Procreation
15. God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” still applies to married couples, and He “seeks godly offspring.” He is sovereign over the opening and closing of the womb. Children are a gift of God and it is a blessing to have many of them, if He so ordains. Christian parents are bound to look to Scripture as their authoritative guide concerning issues of procreation. They should welcome with thanksgiving the children God gives them. The failure of believers to reject the anti-life mindset of the age has resulted in the murder of possibly millions of unborn babies through the use of abortifacient birth control. (Gen. 1:28; 9:1; 29:31; 30:22; Ex. 20:13: 21:22-25; Ps. 127:3; 128:3-4; Is. 8:18; Mal. 2:15)
Gen. 1:28 – Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen. 9:1 – So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
God told Adam, Eve, Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply. Does God tell that to Christians, too?
Gen. 29:31 – When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.
Gen. 30:22 – Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
Ex. 20:13 – You shall not murder.
Yes. TBP refers here to some kinds of birth control causing a very early abortion sometimes, and thus being murder. I once read a patriarchist writing that it is murder to not attempt to conceive, and it may refer to that too.
The argument about some birth control being murder is logically sound, and could only be circumvented by redefining human life or murder. Or it could be avoided by using a kind of birth control that does not cause abortion. The argument that it is murder not to conceive is silly, and would make Jesus, Paul, and several other esteemed Bible characters murderers for celibacy and for telling others singleness is good.
Ex. 21:22-25 – If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
God values the unborn baby. But not quite like He values the born - it is "life for life" for the born, a fine (apparently?) for the unborn.
Psa 127:3-5 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
(Even though TBP mention only :3, it make sense to discuss the who quiverful passage, :3 - :5, here)
Yes, with one caveat: Children may be your reward and heritage, but they are not the property of parents. They are property of God. We are not owners, but stewards of our children.
It is interesting that the quiverful passages mention “children of the youth” as arrows. Quiverfull proponents claim this refers to all children, even those born when the parents are not so young. That is not biblical.
It is interesting that the quiverful passages mention “children of the youth” as arrows. Quiverfull proponents claim this refers to all children, even those born when the parents are not so young. That is not biblical.
An Israelite war quiver, say historians, held 4 or 5 quivers. If the literal meaning is then "happy is the man with 4 or 5 children in his youth" this say nothing of how happy a woman with children is, or a man with less/more than 4 or 5, or anyone whose children are not born in his/ her youth.
Ps. 128:3-4 – Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.
The man who fears the Lord will be blessed with a wife and children. The amount is not mentioned.
Is. 8:18 – Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
God gave Isaiah children. That cannot be stretched to say all children of everyone are gifts from him. Although I believe children are a gift, I don’t believe in misusing this verse.
Mal. 2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Some translations say “he seeks godly offspring” instead of “That he might seek a godly seed.” But the most literal meaning is singular – a godly seed. As such, this is not about having multiple children.
15a) God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” still applies to married couples,
God commanded a few characters in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply, but these texts don’t show that it still applies.
b) and He “seeks godly offspring.”
The more literal translation is “That he might seek a godly seed.”
Within the context of dealing right with your wife (read the whole Malachi passage), it is certainly not about having many children at all. You could deal treacherously with your wife, treat her violently (:16) and cheat on her (:14), and still have the same amount of children with your wife, and many more with other women. As such, the emphasis here should be on godly and not on offspring. Children who have a violent and adulterous father are unlikely to grow up godly.
c) He is sovereign over the opening and closing of the womb.
This contradicts points a) and h): Is God sovereign in opening the womb, or does He commands us to be fruitful? Is He sovereign over closing it, or are we closing it by birth control?
The texts backs up that He opened up the womb of two women, not that he is sovereign in opening all wombs. No verse was given to prove He close the womb.
d) Children are a gift of God
Yes. Children, like riches(1Ch 29:12), wisdom (1 Kings 3:12), rain and the fruit of the land (Lev 26:4), peace (Num. 6:26), rest (Ex. 33:14), strength (Ps 29:11) and land (Lev 14:34), are gifts from God. The mere fact that something is a gift does not mean we should always seek more of it. We should be good stewards of our gifts as everything – and children in particular – actually belong to God.
