Not a coincidence!

[greybeta]

So, um, my voice of conscience was speaking to me tonight. It told me to call up this girl who recently announced her pregnancy over Facebook. Now that in itself is not unusual, except for the fact that she's decided to raise it as a single mom in a Baptist upbringing (unwed mothers are TABOO in the Baptist church). Oh, and I've never met her in real life, I just friended her over Facebook since she was part of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry and therefore knew a lot of the people I knew.

So I called her up. She was like, who is this? After a short explanation of who I was (I mentioned Da Noise story), she asked if I had anything important to say. I told her that the Lord put it on my heart to call her up and tell her something.

If you have a son, you should name him Joseph, because Joseph means "God will increase". Your son will increase both your happiness and troubles for the greater good.

There was an, "Omigosh, you just made my day! I was thinking about naming my child Joseph if I had a boy..."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was not a coincidence! ^_^

Comments

Joseph

[cjvornheder.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons that Joseph is a totally cool name is that Joseph is one of the two Bible characters that, I'm told, is never recorded to sin in the Bible. Of course, they did sin. The other one was Daniel. But, whereas God was very careful to exhibit the incredible humanness of most all of his biblical characters, Joseph and Daniel stand out of the Bible as shining examples of the character that is possible in Him. I don't know, but I THINK He did it this way because of the times in which they lived and the times in which their books would have their first and greatest impact. I think of them both as men of character and faithfulness and manly integrity, men who light the way.
Being an unwed mother isn't just hard in a Baptist church, it's hard anywhere. Your time is no longer your own, and there's no one to share that burden with you. You could wish that the church would come in and share her burden with her, but . . . the church didn't get her pregnant and honestly isn't responsible for her pregnancy. Each one should carry his own load, and a lot of people at the church honestly have plenty on their shoulders to carry already. That's a hard lesson I had to learn. Just because I'd gotten myself in a pickle didn't make the church responsible for bailing me out.

Re: Joseph

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Uh, hi random person! Coincidentally, my name is Daniel! ^_^

And yeah, this burden is largely her own. The church can only do so much. It'll be interesting to see what happens. In the meantime, we'll be praying for her.

[eyelashpeekie.livejournal.com]

Wait, so you told this girl that her son would increase troubles for the greater good? Or do I misunderstand? lol

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

No, no, you misunderstand the future Mrs. Dunlap. I told her that her son would increase her troubles AND happiness! ^_^

[0living-dreams0.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't think it's the church's responsibility fo her pregnancy. Although she is unwed, this doesn't mean it's such a burden. I'm not supporting getting pregnant before your married, but I also don't think people should act like the child, or even mother, is a burden/something terrible.
I DO think it is the church's responsibility to be there to guide the young mother and help her in any way they can. It may be because I'm Presbyterian, but when people are pregnant before being married we support them and let them know they are still loved. That's what being a church family is all about. I'm sure their sin is heavy on their mind, but something you must learn is this: when things like that happen, you must look to the future and figure out what the next step is. If you constantly remind them of their bad decision, this will only cause more grief and challenges for both parties ahead.

Just my 2 cents.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Grasshopper, I'm on the same wavelength you are. The problem is that tradition is a hard thing to fight. Unfortunately.

[jew-part-two.livejournal.com]

Nick and I are naming our first son "Joseph Asher" meaning "increasing happiness" (Joseph-increasing ; Asher-happiness).

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I guess shouldn't be surprised that Mr. and Mrs. Carnes would choose such a well-thought out name! ^_^

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's rather a cool thing to have done.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Indubitably, ole chap! ^_^

[thanoslug.livejournal.com]

As a fundamental Southern Baptist, I find your comment that unwed mothers are taboo in the baptist church to be interesting. Now baptist churches do have a lot of variation in them but I know there have been unwed mothers in baptist churches to which I have belonged in the past and they received support, not disdain from the church. Yes, the church frowns on bearing children out of wedlock seeing as that means the mother was in a sinful relation but, as christians and recognizing that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, its members still show love and support to the mother.