Shouldn’t I be bothered by it? Shouldn’t we all? I know I talk about it a lot. I know there are other matters in the spiritual realm besides our ideas about children.
But somehow, this one is blaring to me, and big, and wrong.
It is my plea that if you are an older woman who desires to be a “godly older woman”, then you MUST echo the things of God, you must speak out of His Word–otherwise, you’re just old…and a liar (professing to believe His Word and speaking things opposite what is there.)
I couldn’t help overhearing the cashier behind me, I wasn’t eavesdropping. She was checking out a sweet-natured, older couple, chatting with them about her new marriage and how her mother was wanting grandchildren. (I can’t vouch for the couple’s salvation, but I know they were members of a church because they were “buying on the church’s account”.)
The cashier said, “I do NOT want to have children right now…”
The older woman said, verbatim, “And you don’t need to; you need to enjoy life.” (“Children are a gift from God..the fruit of the womb is His REWARD.”)
It echoed in my ears all the way home. I wish I had had the courage to say something, but I didn’t want to meddle in someone else’s conversation.
I asked the questions…
“What does a statement like that say about the way we view children?”
“What has happened among believers to make us think that way?”
“Did women say this to younger women before birth control was so acceptable and convenient?”
“If not, isn’t that cause for us to at least be cautious about the subject?”
“I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
She lied to that young wife. She told her that children would cause her unhappiness. That children were trouble. That children would rob her of joy.
She also told her that we are entitled to our own, personal fulfillment in life, even at the expense of other people.
She lied about the character of God in that statement because everything the Bible has to say about the fruitfulness of the marriage covenant is directly opposed to that comment. Without exception.
This is the only reason I tend to be so black and white on the issue of birth control–NOT because I’m legalistic or seek to add to the Word of God. But because I see an almost constant discrepancy in the two positions.
Is it possible to hold in one hand the belief that BC is good and useful for preventing children according to our own determination, and hold in the other the idea that children are something to welcome and not desire to prevent in marriage?
Is it possible to embrace the idea of preventing children and still think that children bring joy to one’s life, not hindrance?
Comments like these affirm that the general population cannot hold the two together. And when that occurs, I’m prone to choose one and reject the other because two diametrically opposed positions, when the Bible DOES speak, cannot both be right.
(I’m not interested in a debate about hypotheticals here, please hear what I’m saying.)
God help us to speak truth about Him and about the magnificence of His most beloved creation–US.
We’ve said it for years..