Customer Reviews

So Much More

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The positive elements of this book is that it really places value on women, something not seen in today's culture! It places responsibility on men to protect and cherish women. The advice to young women is exceptional and definitely raises the bar! Young women are encouraged in their relationships with their fathers. However, one thing I found to be very impractical is the stand they take against higher education among women. "So Much More" takes a huge stand AGAINST ANY college for girls and basically makes it sound like they will be ruined for life if they go. I disagree! It's an unpredictable world and I believe that women need something to fall back on--just in case. The authors believe (STRONGLY) that young woman are to stay under the protection of their father until they marry, not go to college and then transfer their dependency over to their husbands. This might have worked 100 years ago, but men are not the same "protectors" as they once were. I am not a feminist or believe in Women's Lib, but I do believe that a woman needs to be able to support herself, if needed...I've had several friends "trapped" in horrible/abusive marriages due to this very thing. The authors of this book support the idea that it's a woman's family or her church's responsibility to step up and support her financially. This might be true in a perfect world, but I don't live in that world. I've never seen a church step in and support single moms...maybe they should...but it doesn't happen. Another factor is that in today's world, many girls have absent dads in their lives and this book is geared towards the girls who have the traditional family. I have four children(ages 8yrs-22yrs.)who are blessed to have that traditional family...a father who loves them, a mom who stays home and home schools them, however, most kids aren't blessed with this. A girl who has an absent father might get the feeling as though her life isn't the "perfect life" and she's messed for good! Just my opinion:)

First, I want to say that I have nothing personally against the authors of this book. I really don't have anything against the book because God will use it to His advantage. However, there are some concerns that I have about some of the content. One of the concerns I have is that a lot of homeschoolers are falling into the trap of putting faith in their standards and beliefs as a measuring stick to how close somebody is to God. However, when life falls out from under your feet, dresses, homeschooling, women staying at home, daughters waiting for husbands, and any other standards cannot help you. There is no measuring stick to being close to God. It is only Christ living within a person that makes them positionally righteous before God. Sin is disobedience to God's commands. So what does God command? We can take the scripture and ignore it because we don't want to change or we can take the scripture and run with it leaning on our own understanding. The culture of Israel at the time was strongly against women. Women were viewed as lower then men. Jesus Christ raised women to a new level of respect and honor. (Mary was given the task of bringing the savior into the world.) (Note that her father knew nothing of this and wasn't even mentioned in the story. God spoke to Mary and Mary alone and chose her for this calling. Her family had nothing to do with it.) Women were mentioned frequently through out scripture as workers in the church. Even if they were not as prominate as men that is no surprise because the cultural view of women was so low. Perhaps women were not as brave as to answer God's call to service. The authors of this book state a few things that I disagree with:

1. That women cannot be missionaries unless they are married and even that is iffy. The view they teach is that by raiseing strong healthy large families and staying where you are at witnessing to neighbors etc. you are fulfilling the great commission. When Jesus gave the great commission he was meaning that each christian "as they are going" should make disciples of ALL MEN and to teach them everything that God has commanded. I am surrounded by kids from totally broken families. Most of them no nothing about Jesus. They barely know what church is. Their families are unbelievably wrecked by sin and foolishness. These children are so immersed in the godless culture that the average homeschooler would be SHOCKED. I tell you this because this is an example of people who need to be reached out to. They have no chance of even being discipled let alone raise a Godly family one day. If we didn't try and reach these children they would never be reached. Yes, I am a girl and yes I am a missionary to these kids. There is no command for women to not be missionaries in the bible.

2. Women should never go to college. Not everything about college is perfect. It is often very wicked. But to make a blank statement that no lady should go to college is to black and white. It isn't a sin to go to college. God doesn't like everything about college however he uses it in people's lives to work out his purpose even if the system isn't perfect. (Israel wasn't perfect either. For years they thought that having more then one wife was ok. Abraham for instance. However God didn't approve of it. In is long term plan he used the cultural views to accomplish his purpose.) God does call some women to go to college. God never says that women are not to be educated and what proof do you have that it is more godly to stay at home and learn housekeeping and business skills from dad?

3. Unmarried women are to remain at home helping their father and the family until they are married. Paul spoke highly of singleness and he stated that a single women is to be concerned with the things of God. (A married woman would be concerned with her family and her husband. So to be single you are free to focus on serving God in a way that is not an option if you have a family.)

4. Single girls of marrying age are to obey their parents and fathers like they were children. God gave two commands in the scripture. (Children "being brought up," (cit. Michael Pearl) obey your parents and wives submit to the leadership of your husband. When you become an adult you are now free to "submit" but not "obey." Submit means choosing to be under somebodies protection and leadership. For instance, we are under the President etc. We are not required to obey them only submit to their leadership as God leads.

In conclusion, I think the book needs serious prayfulness and thinking before you take these ideas as God's ideas.

