FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume seven, number 1, January 3, 2008

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, Psalm 127:3.

Having Lots Of Babies

I realize what I am about to say may be hurtful to some, and I certainly do not want to embarrass or judge anyone’s motives on this topic, but I simply ask that we look at the facts, both biblically and demographically.

In the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28, Adam and Eve are commanded by God to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. Can there be any doubt that God expects the crown of His creation to take seriously the populating of the earth with people? In Psalm 127 Solomon, in speaking of our need for Yahweh to build a house or nation and to have the peace and prosperity to do so, says that we must have the Lord working for us. Without Him our labor will always be in vain, empty, useless, never accomplished. He goes onto say that children are a gift from the Lord, that the fruit of the womb is a reward. Charles Spurgeon, in commenting on this Psalm says, "Without this what is a man’s purpose in accumulating wealth? To what purpose does he build a house if he has none in his household to hold the house after him. . .He gives children, not as a penalty nor as a burden, but as a favor. . .where society is rightly ordered children are regarded, not as an encumbrance, but as an inheritance; and they are received, not with regret, but as a reward. . ." And then to answer the objection, "We cannot afford any more children", Spurgeon says, "With all the straits of limited incomes, our best possessions are our own dear offspring, for whom we bless God every day." I simply raise the question from a biblical perspective, "Have you really thought through the issue of how many children you ought to bring into the world? Are you thinking biblically, selfishly, or in a Malthusian manner (the English economist Malthus said that geometric increase in population with limited resources means we must limit population growth)?

Then there are the undeniable demographic implications in our present world. It takes 2.1 children per woman in any country to maintain that nation’s population and only two countries in Europe are reaching that level, Malta at 2.4 and Albania at 2.8. Italy’s birthrate is 1.2, Spain and Russia’s is at 1.1, Japan’s is 1.4, and the United States’ is 2.05. At the same time Muslims have large families and are moving into Europe by the millions to fill jobs needed to keep the economies going. In 1985 the world’s fertility rate was 4.2 children born per woman in her reproductive lifetime. Now it is less than 2.9. Contrary to what many say, there is no shortage of resources. There is plenty of food and space for all the people in the world, and this is certainly true of the western world, including the United States.

Why do we generally have small families in the United States, limited to two or three children? Surely the availability of birth control has profoundly affected the American family, making it possible to control when and how many children a couple wishes to have. But I wonder if there could be another reason. Assuming a couple can produce their own children, assuming there are no health issues which prevent the woman and man from conceiving children (and of course there are issues of infertility and physical danger to the mother in pregnancy, labor, and delivery)- is it possible the reason we have so few children is selfishness? I am just raising the question. Help me understand what has been going on for the last forty years. Besides health and infertility what possible reason could there be for not bringing more children into the world? I am not suggesting, "No birth control." I am not telling you how many children you ought to have. If you are past child bearing years, I am not condemning you for having two or three children (we have three living children, another who died as an infant, and two more who did not make it out of the womb). I am simply asking those couples in child bearing years to ask yourselves this question, "Why would we not want to have as many babies as we can? Why would we not want to have at least four or five children?" Again, I am assuming health and infertility issues are not in play here. If you say, "Well, we cannot afford more than two or three children," then I counter by saying, "Okay perhaps you may not be able to clothe or educate your children as you may deem important, but does that really matter? The fact that you are Christians and seek to rear your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is far more important than them having the right clothes or attending the right school. I simply appeal to scripture, ‘Children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward.’" I could cite numerous examples of large families I know where there is a profound love, joy, and usefulness in Christ’s kingdom due to the nurture and training of these children.

If we are to bring our country back to a Christian consensus, then we must do two things. It really boils down to a numbers game. True Christians do not abort their children (even the thought of such is ghastly), as so many in our world do. If we would have lots of babies and train them to walk with Christ, then indeed, as Solomon says, "They will be like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Such a father has no reason to be ashamed when he speaks with his enemies at the gate." Our enemy is an unbelieving, godless, secularist, post modern world. Large covenant families can be a powerful force in our country and world. Since unbelievers, with the exception of Muslims, generally do not have large families in the west, we can populate our country with godly people who can take the place of the ungodly in "high places." The next generation could be so populated with Christians that we may move into prominent places in politics, economics, law, education, medicine, and science. We can far out number the godless if we would take seriously the high calling of parenthood. The second thing we must do, of course, is to evangelize the lost so that they will have covenant families who love and fear God.

So, I simply ask those of you in your child bearing years, "Have you biblically thought through this issue of how many children you will seek to have? Are you simply thinking like the world, perhaps unconsciously viewing your children as a burden rather than a precious gift?" If you say, "We will have no children or only one or two children," then I ask you, "Why?" Can you give a biblical answer to justify your intentions? If you can, then fine. Perhaps I am missing something here. I want to be gracious and kind. I don’t want unnecessarily to heap guilt on couples. But I do ask you to think through this issue and be able to answer biblically.

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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