Jump to content
IGNORED

Foot Washing? Cheryl (formerly Treasures from a Shoebox)


Koala

Recommended Posts

My mother grew up Baptist.  Her family didn't attend church often, but the few times she did, she remembers that there was feet washing.

It's a weird concept for me.  I see where they get it, but still, the thought of someone (anyone) washing my feet makes me want to run for it.  

Anyway...while I "get" foot washing as it pertains to the church, I found myself particularly troubled by Cheryl Long's recent birthday post about her 17 year old daughter.

Like most fundie moms, Cheryl makes the birthday post sound like she's advertising for a husband.  Marriageable daughters aren't "witty and intelligent" or "introverts who love a good book", they're "servant hearts who love to cook and clean".  

Cheryl's family is on the "flat broke" side of finances, sometimes barely scraping together enough for groceries, so keeping daughters home well into their thirties (looking at you Steve Maxwell) is not an option.

But back to the birthday post.  

Cheryl writes (daughter's name redacted by me):

Quote

Our (redacted name) has a heart to serve others as well. Whether she’s cooking a delicious meal (this girl can seriously cook!), washing her daddy’s tired feet, or assisting elderly ladies with children’s crafts at a church meeting, (redacted name) looks to meet needs.

Now tell me this, why would a seventeen year old girl be washing her Daddy's feet?  Am I just nuts, or does that seem grossly inappropriate and weird?  

If his feet need washing, let Terry take a shower and wash them himself.  If he must have someone wash his feet, let Cheryl do it.  

Feel free to tell me if I'm crazy, but this was a real wtf to me...

 

http://www.thelongwaytogo.com/feminine-friday-named-after-a-hero-of-the-faith/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand the point of foot-washing in a  church setting--the Pope does it on Holy Thursday every Easter, and many denominations do it at various times as part of their rituals. And I understand it as it was practiced in Biblical times--it was a mark of hospitality to wash your guests' feet after they'd been walking in sandals out on dusty, filthy roads all day. But otherwise...no. Just no. And a daughter washing her father's feet is all kinds of inappropriate. :?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is sad.  Doesn't sound like daughter got to do anything special for her birthday, besides serve other people. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I thought Cheryls craziest post in the last weeks was the one about treating Lyme Disease naturally - which I think is downright dangerous. Her daughter might end up disabled or severely impacted without antibiotics.

But yeah, this takes the cake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, they ALSO do that creepy daddy-daughter mock-wedding Covenant Ceremony, so I'd say their sense of healthy filial boundaries is pretty whack even without that information. This is also the Daddy who cheated on Mommy and killed her dog, sooo personally I wouldn't wash his feet if they were covered in acid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, nickelodeon said:

Well, they ALSO do that creepy daddy-daughter mock-wedding Covenant Ceremony, so I'd say their sense of healthy filial boundaries is pretty whack even without that information. This is also the Daddy who cheated on Mommy and killed her dog, sooo personally I wouldn't wash his feet if they were covered in acid.

 

Maybe wash them IN acid.

We didn't associate with "those foot-washing Baptists" when we were IFB. Apparently, foot-washing is right up there with baby sacrifice (to hear my parents tell it). But even if it hadn't been, there's no way in the world that I'd have, as a 17 yo girl, wanted to wash my dad's feet. And even less had he killed my dog. Let his nasty feet rot for all I care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's very weird. Maybe it's just a cultural thing but washing feet seems intimate. I washed my husband's feet once because I knew he would like it but I hate feet and I didn't like how it felt (weird power dynamic even though my husband and I have a healthy relationship). It was just uncomfortable.

One time at our home school co-op a lady taught a very demanding class and her helpers (I was one) did a lot. She showed her thanks by washing our feet. Individually, in a quiet dim room. It was awkward as hell. It was a sweet thought but never ever again. I felt it was a little mean to surprise us, too. It made it hard to say no. Last year she taught another class and wanted her middle/high school students to wash their Mom or Dads feet. My son was like, "Over my dead body" and told her he would do something else. Once the other parents got wind of it they nixed the idea. We won't have anything to do with her classes any more (for other reasons... This was just the topping on the WTF cake).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On Maundy Thursday, my church offers foot washing to be done in family groups. It's more rinsing than washing. I don't participate, but my churh is cool like that, no problem with not participating. Very mainstream RCA church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That blog is... :pb_eek: After reading a little more, the foot-washing seems downright normal to some of the other things described there. 

