Is having many Children a blessing or not?

Even if the Lord said to come to Him on the sea? I guess Peter didn't see that last rock!

 

I'm grateful for Helen's posts in this thread! She had me in tears, and that's hard to do! Glad for her example in this area to silence the worldly arguments about "real life." (A phrase tossed around in another thread about this.)

 

Oh wow!!!
So my married life is not great? I just think it is?

How sad that you are telling people that because they use birth control their married life is not great. And that once they stop using birth control, >>THEN married life becomes great, really great<<.

 

I will have to say this in regards to those of you waiting until you can afford it, please be sure you are waiting because God said so, not because your banker did. Finances can change in a heart beat.

My due-date with my daughter was Christmas day. Her father was fired on Christmas Eve. God provided anyway.

 

And you hear an audible voice of God on a daily basis! I don't and never have. Guess I am not very spiritual. Wow is me!

I don't cast out the nets and fish everyday either.

Cheers,

Jim

Love the misapplication of scripture!

 

Good advice.

And I will say this to those who are passing false judgement on those waiting until they can afford it: Don't falsely presume that couples waiting until they can afford it aren't waiting because God said so.

 

Ahh man, y'all crack me up.

 

Jim1999 - Who was the remark about misapplication of scripture and hearing audible voices directed at?

 

Texas,,it had to do with the walking on water thing.

The essence of Peter's lesson is there, but it has nothing to do with physically walking on water. I guess this led to my other topic of hearing the voice of God.

Even using scripture we can be misled. It must be taken in context and within the cultural bounds of the day. Otherwise, "Judas went and hanged himself..." "Go, and do thou likewise...." and, "Whatsoever thou doest, do quickly...."

Cheers,

Jim

 

Thank you for explaining Jim.
I agree with you regarding how easy it is to twist scriptures, even when people don't mean to or realize they are doing so.

 

You're the one who applied it to the discussion. I just responded.

But what does the audibility of God's voice have to do with anything? If one doesn't believe the Scriptures, he wouldn't believe even if God spoke with an audible voice. If it were in the Gospels that we should literally and physically walk on water, it wouldn't be the faithful one demanding an audible voice before he stepped out.

The argument is really about God's will as revealed in the Bible. Are Paul and Su Wei seeing it clearly, or are you?

Have fun, I'm done!

 

Great post by helen, but we must remember God has a different path for each believer.

To me, just setting out to have a baby a year, knowing you don't have that much finance nor enough ATTENTION to go around could well be DARING GOD. There's no use bringing hardship upon oneself.

 

Let me add something else, then, robycop3. If a woman has a baby and then nurses on demand and spends a lot of time holding and cuddling that baby, there is a very good 'chance' that she will not conceive for quite awhile. Yes, I know some women who do that do conceive again quickly, but most do not. The AVERAGE age for weaning in ancient societies was about 2.5-3 years, and sometimes nursing lasted longer. That means that most women were not having another child for well over three years after the previous one.

I have girlfriends who used that method and that method only as 'birth control', and ended up with their children about three years apart. One has four children and the other five. Every child got special time and the younger ones especially got LOTS of love from older brothers and sisters.

So it's not a matter or whipping out a kid a year. I guess if you are going to let God do the deciding where this issue is concerned, which those who have read this thread know I am in favor of, then perhaps the best way to deal with the children issue is the old fashioned way. Mom stays home and is a mom and nurses for quite some time.

I know that's generally impossible in this society. But that's not to say that isn't the best way for families to be.

Please don't mistake me. I know there are reasons some wives have to work. I am not criticizing or condemning any. But perhaps the closer any of us can come to the original way of doing things, which I believe is God's way, the better off they will be in many areas of their lives.

Will any of us be perfect here? Of course not! Will those who find themselves needing to work still get God's grace and still be able to be wonderful Christians? Of COURSE!

Let's just remember there is another way of living which, when we can, we might be better off trying to approach, as we can.

It's sort of, in my mind, a little like sex before marriage or handling finances or just about anything else in life. There is the best way to handle things, and then there is the way most find themselves taking. That does not negate the best way, it just means that sometimes, when we try to take things into our own hands rather than leaving it up to the Lord and His way, we might be missing out on some very special blessings.

He still loves us and salvation is always through Christ and none of that changes. But believing what the Lord says, for instance about children being blessings, and living that belief, which is what faith is, means we are in a positionn to receive God's best in our lives -- maybe not best as we recognize it at the time, but nevertheless, the BEST.

 

There's really no right answer that excludes all others. As I said, God has a different plan for each.

My wife was blessed with teaching skills, and she believes God wants her to use'em outside the home; thus, she works. Our kids are grown, but they still enquire of good ole Mom at times. Neither she nor I believed we could give enough attention to a whole platoon of kids, so after out 2nd was born, she had her running gears removed. But that's US. We know many families who've raised a whole brood successfully...while we know others who have half their kids in jail.

As you said, we should look to GOD to steer us properly in this respect.

 

Until 2 years ago, I would have agreed with those who see no moral issue regarding contraception. I have spent a great deal of time studying the issue for the past two years and am not entirely convinced the contraception is sinful. For 1900 years, it was the unbroken teaching of Christians from all traditions that contraception was sinful. Luther and Calvin spared no words in condemning. Both, but particularly Luther, engaged in substantial Scriptural exegesis to prove the point.

It was only in the middle third of the 20th century that Protestants began to deny this understanding of Scripture. The fruits of the abandonment of this understanding are all around us and were predicted by opponents of modifying 19 centuries of Christian teaching: pornography, fornication, divorce, and adultery, to name just a few.

I urge all Christian to prayerfully study this issue and not to merely assume that it is permissible.

 

I mistyped. The second sentence should have read:
I have spent a great deal of time studying the issue for the past two years and am now entirely convinced the contraception is sinful.

 

Oops. The second sentence of my post should have read:

I have spent a great deal of time studying the issue for the past two years and am *now* entirely convinced the contraception is sinful.