Are Children Really a Blessing?

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People in general are excited about having their own children and proliferating the human race. Christians, Jews, and even Moslems often quote scriptures to justify their fertility rate. Some of the most popular are as follows:

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 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.

Psalms 27: 3-5 (KJV)

Another bible verse which is used to justify irresponsible reproductive rates is that God said to “be fruitful and replenish the face of the earth.”

Throughout my life, I’ve seen many cases where children weren’t exactly what I would describe as a blessing. There was a man who worked to care for his daughters and wanted the best for them. One day, while trying to correct one of his teenage girls, she went to the Police Station and reported that he had assaulted her. Not able to cope with the psychological pressure of this, the man took a rope and hang himself before the Police arrived. There is another case of a woman who had worked hard selling fruits to raise her children. She built a small, beautiful house, and things were going well. One day, her son, then in his twenties, got involved with criminals and was convicted of murder. The stress brought on by this situation caused the woman to die a year later due to stress induced illnesses. These are just a few examples, but there are thousands of stories of these kinds. On top of that, everyday, dozens of children opt of life by committing suicide, often leaving their parents with a void and emotional pain that perhaps never completely heal.

While God’s words never fail, and, being a bible believing Christian, I must concur with the scriptures quoted above, we must take into consideration that there are sometimes exceptions to rules and the time and context of bible verses must be considered when referencing them.

When David wrote or spoke those verses, Israel was beleaguered by enemy forces on all sides who wanted to destroy Israel. Reproductive rate was important as part of God’s plan to make His chosen people the dominant force on the earth. By the time Solomon (which means peace) was born, David had subdued all enemy forces and God had put the fear of David in the heart of every nation.

When God said “be fruitful and replenish the face of the earth,” there were only two people on earth at that time. We must be careful not to take Bible verses out of context or transpose them to an era far removed from the context in which it was spoken or written.

Today, irresponsible reproduction and poor parenting are putting a heavy burden on the earth, on animals, and on humans. People are unfortunately juxtaposing biblical times with our present situation. Humans are destroying forests, the environment, ecosystems, and even the whole planet in general.

Millions of people are in jail or drug related gangs because of poor parenting. Children are suffering from poor medical care, lack of educational facility and much more. Further, wars are being proliferated because parents don’t instill good values in children, and children grow up with a “fight for survival” mindset.

Now would be a good time to study the words of Jesus – which is very relevant to our modern day era. Now would be a good time to understand our responsibility to the poor, homeless, and sick. Now would be a good time to beat our swords into ploughshares, sell what we have and give to the poor, and do unto others as we would that they should do unto us.

Now would be a good time for young adults to understand the tremendous responsibility that come with being a parent, and now would be a good time to reach out to the millions of suffering children who are suffering because of their parents’ bad decisions. When we understand our responsibility, not just to our children, but to EVERY child, then children will truly become a blessing.

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