Why We Are not Quiverfull - Part 4 - Reasons 4-6

Here is Part 4 of the series on why we are not Quiverfull.   If you have not read the introduction or Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 you may wish to start with those by clicking on the respective links.

This part includes three new reasons covering the subjects of nature, as God created it; how Quiverfull can affect the sexual relationship in marriage; and the problem of poor parenting.

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Excerpt:

Psalms 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

Various animals have a basic, God-given instinct to survive.  Some will abandon their young when there isn't enough food available for them to survive - during a drought perhaps. (I'm not suggesting infanticide, so don't even go there!)  Some animals will have fewer offspring when there is a shortage of food.  I have heard that wolves will not even mate if there is not enough food.  So we see that limiting or reducing population is a basic instinct in wild animals to ensure survival and promote healthy offspring.  They cannot reason as we can and do not even have a free will as we do.  How much more responsible should humans be in such decisions?

I am not talking about the typical humanist idea of reducing the world population.  Generally speaking, that is promoted for self-serving and greedy reasons.  However, since God built this mechanism into at least some of His creatures, it would be folly for us to deny that it has a useful place in creation!  I realize this will probably rub some people the wrong way, but I have come to realize that there are things we take for granted as "good, godly" beliefs which we did not get from the Bible or the reality of how God made this world.

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Why We Are not Quiverfull – Part 3 – Idolatry and Cultic Tendencies

 

Here is Part 3 in the series on why we are not followers of Quiverfull.  If you have not read the introduction or Part 1 and Part 2, you may wish to start with those by clicking on the respective links.

Part 3 is dealing with the fact that Quiverfull has some factors that lead some people to idolatry in various ways, and because of its nature, it lends itself to some cultic behavior.  Both of these issues are very serious and unacceptable in the body of Christ.

Excerpt:

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

One of the significant problems with the ideology of Quiverfull is that it easily falls into idolatry. The first point we will discuss is worship of the family.

The assumption that we can take over the world for Christ by having lots of babies is a foundational idea behind the larger movement as we discussed in Part 1.  This need of "raising arrows" can then quickly take the preeminence in people's lives to the point of taking the place of well-rounded Christian living as commanded to the church.  The focus really does end up on the family and it can, and does at times, become an idol.

Ephesians 4:14-15 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

More than one church, ministry, and family has become imbalanced in the Christian life because they focused too much on one subject to the exclusion of all others.  It doesn't matter how good that subject or issue may seem, when it is the "all-important" one it leads to a lopsided view at best, and idolatry at worst.  God intends us to be well balanced, not running to any extremes but teaching and believing the whole counsel of God, not just the parts that relate to our favorite topics.  Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. When anything becomes so important that we will ignore or contradict other doctrine and even deny the truth of scripture to defend it, it has become an idol.  As we already discussed in Part 2 of this series, the free will of mankind has been negated by the teachings of Quiverfull in at least some instances.  I believe there are other things that are idolatrous as well.

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Why We Are not Quiverfull - PART 2 - It denies the free will and common sense.

This is a new series about the reasons that we are not part of the "Quiverfull" movement.  Today we are discussing how the ideology denies the free will and common sense.

Why We Are not Quiverfull PART 2 - It denies the free will and common sense.

Excerpt:

Proverbs 4:26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 

Men are expected to make wise choices in many areas of life, but not the size of their family.  They are to choose their employment, their location, with whom they fellowship, goals, and objectives.  They are told to determine God's will for themselves and their families.  They are encouraged by some to make 200 year plans for their family's future.  They are supposed to tell their wives and daughters how to run the household, and in some cases even dictate all their use of time.  They are, in practice, to choose their daughters' husbands for them.  They are even supposed to figure out what work their sons are supposed to be doing, according to some.  But, they are not allowed to choose when to stop having kids or how many to have according the the Quiverfull ideology.  This makes no sense.

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To see the main page of this series:  Why We Are not Quiverfull

Why We Are not "Quiverfull" - A New Series

Ephesians 4:14-15  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Recently I saw a report that zika virus has been found in Texas (presumably "in the wild").  Although I don't know if this is a confirmed report, I have expected this for awhile.  It made me think about the issues surrounding the Quiverfull movement and the concern I already had about what they would decide to do among themselves about this very serious problem.

I honestly believe that the overweening zeal of some of the them at least will lead them to plow on ahead with their self-proclaimed mission to "trust God with their families."  I can well imagine some claiming that if God wants them to have a baby with microcephaly then they will "just accept it."  Of course, if such a thing happened inadvertently obviously it would be wrong to kill the baby in the womb (abort it).  The thing that I'm concerned about is that in their typical zeal against all forms of birth control and the supposed urgency of making lots of "arrows" (babies) for "the war on culture", that the people within the Quiverfull belief system will not even consider to possibility of postponing further pregnancies, even in areas of elevated risk.

So, it seemed like a good time to write an article which I'd already been planning to do.  Not surprisingly, it turned out to be quite a bit more work and content than I expected, so I'm making it into a series.  I realize that someone will undoubtedly be offended that I would deal with this subject as I am, but sometimes it is necessary to offend some in order to warn the many of a serious error or problem in the church.  When any group is teaching something that cannot be supported by scripture or is taught by the misuse of God's word, it is time to point it out and give scriptural reasons why we object.

Galatians 4:16-18  Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.  But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing...

Here is the link to the main page of the series:  Why We Are not Quiverfull
This contains an introduction and some basic thoughts.  If you are not familiar with what Quiverfull is, I recommend that you start here.

And here is the link to PART 1:  Reasons We Are not Quiverfull, PART 1
1. Quiverfull is based on the misapplication and misuse of scripture.
This section deals with some of the favorite Bible texts that are used to "prove" that it is "wrong" to limit pregnancies in any way.  It also discusses the heavy influence of Dominionism on the Quiverfull movement as a whole.