Nursing Mothers

We need to be careful of our adjectives. I never used the word scandal and such would be an overstatement. I used the word appropriate and to have to do anything with the breast in a room full of people, covered or otherwise, is inappropriate.

 

I wasn't necessarily trying to pin that on you, I was thinking of the broader discussion, but looking back on my post it sure looks that way.

I apologize for unintentionally misrepresenting your position.

This still mystifies me.

We are all naked under our clothes, and if we remain covered in the process, I don't see the issue.

From your wording, "...to have to do anything with the breast..." seems to indicate that you have concerns with the existence and function of breasts being acknowledged in public settings.

Is that a fair assessment?

 

More like functioning in a public setting.

 

There are various parts of the body that get used for what they were created for. But does that mean they all should be done in a public setting?

 

I am not “admitting” anything (in the sense of being evasive). I am simply making allowances for the modesty some might feel in a semi-public setting. I have no idea how someone might truly feel, so I make allowances for a range of opinions and levels of comfort.

The simple fact that the situation I commented on takes place in a medical clinic is very significant. A medical clinic is a place where the human body is exposed to relative strangers for purposes of health and healing.

You’re really reaching here…

I’m not even going to go into the mechanics of things, but there are sounds and odors associated with relieving oneself that have no parallel with the process of nursing.

I have no idea whether or not the women in question would consider what they were doing respectful or disrespectful. Personally, I wouldn’t be offended or think that they were being disrespectful to me. I would ignore it and read a magazine.

For the modesty of the patient.

I have no idea what a L.I.S.A. class is. But why should a nursing mother be separated from her usual peer group simply for a very minor part of caring for their child? My Sunday School class is practically a baby factory (we have about 4-6 babies born each year over the past 4-5 years) and a number of the mothers breast-feed in the class. I have yet to see a bare breast or anything inappropriate or distracting in all that time. I haven’t heard anyone even mention it, much less complain.

So then it’s NOT about keeping the female breast away from the prying eyes of men?

Then WHAT is the issue?

Seriously?

I doubt you ever ship anything, or at least anything important. I ship documents and proposals which have tens of thousands of dollars (and often millions of dollars) worth of consequences if they don’t arrive by the clients’ deadlines.

People use FedEx and UPS mostly for time-sensitive stuff. When you ship, you pay for a certain delivery date and time. If it doesn’t happen, especially if the driver has the package available to deliver, there are severe repercussions.

If the woman reveals nothing and remains covered and discreet, then there’s really nothing she can do about someone else’s imagination. They are going to fantasize anyway.

A woman who is discreet and remains covered will not provide a “show.” If he’s watching other women that carefully, he is probably mentally undressing them anyway.

Yes, it is very extreme. If this is really the issue, then we ought to segregate men and women and have them in entirely different rooms for worship so that men or women who not be lusting at those nearby. Of course, since lusting takes place in the mind, that wouldn’t even work.

… is the real issue. Not the act of seeing and knowing. (Matthew 15:18-19)

We need to deal with the real issue.

If it is a problem, you need to pluck your eyes from your head and cast them away from your instead of blaming others. (see Matthew 5:27-30)

That’s biblical, and not only that, it’s the explicit teaching of Jesus.

Paul was a disciple of Jesus and preached the same message, so we know we need to interpret Paul’s writing by what Jesus said.

 

This is a straw man argument. No one is advocating every bodily activity in a public setting.

 

I guess I need to step out of this debate - I have never given discreet breast feeding in public a second thought. It is just a part of life. I don't understand the need to leave a room just because a baby is hungry. I have sat at dinner with a nursing mother, preached with nursing mothers in the crowd, taught Sunday School and led Bible studies with nursing mothers and not seen anything inappropriate. I have seen a couple of occasions in public where a mother was careless, but even then it is just a mother feeding her baby. How can that be wrong?

I just can't grasp how this could possibly cause an offence.

 

As long as it's done discreetly and the woman is properly covered, there isn't a problem, at least not on the woman's part. She's not doing anything sinful. If there's a problem, it's in the mind or heart of the man dealing with lust.

I can see a problem if a mom is letting it all hang out and not caring how anyone else feels, but we cannot lay sin at the feet of a mother who considerately covers up and quietly nurses her baby.

 

I didn't say they were. But it makes a point. Where do you draw the line with natural bodily functions? What is that standard? And why is breast feeding any better in public that any other function that we would do in private. I do not see any.

 

Well as any woman knows, it's always the mother's fault. We've probably been blamed for global warming. There's nothing new under the sun.

Genesis 3:11-12 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

It's always been the woman's fault. :sleep:

 

I love your answer.

...Bob

 

Honestly?
No difference between showering and discrete breast feeding in public?
No difference between bodily excretion and discrete breast feeding in public?
No difference between s3x and discrete breast feeding in public?
Honestly?

BTW, I am not sure how waiting rooms came into the discussion - the OP dealt with women feeding their babies in a church service.

 

What is the point of this thread?

...Bob

 

No. And here are some random words to fulfil the ten word minimum on all posts.