For example, humanity knows by now that breast milk is best for babies. Yet some quiverfull parents take their children off the breast very quickly, because greed for new gifts is more important to them than nurturing the gifts they have. Some older children are badly educated to help look after younger children, for the same reason. If greed is bad in other gifts, why would greed not be bad for this gift?
But this statement, although biblical, was not backed up from the texts given. Surprised? Look again. Children are called a heritage, a reward, a blessing in the texts, but not a gift. Isaiah’s children were given and could be called a gift, but that passage cannot be used to call all children gifts.
e) and it is a blessing to have many of them, if He so ordains.
It is a blessing to have children. Many of them is not mentioned in the blessing texts. Of course, if children are a blessing, then many of them still mean they are a blessing. But the blessing is in the children, not in the quantity.
f) Christian parents are bound to look to Scripture as their authoritative guide concerning issues of procreation.
Uhm... It looks so good to “look to scripture as an authorative guide.” But it is an ambigious statement. It is wise to look to scripture’s authority in topics it addresses, but some things are not addressed. If I want to buy a car for my family, scripture don’t say what make and model. If I buy food, scripture don’t say exactly which food and in what quantities. Similarly, I believe that the Bible say less of procreation than TBP would have us believe.
Nevertheless, looking to Scripture as authorative is biblical. There is no scripture reference for this point, but this attitude is the foundation for a biblical worldview. As such, it should be conceded as Biblical.
g) They should welcome with thanksgiving the children God gives them.
Yes, but no verse here said anything like “welcome the children God gives, welcome with thanksgiving.”
h) The failure of believers to reject the anti-life mindset of the age has resulted in the murder of possibly millions of unborn babies through the use of abortifacient birth control.
Perhaps it was not their failure to reject the anti-life mindset of the age, but merely their non-knowledge of the abortifacient aspects of some kinds of birth control? Perhaps many of them are pro-lifers who want every life to be loved and nurtured? This statement, whether true or untrue, is certainly not in the Bible.
Other ways Christians understand this:
In an era where your children did manual labor with you and were financial assets rather than financial liabilities, the wealth and success of nations and families literally depended on having children. But it seems that in God’s kingdom, a different set of rules apply. Children should not be seen as financial assets and workers, which was the world view from which the Old Testament writers understood them to be a heritage and a blessing. (God’s mind set for calling children that is different, though. And that is, perhaps, why He would let the Psalm writer write that children are a blessing, not that the amount of them makes it a bigger blessing.)
You are even welcome to avoid parenthood and marriage altogether in the New Testament Christian view, as Jesus and Paul did.
Our war is not one of flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12), and we thus should not have children (a 100% fleshy way of making war) to "win the culture war." We should make war by the weapons of God.
In many ways children of God partner with Him, under His leadership, to get something meaningful done for Him. Many believe procreation, too, is an area where we could seek His will and follow it, and that he may not lead us all to keep producing children.
Wade Burleson points out several other things most non-quiverful Christians will agree with, here. Among others, he points out how the new covenant works differently from the old one, and how we can show our pro-life beliefs in a different way from quiverful.
Summing it up
How reliable is this tenet? I will use a color code:
The color code:
This is a partial truth. (The other part of the truth, that together make it Biblical, will be added in brackets.)
This is defended biblically, but another view could also be defended biblically
15. God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” still applies to married couples, and He “seeks godly offspring” (which mean he want offspring to be godly, not that he commands the godly to have offspring). He is sovereign over the opening and closing of the womb. Children (, like strength, riches, land, peace or rest,) are a gift of God and it is a blessing to have many of them, if He so ordains. Christian parents are bound to look to Scripture as their authoritative guide concerning issues of procreation. They should welcome with thanksgiving the children God gives them. The failure of believers to reject the anti-life mindset of the age has resulted in the murder of possibly millions of unborn babies through the use of abortifacient birth control.
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