I'm sure some would argue all theology is illogical, and some things of the Christian faith are paradoxes and mysteries. Its part of what keeps God, God, and us, us.
Now, on the way to work today I heard an NPR piece dealing with the Quiverfull Movement. It was an interesting piece on a group that lives by the idea that God in his sovereignty knows when a family has enough kids. So, things like birth control are not only not used, but there are articles on the site detailing all the various issues with birth control.
Ok, all this is fine and dandy. It doesn't really bother me much even if I don't necessarily feel the same way.
Then it gets to the kicker. Interviewing a woman who had I believe 6 children of her own and 35 grandchildren she got into the rather disturbing part of the (bad) theology going along with this otherwise fairly innocuous movement.
She said the idea is to have large families to raise up as Christian's to reclaim the nation for God. Because if Christian's don't procreate and do this eventually "Biblical Christianity" (interesting term in itself) will be washed away. She pointed to Islam and how many Islamic families are larger than Western counterparts.
Ok, I have an issue here with bad theology. Aside from the misconception of Christians' needing temporal power to do God's work, a sovereign God who knows what's best for your family cannot keep worship of Him alive without our help?
Oh, don't get me wrong. I am 100% behind raising your children in a Godly manner. Just please, please, don't get sucked into the whole "God's Army" idea. This is not a contest. God does not NEED you to have 8 kids to keep the faith alive. If you believe that is His will for you is to have 8 kids, that is great. But please don't get this misguided idea that you NEED to do this because otherwise "Biblical Christianity" is going to get overwhelmed.
God works in many many ways. If He is Sovereign enough to get you lots of kids, He is sovereign enough to keep the faith alive.
Also, do not confuse living for God and working for God with gaining temporal power and passing laws. Please. Jesus never once sought political power. Political power isn't inherently bad, it is just not a way to change hearts for God.
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My problem with the Quiverfull movement is that they like to point out their success stories like the Dueggar family (18 children and counting), who are fortunate enough to have a father who makes a very good living. What they don't tell you is that for every family that is doing well, there are ten that live in poverty. It is (relatively) easy to live with so many children if there is money to feed and clothe and care for all of them. There are a lot of mothers for whom the incredible work it takes to care for so many kids is compounded by the stress of doing it with too few resources.
Agreed. The people interviewed briefly mentioned it as they raised their own eggs, hogs, cows (it was a dairy farm I believe), and probably veggies in the summer months.
They said it would take over $1000 a month to feed them if they didn't. That's nice that you live on a farm and can do that. What if you don't?
If the only way to keep your religion alive is by having more babies, you need a new religion.
Oh, also, their theological beliefs leave far too much room for men to abuse their wives, which frustrates me. They are firm believers in the whole wives submit to their husbands, but take it to the extreme. Women are not allowed to say "no" to their husbands, just as they shouldn't have careers or interests outside of raising their families. Clearly there are families for whom this works well, but I can imagine that in not-so-healthy relationships these beliefs could easily slip into the category of mental abuse.
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