I'm definitely sorrowful. My hands hurt (the carpal tunnel is migrating to the right hand as well), my torso hurts (uterus jammed into rib cage anyone?), my back hurts, my belly is heavy and tight, my back is acne-filled, I am quickly running out of clothes that cover my belly, my body is under-exercised and exhausted. Like I said, I'm sorrowful. I usually blame a lot of this on being short, but I'm pretty sure tall women get sorrowful during pregnancy too. And let's be honest. The sorrow doesn't end right after delivery. I'm not leaving the hospital in my size 2 jeans (hahaha--did you catch that hilarious joke?! Size 2. I kill me.). The sorrow continues for a long time. Childbirth is just not easy.
But here's my beef: Why does childbearing have to be this way? Why can't I lay an egg, Chuck fertilize it, we watch it for a couple of months, and VOILA! A baby! Or, why can't the baby develop faster than 40 weeks? Say a 30-week gestation? I felt okay at 30 weeks and would have been happy to deliver at that time if I knew the baby would be healthy. I just think that God, in all His wisdom, could have figured out some other baby-making method. But right now, I am left feeling punished and sorrowful, maybe just a little bit picked on because I'm a woman.
In an effort to understand this, I asked Chuck his thoughts on this scripture. Here's what he came up with.
Chuck: Maybe it's to build a bond between mom and baby.
Erin: Nope; sorry. I don't buy it. I mean, you bonded with Rhett and you didn't have to carry him for nine months. And look at all the moms who adopt and bond with those children. Most of those moms weren't around for the nine months at all, and yet, still bonded. DEBUNKED.
Chuck: Well, if you keep reading. God also gives a punishment to Adam, namely, "cursed is the ground for thy sake." So Adam gets his curse too.
Erin: Oooookay, but isn't this really a punishment on both Adam and Eve? To me, this curse is one that is saying instead of God providing all the food as He did in Eden, He was going to make Adam work for it. Taking a traditional view, men may be the ones harvesting, but aren't women the ones cooking it? If Eve wasn't cooking before, she certainly was after. Where's the Adam-only punishment? Not fair. DEBUNKED.
Chuck: That's all I got.
Erin: AHA! See. There's no good reason why this experience has to be sorrowful. Well, at least not one that I can see. In my world, it won't be this way. At a minimum, men will be the gestating ones. Time will tell if I decide to make their gestation a sorrowful one or not.
P.S. If you think I'm being a baby and a complainer, you're right. So no need to leave a nasty comment. If, however, you have some insight into this, please share. Otherwise just feel free to gloat in your head that you're better than I am.
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It's because life sucks then you die.
ReplyDeletei've had your same thoughts - 4 times over. :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I had answers, but I got nuttin'!
ReplyDeleteLove the postscript :)
I cannot gloat because you make Rice Krispies and I cannot (yet! - bought marshmallows but forgot the cereal yesterday - doh!). Also, I think you have correctly debunked Chuck's attempts to explain this scripture. So with that great track record, here you can debunk what my meager thoughts are. You're trying to figure out why pregnancy/bearing children has to be sorrowful? And why we're being punished for Eve's transgression?
ReplyDeleteOkay. These are only thoughts, I don't know where I stand, just mind wanderings...
1. I don't know why we are being punished for her transgression in such a way. Maybe it's just part of the plan (correlates), but not a direct causality? I'm beat on that one.
2. Sorrow could be one of those mistranslations? That also didn't get caught through the JST?
3. Don't take offense at this, but here's a thought. Scriptures CAN apply to all people, but they don't necessarily have to, right? So... for some women, pregnancy and childbearing are unpleasant but definitely not sorrowful. Like for me (sorry! I said take no offense!). But for you... you're clearly not a fan. Even feeling quite sorrowful over it. But because there has to be opposition in all things (to stretch us, challenge us, help us become like God and help us recognize that Christ suffered for our sorrows and turn to Him), maybe without this particularly trial, your life would be a little too perfect? Without this, dare I say, (remember, this is just thought-purge) your life would not contain enough substantial trials to make you become the person you need to become? I mean, yeah, there would be ups and downs like a normal person, but the overall summation of your life would be too trial-less without it? Good job, brilliant son, (I'm assuming) fantastic hubby, brains, wit, financial stability, decent family relations, amazing friends ;). So where are you getting dinged? (Obviously, I don't know your life story, so there may be other trials that you don't wear on your sleeve.) Maybe this, along with a few hundred thousand other women for whom life is good and pregnancy bad, this is your trial?
4. In the long scheme of things, the eternal perspective, even though sorrow is implicitly in the child-conceiving, child-bearing, and even child rearing (?), these moments are just a small moment that Heavenly Father thinks we can deal with? So, after we've lived half a millennium, we'll look back and think that those 9+ months were nothin'.
Sigh. I have no idea. Good questions!
P.S. I cannot wait until we mull over the second clause. Beh!