I've seen foot-washing done in a mainstream church for Maundy Thursday. It was completely optional, and just seemed like a nice way to illustrate a Bible lesson about humility. Whereas in the context of this blog, it definitely just seems like another way to reinforce women being servants to men, especially daughters. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Waaaaaay back in the day when I worked at a religious summer camp, my fellow camp counselors and I sat in a big circle and did a foot washing. Men washed women's feet, women washed men's feet, people of the same gender washed feet. It was all based on where you were in the circle (completely random). 

Still super awkward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless one is also going to file my toe nails and sand my calluses, then follow up with a few coats of nail polish...I'm out.  Actually, I had major foot surgery about 10 weeks ago; my man was nice enough to "wash" my feet every day or so.  Between the cast, the heat and the strange nerve sensations, they were in SEVERE need.  However, from a church standpoint, like @polecat, the IFB church I grew up in looked down on the other IFB churches that did foot washing--way to "Pentecostal" was what they said.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find the family comparing their teenage daughter to Corrie Ten Boom very odd. 

Corrie TB was a brave heroine of wwii

How can a protected home schooled Teen be in the same league? Strange.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand washing feet in a church setting on Maundy Thursday which is optional for participation, or when getting a professional pedicure, but this is creepy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

       I was deeply moved when our priest washed the feet of 3 parishioners on Maundy Thursday. I was guessing this thread was about something like that.

      Unless Daddy is handicapped I cannot imagine a scenario where this would not be creepy and weird. As a little girl I liked polishing my dads shoes. He had a shoebox with different color polishes and a soft brush and some clothes. The only time I touched my dad's feet was in a swimming pool because he was trying to convince me he could breath out of his big toe. He would submerge himself under water and stick his toe out and hold his breath forever. He would thrash around whenever I pushed his feet under. That's it. 

      Everything about that message is creepy and depressing. It's a for sale sign, does she have all her teeth too?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it weird! I know some fundie brides wash their grooms' feet on the wedding day, but it seems odd and a little fetish-y to me. I know one man who washed his bride's feet, but I still think it's a very out-there way to show devotion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never seen foot washing or rinsing at a wedding. Would not want water near my wedding dress. I never touched my dad's feet in all the years he was alive. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

I have never seen foot washing or rinsing at a wedding. Would not want water near my wedding dress. I never touched my dad's feet in all the years he was alive. 

I never touched my dad's feet until he was sick with cancer and severe neuropathy in both his hands and feet meant he needed help getting his shoes and socks on. My mother usually did it, but there were times when I did. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, louisa05 said:

I never touched my dad's feet until he was sick with cancer and severe neuropathy in both his hands and feet meant he needed help getting his shoes and socks on. My mother usually did it, but there were times when I did. 

This is perfectly understandable. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

The only time I touched my dad's feet was in a swimming pool because he was trying to convince me he could breath out of his big toe. He would submerge himself under water and stick his toe out and hold his breath forever. He would thrash around whenever I pushed his feet under. That's it. 

That's a really cute story! Not nearly as creepy as what Cheryl describes (but after that "covenant ceremony" post I read a handful of years agp, I'm not even surprised. Fundies: Constantly raising my bar of WTFery).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It does say something about my family's desire for extreme independence and our weird health issues that the device known as a 'sock putter on-er' (it has a real name, I'm sure) lived in our basement and came out when we needed it existed growing up.

But dammit, bad backs and weird health issues be damned, I'm getting dressed int he AM with or without help.
(I think I first used this sort of thing when I was about 14.  but you had to get someone who wasn't currently in pain to get it out of the basement shop for you--it was illogically inaccessible.  Behind a few pairs of crutches and whatnot.  Our basement was interesting.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, browngrl said:

Am I getting my fundies mixed up? Is she the one that was married to a man who shot her dog when she was away one weekend?

Yup, that's the one! There is no end to the head-desking/facepalming/saying "what the actual f***" with these people.

ETA: Here's the original post: treasuresfromashoebox.blogspot.com/2012/03/getting-past-dog.html

and the FJ discussion: 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.