Surely having children is a blessing and a joy. Yet this passage from Genesis tells us that we are to have them, not just for our own delight, but also to assist in the renewal of God’s creation.
We are gifted with children, rather than entitled to them. Marrying and having children, the Book of Common Prayer declares in The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage, are not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but “reverently and deliberately.”
A recent foray into the world of assisted reproduction by a single 33-year-old woman to have more children ”“ octuplets, as it turned out ”“ to add to six under the age of 8 already living, however, leaves us perplexed and concerned. Ought we to have as many children as our bodies will bear?
Is it possible for us to cherish and nurture children as creatures with their own uniqueness and integrity if we deliberately have more than a dozen of them who are very young? What are the limits to God’s call to us to be fruitful and multiply?
Whoa, a genuine “thinking person’s church” sighting! This was a good article. An intelligent church member, writing from her lay vocation, drawing on Scripture and the BCP, raising important questions and [b] not [/b] overreaching for eccentric answers.
I appreciate the humility in the piece – she raises many questions in an emerging area of inquiry and does not force answers. She seeks to address the questions as a Christian. This is healthy intellectul exploration of faith issues, in contrast to the usual “can you top this” silliness coming out of TEC and other LibProt publications.
This would be a good discussion starter in a Rector’s Forum or other adult ed. venue.
I hope I am wrong as to what I think I read in the news or saw on TV. Is this woman with 14 children single or married? Can someone elighten me as to her status??
Harvey – she is single and used a sperm donor and in vitro for her children. And as a taxpayer in California, I have and am paying for her children. While on disability for back problems, she managed to have 14 children, paid for by her disability payments and lawsuit settlements, as she has been living with her parents, who apparently never required her to be responsible for anything.
#3 THANK YOU for the update. I believed that she was single – You confirmed it.
“Is it possible for us to cherish and nurture children as creatures with their own uniqueness and integrity if we deliberately have more than a dozen of them who are very young? What are the limits to God’s call to us to be fruitful and multiply?”
What does this have to do with this situation? This woman isn’t a married Christian trying to follow God’s laws. When this story is brought up to try to illustrate that maybe married Christians shouldn’t have “more than a dozen who are very young”, it makes me want to scream. Our whole society is focused on the view that children are something to be avoided at nearly any cost, and that only people with 2 children can be regarded as having any sanity. Hence, many are bringing up this insane example over and over to illustrate the insanity of having many children. The insanity here lies not in the blessing of children, but in pursuing a gift God intends for those within marriage when one is not married, and pursuing it in a bizarre way.
Okay….so I’m a tad sensitive to this subject. You simply would not believe the comments my large family and my friends with large families are subjected to on a daily basis. Children are good, even if there are a dozen of them. And yes, it is possible to cherish and nurture them. And God set a pretty basic limit to this that this woman ignored….. within marriage.
please see the link >
http://beware-of-the-fertility-industry.blogspot.com
and also >
http://ivf-newborns-at-risk.blogspot.com