Hi ~

I received an email showing such profound childhood insight that I asked to (anonymously) share it with you. The author agreed, so here it is only slightly edited for clarity:

***

I have finally been able to put into words one of my early memories of teachings at [fundamentalist] Bob Jones Elementary School. It’s the infamous "Umbrella of Protection."

I remember it being drawn on the chalkboard, with the main umbrella being God, then smaller umbrellas under: husband over wife, parents over children. 

I loved umbrellas and loved to use my own umbrella. But my child brain immediately began wrestling with this visual. I was like, “Wait up, huh, what?! But I thought I was supposed to be able to ‘look to Jesus' and ‘see Jesus'”? 

I remember parts of verses coming to me like “all can come to Jesus,” “only through Jesus,” “let the little children come unto Me and do not prevent them.”

Now I can put words to my child thought processes.

If God was the ultimate umbrella of protection, then why did wives have their husbands' umbrellas over them? Weren’t they supposed to be able to go to God on their own? 

And same regarding children, because the verse says to come to Jesus with childlike faith. Plus the previous verse, let the little children come unto me.

When I was using my own umbrella (except for a clear plastic one I once had), I could see only the underside of it. So I knew the extra umbrellas were blocking my view to be able to truly “see” God.

Also, the only reason I would need another umbrella under my current umbrella was if the highest umbrella had holes in it. And I knew God’s umbrella did not have holes! 

It became an internal struggle to try to make sense of it all. I was seeing hypocrisy before I understood or even knew the word hypocrisy. 

***

This little child, with such perception . . . I was humbled and amazed by her insight. Since she saw that this false teaching was actually in opposition to Scripture, I thought she might be an encouragement to you.

Longing to truly see the Lord, with you,

Rebecca

Untwisting Scriptures at heresthejoy.com

See my Untwisting Scriptures series

Trauma-informed group book coaching at Book Crafters Academy

P.S. The Umbrella Heresy is one of the topics I address in Untwisting Scriptures Book 2: Patriarchy and Authority.

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