How should Christian moms approach breastfeeding in public from a biblical perspective?
I need to preface this with the fact that while I think that my experience on this topic might add some credibility in the eyes of some people, I don't believe that the God needs my experience to make His point. His Word is sufficient in this regard and is more than credible enough on its own. Moving on...
There are two camps of thought on this subject. Breastfeeding in public is normal, natural, and good and breastfeeding in public is inappropriate, offensive and shouldn't be allowed. Even within these camps, there are a whole spectrum of opinions. I am not going to attempt to explain all the arguments here. That is not the purpose of this post. There are articles upon articles on the subject. If you want to see just how heated it can get, go to any parenting site and search "breastfeeding in public".
The point of this post is to figure out how God views breastfeeding in public. No, the bible does not specifically
address breastfeeding in public. If you type the word breast into an online
bible search tool you’ll get many results, none of which refer to the appropriateness of breastfeeding in public. While most of the results refer to
the act of breastfeeding or blessing the woman at whose breast a valued person nursed, there are a handful of verses in Song of Solomon that
refer to the breast in the sense of a man admiring a woman’s body (See Song of
Solomon 4:5 and 7:7-8). So, in that sense, a woman’s breast does carry two
purposes. One for nourishment and one for sexual pleasure. But, this is almost
beside the point. I think the most important teaching in scripture on this
point will be Romans 14:13-23. It says:
“Therefore
let us not judge one another anymore, but rather
determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in
itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it
is unclean. For if because of food your brother is
hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your
food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for
you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and
drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and
approved by men. So then we pursue the things which
make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work
of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man
who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat
meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother
stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction
before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he
approves. But he who doubts is
condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from
faith is sin.”
Now, I am very aware that this is talking about food, not breastfeeding. But isn't breastfeeding the act of delivering food to a child? I don't believe that I would be stretching it to insert the issue of breastfeeding into this teaching. For
instance, we know that breastfeeding is not an unclean thing. God created it,
after all, as a way to nourish babies! However, let’s insert breastfeeding into
verses 14 and 15.
“I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that
[breastfeeding] is [not] unclean in itself; but to him who thinks
[breastfeeding] to be unclean, to him [breastfeeding] is unclean. For if
because of [breastfeeding] your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking
according to love. Do not destroy with your [breastfeeding] him for whom Christ
died."
We
can insert it again into verse 20,
“Do not tear down the work of God for the sake
of [breastfeeding]. All things are indeed clean, but they are evil for the man
who [sees a breast] and gives offense.”
So
we can see that women who insist on their right to expose themselves are right
in the fact that breastfeeding is not an unclean thing. However they are very
much wrong in the fact that they are holding this right to be more important
than that of the conscious of their brothers in Christ who see it as unclean
thing. This is not showing love. And Christ told us in John 13:35 that “By this all
men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So the question becomes, are you showing the world the love of Christ in how you interact with other people while breastfeeding your child? And again in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Just a few things to keep in mind when nourishing that beautiful little baby of yours in public.
Your
friend in Christ, Embassador J
