Christian married couples refusing to have kids

[churchgirl]

There are some christian couples who prefer not to have kids for various reasons (the ability not to have is not one of those reasons). Is this biblically wrong?

[Diplomat]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by churchgirl:

Is this biblically wrong?

No, it isn't. It is a matter of choice.

[churchgirl]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

And you know I'm going to rebutt with the argument of being told to "be fruitful and multiply". Was that a mandate just for the times or was it even a mandate at all?

[WorshipRaiser]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Churchie - I was jus gonna ask the same thing

[WorshipRaiser]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

I mean, are we talking about, never having children, or just for a period - like right after marriage?

[churchgirl]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

WP this is never having kids.

[msgoody2shoes]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by churchgirl:
[qb] And you know I'm going to rebutt with the argument of being told to "be fruitful and multiply". Was that a mandate just for the times or was it even a mandate at all? [/qb]

Exactly, churchgirl. That mandate was not a choice. Sex was ordained for procreation, not specifically for pleasure. Remember how the widows had to marry the next of kin to keep the family name going? Remember Onan who ws killed for spilling the seed instead of impregnating his sister-in-law as commanded? Remember Tamar who had to wait until her brother-in-law grew up so that she could marry him and bear his child?

On the contrary, women who were barren were sorrowful/miserable because they knew they were not able to do what women were created to do. It was not given to every woman to conceive for a reason. Nor was it given to every man to father children. But to have the choice NOT to have children when you can, was not given to us. That's a choice that people make themselves.

[Diplomat]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by churchgirl:
And you know I'm going to rebutt with the argument of being told to "be fruitful and multiply". Was that a mandate just for the times or was it even a mandate at all?

Let's put that text in context: With only two people on earth then, the instructions are self-evident. Now with over 6 billion, is it still an instruction of necessity for every couple? I don't think so.

[churchgirl]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Excellent points you have MsG. And I ask you also, was Paul wrong in not marrying and having children?

Valid point you have also CEW.

[Diplomat]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by churchgirl:
Excellent points you have MsG. And I ask you also, was Paul wrong in not marrying and having children?

If he was, then he gave the Church some bad counsel: "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." (1 Corinthians 7:7-9).

Personally I don't think he was. We also have the Christian belief that some are called to a life of singleness. That calling would be a violation of the Word, and we know that the Word cannot contradict itself.

BTW, tradition has it that Paul was married at one point.

[coffeegyal]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

I was headed in the same direction as CEW. Things were a little different when resources were so plentiful and humans were few. Childbirth was difficult, and babies were often miscarried or died during/after birth. So, people had as many as could survive. Anymore, with technology and hygeine, more births are viable.

Now, as I understand it, the Bible allows for situations in which people don't marry--they're called to a different vocation, oftentimes to the church. But, are there examples of people choosing not to have kids?

[msgoody2shoes]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by coffeegyal:
[qb] I was headed in the same direction as CEW. Things were a little different when resources were so plentiful and humans were few. Childbirth was difficult, and babies were often miscarried or died during/after birth. So, people had as many as could survive. Anymore, with technology and hygeine, more births are viable.

Now, as I understand it, the Bible allows for situations in which people don't marry--they're called to a different vocation, oftentimes to the church. But, are there examples of people choosing not to have kids? [/qb]

The only example I've seen is the one I listed earlier. Onan was killed for spilling his seed on the ground to avoid impregnating his sister-in-law. Everybody else seemed to have been having children or diligently praying for some.

[msgoody2shoes]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by CEW:
[qb]

Originally posted by churchgirl:
Excellent points you have MsG. And I ask you also, was Paul wrong in not marrying and having children?

If he was, then he gave the Church some bad counsel: "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." (1 Corinthians 7:7-9).

Personally I don't think he was. We also have the Christian belief that some are called to a life of singleness. That calling would be a violation of the Word, and we know that the Word cannot contradict itself.

BTW, tradition has it that Paul was married at one point. [/qb]

Nicely said CEW. Paul did not choose celibacy or what ever he was. I have heard that he was once married but have never seen scriptural proof.

[Diplomat]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by msgoody2shoes:

Originally posted by coffeegyal:
I was headed in the same direction as CEW. Things were a little different when resources were so plentiful and humans were few. Childbirth was difficult, and babies were often miscarried or died during/after birth. So, people had as many as could survive. Anymore, with technology and hygeine, more births are viable.

Now, as I understand it, the Bible allows for situations in which people don't marry--they're called to a different vocation, oftentimes to the church. But, are there examples of people choosing not to have kids?

The only example I've seen is the one I listed earlier. Onan was killed for spilling his seed on the ground to avoid impregnating his sister-in-law. Everybody else seemed to have been having children or diligently praying for some.

Onan was killed for his disobedience. It is not a good scriptural example to use of someone choosing not to have kids. The specific instructions and Onan's attitude are found in Genesis 38:8-9, "So Judah told Onan, "Go and sleep with your brother's widow; it's the duty of a brother-in-law to keep your brother's line alive. But Onan knew that the child wouldn't be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn't produce a child for his brother." He was unwilling to father a child who, by the laws as they were then, would not be his.

[msgoody2shoes]

Re: Christian married couples refusing to have kids

Originally posted by CEW:
[qb]

Originally posted by msgoody2shoes:

Originally posted by coffeegyal:
I was headed in the same direction as CEW. Things were a little different when resources were so plentiful and humans were few. Childbirth was difficult, and babies were often miscarried or died during/after birth. So, people had as many as could survive. Anymore, with technology and hygeine, more births are viable.

Now, as I understand it, the Bible allows for situations in which people don't marry--they're called to a different vocation, oftentimes to the church. But, are there examples of people choosing not to have kids?

The only example I've seen is the one I listed earlier. Onan was killed for spilling his seed on the ground to avoid impregnating his sister-in-law. Everybody else seemed to have been having children or diligently praying for some.

Onan was killed for his disobedience. It is not a good scriptural example to use of someone choosing not to have kids. The specific instructions and Onan's attitude are found in Genesis 38:8-9, "So Judah told Onan, "Go and sleep with your brother's widow; it's the duty of a brother-in-law to keep your brother's line alive. But Onan knew that the child wouldn't be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn't produce a child for his brother." He was unwilling to father a child who, by the laws as they were then, would not be his. [/qb]

Even though Onan was disobedient, it does not discount the fact that he chose not to have a child with his in law. He made that choice when he spilled the seed, no?