After becoming acquainted with the Botkin sisters' blog, articles, book, and DVD, I feel the need to speak out strongly against the dangerous mentality that appears to have been pounded into them from an early age. They were taught that their single adult lives should center around their father, who profits financially by selling the type of spiritually abusive views laid out in this book? The assertion that women should not get a college education was very sad to me, and is in no way supported by Scripture. I grew up in a large family, was homeschooled, and am very close to my parents and siblings. I'm also an attorney and married to a wonderful, Godly man. My mom and I both have professional degrees and are also able to be stay at home wives and mothers. I am so, so thankful that my father had the wisdom to encourage me to go to college and law school. Those years were instrumental in developing my faith in Christ, forming Godly friendships, and strengthening family relationships -- especially with my parents! It is scary that a father would brainwash his daughters to this level...The advice in this book is unbiblical and I hope that young, impressionable girls stay far away.

I'm so glad Anna-Sofia and Elizabeth have written this book-- because if they didn't, I would have! :) If you, as a daughter, have ever found yourself wondering, "what am I supposed to be doing?", then this book should give you the answer. Using a very non-confrontational question-and-answer format, these two sisters give a very thorough treatise on the role of a daughter in the home. As a daughter myself, it was a blessing to know that someone finally had the courage to write on such a sensitive, but needful, subject. Feminists, beware-- if you think a woman's place is "anywhere BUT the home", you will certainly not agree with this book. But if you think that self-fulfillment is found by encouraging and helping others (including husbands and fathers) to fulfill their dreams, then this is the book you've been waiting for!

Praise God for the Botkin girls! It is so refreshing to know that there are two young ladies, from my own generation, who have the courage and strength to fight against the wicked feminist onslaught.

This book encourages young women to recognize the bondage of feminism and to embrace the freedom they have in their God-given roles. They call us back to our roles as clearly defined in Scripture.

Be warned, self-deceived feminists will chafe when faced with the truths revealed in this book. Conviction doesn't always feel good. But those young women sincerely seeking God's truth and design for their lives will be blessed.

Thank you for contending earnestly for the Truth! May the Lord continue to be glorified through your book.

Psalm 100:5 - For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

I give this book one star simply because I believe that these young girls sincerely desire to please God and their parents, which in and of itself is good.

However, the entire basis for the book is completely flawed...where do I even begin? Basically, they are taking the premise of wives submitting to their husbands, as well as the general guidelines in scripture for the relationship between a husband and wife, and trying desperately to apply it to a girl's relationship to her father. This is unscriptural and does not work. The relationship between a husband is wife is UNIQUE and meant to be a metaphor of Christ and the church, which is the very reason many of the things that apply to husbands and wives cannot be extrapolated and assigned to just any person, male or female, or any relationship. The picture of Christ and the church is shown through the husband and his wife, NOT the father and his daughter!! I am writing this review because I read the entire book, and I really wanted to believe what it said. And I did, in fact, for a short time. However, page after page the flaws would nag at me and I could not ultimately ignore this horrible logic.

They even go so far as to suggest that it was Dinah's fault she was raped, because she left her house and did not stay with her father!! Yikes, that makes me pretty sick.

Their arguments against higher education are extremely weak, not based on scripture and do not hold any water considering they have not been to college, how can they know what it is like and argue against it for EVERY individual?

So ultimately, yes I believe that once a woman is married and has children, her biblically defined role is within the sphere of her home, caring for her OWN children and submitting to her OWN husband. But until that is the case, young women can be productive members of society, share the gospel, be a witness and help others in need... if I announced to my father that I was going to live at home and "serve him" and continue to live off his money instead of going to college, he would be extremely alarmed and disappointed, in fact he would probably not allow it.

Ugh, I could go on and on...please do not buy this book. Please pray and consider what the Bible teaches without already having your mind made up about what it means.

So Much More is a charming book written by two quite lively and seemingly intelligent young ladies. I enjoyed their style. I didn't enjoy their message, as I believe it is damaging and very unhealthy to many young ladies.

I believe that their theology is way off base, which causes them to come to some weird conclusions. I believe it is damaging to young ladies to try to coerce them into doing things that the Bible does not demand of them in order to peddle a pet philosophy that works great for some who choose it, but not so much for the young ladies trapped in it. I also find the idea that a daughter needs to be a help meet to her father as disturbing and potentially abusive if the analogy is taken the whole way opens girls up to be abused by their fathers.

There were a few disturbing things in this book. Another was how much a daughters relationship with her father was elevated over her relationship with her mother, and how it was said she should be helping her father but with no regard to her mother.

Anna Sophia and Elizabeth also condone and encourage betrothal (with bride prices and all, selling girls as if they are property), girls not attending college (they don't think girls need an education because they are to be keepers at home and nothing else). There are many alarming things brought to light in this book.

As charming and endearing as this book is, it must be read with extreme caution if read at all. It really wasn't worth the money paid for it with all the error and the narrow minded, judgmental thinking going on.

