I received the March flyer from my local Christian booksellers yesterday and browsed through the pages. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the most recent product for young girls: the Proverbs 31 doll. Here's what the ad says: "Proverbs 31 dolls encourage young girls to pursue Biblical womanhood. [They] come with a Bible lesson, cookie recipe, two cookie cutters and a list of activities." And they have very spiritual, Old Testament names like Leah, Elisabeth (with an "s," not a "z"), and Abigail.
And now I see that I've done all the wrong things in training up Katie to pursue biblical womanhood. I've made sure that she goes to church and hears solid preaching, I've tried to teach her at home using biblical principles of right and wrong, I've made sure she goes to catechism, and I've sent her to Christian school so she will learn how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. What she really needed was just a good cookie recipe (Do you think the Tollhouse chocolate chip recipe on the bag of chocolate chips would be okay?), a cookie cutter (probably the Christmas star), and a list of activities (I'm guessing things like read your Bible, sew an apron, and make a scrapbook). I've completely messed up! And to top it off, the name Kathleen/Katie is nowhere in the Bible!
But wait a minute--shouldn't these dolls come with a flashlight for those occasions when they work while it's still dark, a laptop with Quicken for tracking and calculating all those real estate transfers and for all of that personal finance they manage, and maybe a really great sewing machine for all of those scarlet clothes, bed coverings, and linen garments they'll be making? I don't see anything at all about cookie baking in there...
