Be Able to Give an Answer

Last night I got into a “civil debate” with a friend over the issue of having children. He is unmarried and not under the authority of his parents, so it’s really unfair to expect him to have convictions at this point about children, but the debate helped me understand a little better where lots of people draw their conclusion. While he agreed with me that the Bible never gives us authority to limit our children, or to “control” life, he maintained that “he didn’t want a lot of children”. And our final conclusion was, with his agreeing, that frankly he was more concerned with his desires than with what pleased the Lord. I’m not saying emphatically that only those who do not practice birth control are pleasing the Lord; but I am suggesting that most of us are far more concerned with what we want than what God wants.

Perhaps many Christians don’t probe into the issue because they think that God doesn’t have an opinion. Or maybe, they are afraid He does, and so as long as they don’t allow themselves to become convicted about it, they’re off the hook.

But I ended up telling him this: regardless of your conclusion about the matter, be able to give an answer (as Paul urges). And as a Christian, we should be able to give a Scriptural answer, if indeed, we believe that the Bible is the basis for all of life. Our answer should be the result of careful thought, prayer, research and counsel. (I think we take too much liberty in our own counsel, forgetting that God gave us divine instruction for every area of life.) My biggest irritation with people who are bold enough to confront us (negatively) about our conviction, is that they have given so little, if any, thought, prayer or consideration to the matter. And then they approach us, flinging goofy comments and questions, as if we haven’t thought more than two minutes about our conviction. (“How are you going to send them all to college???” Me: “Gasp! I never even thought about that…oh now what are we going to do!!!”) Same thing goes with a host of other lifestyle choices we have made. Disagree with me if you wish; but be able to give an educated, prayerful defense.