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Sperry Symposium: The importance of motherhood found in the Old Testament

My mother died when I was four years old. I don't remember much about her. I was never close to my step mother and for that reason it has been hard to realize the impact of motherhood. When I had my own children, it was hard not to put duties such has keeping the house immaculate, helping to financially support the family, etc. ahead of spending time with the kids. I think stay at home Moms need to guard against spending so much time cleaning, gardening, doing church work, etc. that they have no quality time with children.

It wasm't until the sixties that women began to seek success in careers. Unti that time most women who worked were secretaries, clerks in retail, teachers, or nurses. I think women as well as men feel a need to make an impact on society and be recognized. In the church this aspect of women's needs is downplayed.

You've come a long way, baby.

Motherhood values in the OT? Do mormons read the same bible as christians?

Just because a human is fertile doesn’t mean they will make a good parent. It’s good and humane that people now have a choice of whether or not they want to reproduce.

Human instinct guarantees that the vast majority of people will continue to have children, so the authors of this article need not worry that motherhood is dying out, as they seem to fear.

They also imply that motherhood is the only way for a woman to serve God. History provides abundant examples of women, whether fertile or not, serving God variously, in the best ways they can.

The authors ask us to contemplate the sacrifices of mothers. Let us cease looking at women as mere sacrificers, and rather consider their roles as proactive, which has been made possible in this modern world due to hard-won liberty and enlightenment.

to Jacob:
Yes I believe I read the same Bible as you, and there are several instances of women being visited by angel. Each time the message from the angel was about the bearing of a future child. (we could include the virgin Mary in on this one. I have a hard time imagining her dropping Jesus off at day care while she pursued a career, or just wanted to work to get away from the kid)

There was a time when there was a lot more effort required to keep a home running and a family fed. Women didn't have time to "work" - they were too busy making clothing, growing and preparing food, cleaning, teaching the children, etc.

Yes - there were markets and schools, but they were nothing like what we have today.

Motherhood used to be very respected because it was very obvious what the wife and mother contributed to the home.

Then, the world changed. Many of the things that women used to do have been outsourced. Men began to resent the wife sitting at home "popping bon-bons" and women began to feel unfulfilled due to the extra time on their hands.

No - I don't want to go back to that, but when we are looking at what was and what is, we need to examine the full picture.