Since there has been much talk about Ordain Women, I thought it would be interesting to share some stories about Women of the Bible. How did I get this idea? Well, a few years ago, I mentioned a Book of Mormon story to my young children, and was surprised to learn that they had never heard it. I decided that we needed to learn these stories better, and thought it might be a fun family project to create our own Book of Mormon and have the children make pictures of the stories. My 7 year old son (at the time) was so enthusiastic, he said “we could sell it!” I thought he was crazy, but it turns out he was right. We put our project Book of Mormon for Kids on Amazon.com for only $1, and were shocked that a lot other people actually bought it!
We decided to make a triple combination (now in color), and Bible too. After a few years, my daughter complained that almost all the scriptures were about men. So, I decided to do some research on women, and came up with this book. There are quite a few stories, but they aren’t well known. I learned a lot, and wanted to see your thoughts on them.
I tried to write these as so a child aged 3-8 could understand them (because that’s how old my children were), and I wanted to make them positive role models, so I left out some stories about bad role models like Jezebel and Delilah. Will Rogers said (paraphrasing) “Nobody is truly worthless, because they can always be used to show ‘a bad example.'” Should I have left them in as examples of “bad women”?
Anyway, here’s the story of Dorcas.
Dorcas
Dorcas was a very good Christian woman who helped the poor. (Her name is Tabitha in Aramaic.) In Acts 9:36-42, we learn that when she died, many of the poor widows displayed the clothes she gave them. As they were preparing her body for burial, the apostle Peter came and performed a miracle. He raised her from the dead.
When I learned about Dorcas/Tabitha, I thought it was a really cool story. We could use her as an example that we should help the poor. Why do you think this story isn’t emphasized more?
One of those instances where someone should have made the story (and the healing of Aeneas) its own chapter, rather than tacking it on the end of Sauls’ conversion. It’s probably because of how it was collected, in a Church that took pride in it’s connection to Paul. “btw, Peter did a couple of miracles too” With trying to smoosh the NT into 48 weeks of teaching, I could see someone saying, “No Jesus in it? Well, we can leave that bit out.”
We so need more enthusiasm for adult (not just young adult) religious study.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing this – another Mother Teresa, what a great example.
Why don’t I think stories about women are emphasized more? Because they are smaller stories? Because they are not prophets?
I was reading the LDS blog ‘Women in the Scriptures’ one day where she encouraged women to write and share their own stories – because she said that’s the reason we don’t have more female stories in the scriptures, they didn’t write them down!
Hmm, I thought it had to do with restrictions on access to learning and reading and writing throughout the history of the world, not just with women but those in disadvantaged positions. And also who compiles and saves and arranges and chooses what is scripture.
LikeLike
I notice that Huldah is not even mentioned in the LDS bible index or dictionary.
LikeLike
Huldah is in our book!
LikeLike