Be Fruitful and Multiply

God’s plan for mankind was to “be fruitful and multiply.” He stated this to Adam and Eve and again to Noah after the flood. In fact, there was never a command in the Bible not to have children. In fact the Bible commends having children, and shows those incapable of having children as not receiving a blessing.

So why are we seeing Tweets asking this question?

Does the existence of people who cannot have babies in anyway invalidate the original command? Who opens and closes the womb anyway?

— AD Robles (@realADRobles) August 1, 2018

I believe that it is because of the changing attitude of American Christianity to children.

Whether it’s the belief that we’ve reached overpopulation, the desire to live “the good life” or counting the cost and believing that you can’t afford them, American Christianity follows after the culture that it is in and goes one and done or rarely makes it beyond two children. This is definitely different than at the start of the 1900s where the average Lutheran family may have had seven.

Nowadays if you have four people believe you have a “large family” and anything larger than that will get stares. The rise of the Duggards and the Quiverfull movement have made it so that if you have any more than four people wonder if you’re one of them, or whether children have become your idol.

To answer AD Robels question, while many things can become an idol, preaching what God’s Word says is not idolatry, and trying to follow the Lord’s commands would be worshipping and serving Him– exactly what disciples should be doing.