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So You've Decided to Have Children
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to 5,000,000,000. With the population explosion have come
increased poverty, hunger, unemployment, crime and war.
Population alone has not caused this, but sheer numbers
of people have been partly responsible for the condition of
the world we live in today.
It certainly seems like a good time to take a long, hard
look at the value of family planning.
God Is Planning His Family
Perhaps the most important point to address is the
spiritual issue. Does the Bible prohibit family planning'? Does
God require married couples to have as many children as
possible during the child-bearing years'?
Looking at family planning from God's perspective is
essential.
One Bible passage that perhaps summarizes family plan–
ning best is Ephesians 3:14-15: "For this reason I bow my
knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named."
God is a family. God is reproducing himself. When he
created Adam and Eve, God set in motion the process
whereby, in the course of time and according to his plan, the
divine family could be expanded.
But all at once'?
No.
God the Father determined in advance
to
bring children
into his family, and in what order. He then sent Jesus Christ
to be his firstborn Son. But Christ was to be the firstborn of
many brethren (Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:15).
Without doubt, God is planning a very large family. But
the point is, he
i.s
planning.
And so should we. But that desire to have children
should be evaluated in light of not only the burgeoning world
population, but of a family's ability to provide and care for
children.
So just as God is planning his family, we should be
planning ours. A young couple may decide
to
wait three or
four or more years before having their first child to be better
prepared for that child.
They then may decide to have two or three or four or