My Journey to Becoming Quiverfull Part IV: Back to the Bible

I know some of you have been wondering why I didn’t just get out my Bible at the beginning of this journey. Remember, though, I was already aware of the quiverfull verses. I had just interpreted them to mean something different. For instance, I’ve written in a previous post how I assumed God told Adam and Eve (Gen 1:28) and then Noah and his sons (Gen 9:1) to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, because the earth was empty then (and full now, I mistakenly believed). I just thought we were the last frontier here in Texas, but now that I realize the earth is not overpopulated I have to wonder if maybe God didn’t just mean what He said. I could give you statistics about how all the people in the world could line up next to one another and all fit in Texas, but I think it’s fairly obvious if you just take a look around you. We went to Kazakhstan a few years ago to adopt our son and couldn’t believe the wide open spaces we saw out of the airplane. It’s a huge empty country. Even in India and China where the cities are crowded, it’s not that way in the countryside. But, more importantly to me, we are released specifically in the New Testament from the ceremonial and food laws of the Old Testament. Why wouldn’t God specifically release His church from the “be fruitful and multiply” passages, as well? The absence of a repeal makes me think that it’s most likely still God’s plan that His chosen people (now the church) welcome, rather than avoid, having children.

Interpretations of the Onan incident (Gen 38) are all over the map. When I first studied this passage about a decade ago while reading through the Bible, it puzzled me. I was not quiverfull and this was a problematic verse. It appeared that Onan was killed by God for practicing birth control. The concept of Levirate marriage, or a brother marrying his deceased brother’s wife, in order to give his brother an heir, was not a strictly enforced law, but more like an honorable cultural practice. In other words, violating Levirate marriage brought shame to the family, but wasn’t punishable by death. So why did God strike Onan dead? I decided it must have been because the Messiah would come from the line of Judah. So, again I had dodged the quiverfull implications by explaining away a passage of Scripture as an exception, but not the rule. Living in this anti-child culture, though, helps me see the Onan incident in another light. Maybe God struck him dead because he was all too willing to have relations with his deceased brother’s wife, he just wasn’t willing to father her child. His Levirate marriage was on the outside only (surely he desired to avoid bringing shame on himself by refusing to marry his brother’s wife), but God sees what’s done in secret and Onan’s selfish heart caused him to disregard God’s command to be fruitful and multiply. If we interpret the Onan passage in this way then birth control is frowned upon by God, to say the least.

What about natural family planning? Many Christians argue for the allowance of natural family planning by citing 1 Corin 7 where Paul talks about husbands and wives not depriving one another except for a time that they may give themselves to fasting and prayer. I think what is in view here is an interruption of intimacy for spiritual reasons, not physical ones. I’m not going to argue that point, though. It definitely does open up the possibility for NFP. However, the key is they’ve interrupted their relations. I find nowhere in the Bible a passage that condones an intentional separation of the act of procreation from marital intimacy. Of course, God is the one who opens and closes the womb, but His sovereignty doesn’t release us from obedience to His Word.

Then there’s the famous quiverfull passage that refers to children as a blessing and reward (Ps 127:3-5). I think even more compelling than the Bible verses that call children a blessing are the many passages that show the great travail of women in the Bible who are barren (Sarai, Rebekkah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, Hannah, Elizabeth). Barrenness was viewed as a curse and when God opened the womb it was accompanied by great celebration and rejoicing. These personal examples reinforce the Biblical principle that children are to be seen as a blessing. Moreover, if these women are to be our models, children are to be sought after and prayed for.

I also pondered anew when I went back to the Bible what it could mean that women will be saved through childbearing (2 Tim 2:15). I think the most likely interpretation of this verse is that though sin entered through one woman, Eve, women could “redeem” themselves, so to speak, by raising godly children. I think this verse is making a statement about how women can make a difference in their culture for good by bearing children and training them up to love and serve the Lord. I can’t help but see the rampant feminism, homosexuality, fornication, and adultery in our culture as a flood that could very well destroy the world as we know it and childbearing as the “Ark” that God has provided to save us. The door is open, but nobody wants to go in. It seems we’d rather drown ourselves in our iniquity as a culture than seek to be rescued through the raising up of a godly generation.

So, there you have it. My quiverfull journey in a nut-shell. This is a personal conviction for me. It's something I'm passionate about and love sharing, so thank you for "listening". It's not, however, something that is up there with the gospel for me. It's not something I'd leave a church over or pick a fight about. Ultimately, I believe God is sovereign over the womb no matter what we do. I know too many people who have gotten pregnant when they were practicing birth control (I guess this was the problem, they were just practicing:) and too many couples who wanted desperately to have a child but couldn't, to believe the power to procreate resides in man. So please take this as what it is. One person's journey to a change in thinking that has led to a change in lifestyle. Maybe God will bless it and maybe He won't. That's for Him to decide.

I’m going to write one more post in this series in answer to a good question I received from a follower and friend. I welcome any other questions, as well. I’m just trying to get at the truth like all of you and I want to thoroughly think through all relevant issues. Thank you for bearing with me through this series of long posts. I promise I’ll get back to cute pictures and punch lines ASAP.