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And from the Jewish perspective
Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi says: Of all the 613 mitzvahs in the Torah, the very first one is to be fruitful and multiply. It says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, that they become one flesh." This mitzvah is primary to any other mitzvah. |
A maddening political debate
God's people should be having kids, not abortions. Admittedly there are vexing issues of legal force and prison sentences and penalties, government compulsion and sex police, the unfair focus on women to the exclusion of men. Roe v. Wade seems almost like a justifiable escape valve for 'lost cause' situations, a 'less-than-ideal' solution of last resort. Most abortions involve situations in which the girl is abandoned, first by the male, and then also by her family and his, and last of all, by society itself. You might wonder, where is the church in all this? I assure you it is there, though perhaps hard to locate at times.
A great moral "should"
Leaving all those matters of the political aspect aside, let's look at the simple issue of personal moral responsibility. God's people should be having kids, not abortions. In a world come of age, even the religious aspect declines in importance. What is left? Taking a stand for Christ in the world. And at the heart of that lies sexual responsibility.Reverence for Life
Albert Schweitzer shined his own moral spotlight on the high importance of human life, and duty to cultivate, each and every one of us, a solemn (yet joyous) reverence for life. Sexual responsibility brings healing to a broken world. There can be no greater responsibility in the sexual realm than to undertake the commitment and sacrifice of giving birth to a child, raising and nurturing and training a child. Our very language testifies to the joint-endeavor child-bearing represents, human and divine. Having children is "procreation," something accomplished with the participation of the one who creates, the Creator.
An ageless injunction
"Suffer the little children to come unto me," says the Creator, "for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, imprisoned and then killed by Hitler, was barred from marrying and having children, though that was his heart's desire. Are we disciples of Christ? Are we followers of the Infinite? The gate is straight and arduous, and there is a price to be paid for the worthiest crowns. So with any responsibility undertaken. It is a diluted gospel that lets us off with cheap grace, and ease. Bearing a child is physically strenuous for the mother, and raising children involves sacrifice by mother, father, and usually others as well. But it is responsibility, and God promises his rewards to the faithful.
The "good life"
The media drums into our awareness a plethora of promises, both intimated and implied. We can have lives of ease and excitement; we can have pleasures and comforts. We can be loved and respected. Just buy into whatever product or program advertised. But responsibility comes with a different message. It bears the warning label: straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads to life; and few there be that find it.
A Great Commission to perform
God's people not only "should" be having children not abortions, in this age of decadence and irresponsibility, who else can be depended on to bear such a cross, to assume such a serious responsibility? Christians by faith take the decision to follow Christ. Jesus said, ye must be born again. But being born again personally is a first step in a pilgrimage; it is not the end of the journey. There is a work to be done, a burden to be borne. God's people are called not to flee from the world or escape from difficulties, but rather to confront it, and to assume responsibility for it. We have a Great Commission impressed upon us. The world is not our oyster, it is our job.
Not easy --- but glorious
The Jews of old had an expression which I am told was pronounced tzur giddul banim. This adage referred to the burden, the anguish even, that parents bear in having and rearing children. In having children, we commit ourselves to a heavy responsibility. There are many sorrows. But there are also, most certainly, many joys. Participating with the Creator himself in the perpetuation of the human race, we look forward to an incorruptible inheritance, and the glories assured to those who have been found faithful in their duty.
Marvel not - it was all foretold
There is a branch of radical feminism which proclaims childlessness a woman's tight, her ticket to freedom and the good life. Childless by choice. Even if our subjective prejudice runs against this view, let's remember that often it is the outcasts that come up with creative innovation, or strokes of genius. There is a passage in the Bible that says that every member of the body has its purpose, and the most despised organs of the body are necessary to the most important functions. Jesus defended the socalled bad women. The apostle Paul wrote that "being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day."
Marvel not - it was all foretold
My natural feeling goes a bit like this: Undoubtedly, it hardly takes a philosophical rationale for any of us, feminist or otherwise, to choose the path of least resistance, to pursue the lures of ease or Mammon. Indeed, some two millennia ago, it was foretold [Luke 23:29] that ... the days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Mother Shipton, five hundred years ago, prophesied that in the end times, instead of bearing and loving children, women would fondle cats and dogs, and men behave about like hogs. What a sorry description of a world rejecting children, preferring vanity and silliness.Let's remember the principle of the The Third Partner: Man cannot create life; no power on earth can guarantee the birth of a baby. The key to that decision is in the hands of God alone. He is the third Partner in the conception of every child.
May God help us each be faithful in our spot in this world, however big or small. For a scripture index.
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The decision to have children is a personal one. It is between the couple and God. It is He who makes them 'one flesh' (as he says). All we on the outside can do is offer our presence, support, encouragement and (if convenient) our help. It is God who opens hearts. Human do-gooders cannot, through words, take away a heart of stone, or replace it with a heart of flesh. In my own case, I was not supposed to have children. I had mumps when I was in twelfth grade!! Supposedly, I should have been sterile. But you know I never doubted for one second that God would give me children. Laughing, I even told my dad I would have forty children. Well, I didn't have forty, and my dad only lived to see the first (Isaac), but God did give us eleven kids. They are wonderful. So have faith. Trust God. His arm is not shortened. What he has promised, shall he not bring it to pass? --by Robert Shepherd |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .See Psalm 127
