Our good friend Erik Wait has posted a very thoughtful and eloquent article on his website covering the issue of children as blessings. Erik is a friend and was a fellow elder at our church back in California. He was also our neighbor in the duplex which we nicknamed Elder Row. His duplex was closer to the street than ours so he would trap all the Jehovah's Witness' in arguments before they had a chance to get to our door. They would be stumped in their defense of their faith after about two minutes talking with Elder Erik. After he moved in I never worried about being bugged by these persistent visitors :) Erik is very, very well educated in many theological issues as well as he is a savy wine enthusiast. Have a go-see on his site and look around a while.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
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6 comments:
Thanks for posting that link. That was a great article. Made me think about some issues that I had previously made up my mind on. It was such a thorough article, that I was disappointed it didn't address adoption. I sent him an email and am hoping that I will hear back from him. Thanks again!
A paper on adopting children is in the works. I hope to have it completed by Saturday 10/28/06, if not sooner. I'll let you know when it is done and hopefully I will answer any questions you may have on the subject from the stand point of a Christian worldview.
Grace & Peace,
Erik Wait
Yeah, that was a good article!
I always felt the "Onan" argument was weak. I don't think Onan was in trouble for practicing birth control. I think he was in trouble for deliberately rebelling against a distinct command, to raise up seed for his brother.
I also think, if birth control is in and of itself a sin, it would be labelled so in Scripture. God's commands are explicit, sometimes painfully so, about all sorts of sins. It seems to me that if all birth control is sin we would have been told.
Then again we are shown repeatedly that children are a blessing, and that to me is the best argument against birth control.
What mitigates that thought for me is that there are indeed some things that are blessings that we don't want too much of. Like food. If we eat too much food obviously it becomes a curse, although food is a great blessing.
Or sleep; enough is fantastic; too much and you're slothful. What is enough or too much does vary from person to person.
Well, just some thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughts, Marie.
First, a disclaimer: I don't post these things to try and convert or accuse others. This is something Colin and I feel convicted about. Even so, I struggle with obeying in this area because frankly, being pregnant and having lots of kids is hard. So, when I find something that encourages me I post about it so that others might also be encouraged possibly.
Anyway, I think you're right about the abundance of food and sleep and those things are clearly warned against in scripture. However, no where is there any indication that too many children are a problem, curse, etc. On the contrary, it was considered a good, no great thing that Abraham's seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Another thing, I don't think you can say that just because it's not specifically talked about in Scripture that its not sin. We must sometimes look at the principles of Scripture when things aren't specifically mentioned.
Blessings and peace, Emily :)
That was a wonderful article! It brought to light many things I was not aware of. THank you for posting the link!
http://bethany.preciousinfants.com
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