The point of using the biblical information is not to get folks to
subscribe to some "biblical" pattern.  Rather it is to catch the
attention of folks who are subscribing so wholeheartedly to a method
which purports to be based upon a biblical base, and yet is so far from
the reality of the biblical instruction.

I have found it effective to call this passage to the attention of those
who are following the Ezzo method.  Most of them are doing so because of
their belief that the Ezzo method is truly a means of "raising kids
God's way".  When the program is being advertized in conservative
churches it is promoted as being one which will help to develop "a
biblical mind-set for parenting, a mind-set that can be passed from
generation to generation."

When they can see the clear discrepancy between what the Ezzo's are
teaching as being biblical, and the biblical passages which come closest
to describing how God instructed "His people" to relate to the new
mother, one finally has a hope of breaking through the "I'm taking this
on faith" mentality.

After their initial shock that the Ezzo's would fail to use this passage
in describing the post-partum period, I have so far found most of them
open to the use of "Isn't it wonderful how the good Lord created this
whole process so that it works so well in meeting the needs of the
infant."  I spend some time describing how frequent nursing allows the
mother to provide just the right type of protective elements, how the
composition of breastmilk changes with frequency and duration of
feeding, neural development enhancement through breastfeeding, etc.  How
much I go into this depends in large part on how receptive the
individual or couple is.

And it is very important that one presents this information to both
mother and father, because the Ezzo's are also into male responsibility
for family decisions, etc.  I have never found it effective to try to
outright discredit the program, but rather to talk about how there are
some things which bother me about the method.

Using this approach would obviously not work for the LC who was viewed
as having a "worldly or humanistic" approach to parenting because the
very folks who are subscribing to the Ezzo method are trying to escape
from contamination by those who hold such views.

Hope this clarified the rationale behind the use of the "biblical
basis", although just think what it would be like if mother and child
had that long to bond without the other hassels of work-a-day life!

Melinda