This book is put out by Vision Forum, which is notorious for espousing extreme patriarchal views. It discourages higher education for women, and it recommends that women stay at home under their father's care until marriage. It really takes Scripture to a place of distortion. It also takes focus off of the Great Commission to spread the gospel. It creates a church of clone-like families, and that kind of church cannot accommodate the bruised reeds, the broken, the addicted, the needy, the abused who will not come through those church doors because they don't "fit in" with what they see there. Yet, these are the ones we are called to minister to as Christians. This book will get high ratings on Amazon by people of like-mindedness. But, this like-mindedness is part of a "cult-like" movement in the wider Christian church today. It is called the Integrated Church Movement and Vision Forum materials are popular among people in this movement and among some in homeschooling. There is also overlap with the Quiverfull movement (remember the Duggars on TLC?). Anyway, our walk with God is not a one-size-fits all approach. Even if you choose to be a stay-at-home keeper of the home type of woman, you still need to have career-oriented "skill sets" in case you need to call upon them. And, you need to keep them up to date. What if your husband dies or becomes disabled? What if you are called to be single...such as is my case. Am I supposed to be still living at home with my father as a 46 year old woman? Well, guess what...he is deceased now. And, as a 46 year old woman, I really don't want to "adopt" a family in my church to be my spiritual family in lieu of his absence. I have a lot of Christian friends who are my spiritual family. I went to a state secular college, and I work at a career. That is where God has me. One of my close friends, another single woman...never met Mr. Right, though she was raised in a good Christian home and desired to be married. She went on to law school and has been a successful prosecuting attorney for many years. She is single and she just didn't happen to have a guy come-a-courtin'...So, what's a gal to do? I think the message in this book is wrong because it tries to apply a formula to all Christian women and families. Again, no one-size-fits-all, "one practice" approach please! It narrows options for women who would otherwise go on to be authors, teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, welders, soldiers, journalists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, builders, AS WELL AS wives and/or mothers! Being a wife and mother in itself is good...and should be encouraged for those called to it. There's no room for flexibility in this book, however. And to repeat what I said earlier: extra-biblical, non-biblical...and upstages the main point of our faith...to share Christ with broken lives.

The premise of this book, that one woman was made to submit to one man (first her father, then her husband), is absolutely Biblical! From the creation order to Paul's intructions to women in the New Testament, we see that God's beautiful design for women is indeed a plan to bless them! [Some would misrepresent the authors by saying that they believe ALL women should submit to ALL men; This is not what the Scriptures teach and it is not what the Botkin's believe.]

The Botkin sisters are firmly convinced that it is possible to live this Biblical truth and to do it fervently with joy. As singles, they are committed to submitting to their father and blessing his vision, instead of going along with a self-seeking, independent female culture. Those who think this notion boring, archaic, or revolting ought not take issue with Anna Sophia & Elizabeth Botkin, but with the Holy Scriptures themselves. To understand this book, one must let go of all culturally-ingrained defenses and be committed to a purely objective look at what they present and what the Scriptures teach. Until one takes on this attitude of humility, don't bother reading it!

[A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, Nor will he go to the wise. Prov. 15:12; He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility. Prov. 15:32]


The Botkins' believe that this path is exciting, creative, fulfilling, and full of blessing from God! They encourage all single young women to submit to their father, to prosper and bless him, and to devote themselves to service to others. Their exhortations are fully in line with the Biblical paradoxes:

"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." Matt. 10:39

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it falls, it bears much fruit." -John 12:24

One ought not dismiss this book until they have endeavored to live consistently in light of its principles. The Botkins believe that young ladies will succeed, not because of their own ideas, but because the principles belong to God, and he has promised to bless all those who seek the Kingdom of God first!

So Much More, a 350 page hardbound book written by Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin, is a comprehensive, biblical treatise on biblical daughter-hood. Most books written to Christian girls will talk of courtship and college. Not that those are not important subjects . . . but So Much More delves to a deeper level.

The book expands those normal daughter topics from a biblical perspective plus covering the full gamut of issues that should be near to the heart of every young woman: submission, the battle against feminism, the influence of Marxism, encouraging brothers, the cautions of having a unbiblical view of "ministry" outside the home, higher education, exemplifying a "protected women" through thoughts and actions, biblical marriage preparation and growing in the highest vocation a woman can have: as her husband's helper, the mistress of a functional home and the trainer of children.

While some books are encased in flowery language, So Much More is written with a straightforward logical question and answer format. Scriptural references are peppered throughout as well as extensive footnotes and two appendixes (Appendix A: Advice to Fathers: An interview with Geoffrey Botkin by Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin, and Appendix B: The Nature of Militant Feminism). Throughout the book are scattered interviews with 14 girls from around the world who share different lessons God has been teaching them.

This is the type of book you will recommend to everyone on your list. As I read it through, I found myself thinking of person after person who would be so blessed by gleaning from it's pages. So Much More: The Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters of the Kingdom of God lights a fire of excitement, hope and purpose as young women seek to follow the Lord's instruction with delight, living their lives for His glory.