On Being Quiverful, Part 2

While surfing the net a couple of days ago I came across several news stories about the Amish population boom.  According to those news reports the Amish are growing so fast that a new Amish community is established every 3 1/2 weeks.  These Plain People are now the fastest growing religious group in America, and virtually all of their growth is due to natural increase, not conversion.  Although they almost certainly didn't plan to, the Amish are demonstrating the potent power of being quiverful.

There's a lesson here for mainstream Christians.

I opined once before on the "quiverful" doctrine, which asserts that believers should forego contraception and let God determine the size of their families.  In that post I expressed some reservations about the teaching and I stand by them.  However, the surging Amish population highlights how "quiverfullness" can be a potent weapon to combat the Church's decline.

Let's face it.  Christianity is under siege in modern America.  Not only is the faith being attacked from without, but it is also collapsing from within.  It's been reported numerous times that 70% of today's Christian kids leave the faith after high school and never return.  Some have questioned that number, but if the actual apostasy level is "only" 40-50%  it's still catastrophic because mainstream Christians, even conservative ones, are not reproducing enough to replace the defectors.  The Amish have defectors too, but their high birth rate means they more than replace them.

Most modern believers seem to think of church growth only in terms of increasing membership in individual congregations.  They also seem to believe that such growth comes, and should come, exclusively through conversion of unbelievers.  The role that birth rate plays in growing the Church is lost on most believers today even though natural increase was one reason for the early church's rapid growth.  Unlike their pagan neighbors, the early Christians rejected abortion and infanticide--both very common in the Greco-Roman world--as murder.  Thus, they grew in numbers.  Just like the Amish are today.

As I said above, I have some problems with the "quiverful" doctrine but I'm coming to believe it can be the salvation of American Christianity.  Converting unbelievers is a duty for Christians and, I believe, will always be the primary way to expand the faith. However, natural increase also has a vital role to play in growing the Church, and it doesn't mean that every Christian woman must be constantly pregnant.  The early Christians' higher "birth" rate consisted not only of having more biological children, but also of taking in orphans and rescuing exposed babies.  Modern quiverful Christians should follow their example and eagerly take in the unwanted children of  the world.  They should build their large families, and thereby build the Church, through natural reproduction and adoption.  If God wants us to be quiverful I believe He wants us to be so by emptying out the orphanages, foster homes, and embryo freezers where children languish and die.

The Amish are doubling their population every twenty years.  They're growing their faith community exponentially.  That's the power of having a full quiver.  We can't deny it.  The evidence is right before our eyes.  The only question is whether the faltering mainstream Church will accept reality and change its ways.  Evangelizing the lost doesn't seem to be working.  If the Church can't convert new believers then it must grow new believers.  The Amish are showing how to do just that, if we will but have the eyes to see.

On Being Quiverful

This post was prompted by the news that Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar, America's most famous big family parents, were expecting their 20th, yes 20th, child. Sadly, Duggar #20 didn't make it. During a doctor visit to discover the sex of their baby, Jim-Bob and Michelle learned that their little one had died in utero.

When I heard of the Duggars' miscarriage I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was sad for Jim-Bob and Michelle who so clearly view every child as a joyful blessing. But I also wondered that maybe this miscarriage was God's way of telling them it was time to stop having children. Not, understand me, God's way of stopping the Duggars' fertility but, rather, God's way of telling them to stop their marathon procreation. In short, telling them it's time to use birth control. And therein lies the problem.

The Duggars are followers of something known as the quiverful movement, which is popular among a small segment of ultraconservative Christians. The stated aim of the movement is not for Christians to have many children, but for Christians to trust God to decide the size of their families. Therefore, the movement is strongly anti-contraception, seeing it not only as anti-child but also as evidence of distrusting God. So, it's highly unlikely that Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar will interpret their miscarriage as a divine message to stop reproducing.

I'm a Christian. I believe the Bible, and the Bible, especially the Old Testament, encourages fruitfulness and repeatedly describes children as a blessing and a reward. Because of that I think most Bible-believing Christians will and should have more children than unbelievers (and nominal Christians). However, I do NOT believe that means family planning has no place what so ever in the life of Christians. I've read no Biblical commandment to that affect, and I've read no commandment asserting that contraception denies children are a blessing and/or indicates a lack of trust in God.

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not endorsing the anti-child/anti-family sentiment that prevails in our feminism-dominated culture, and I'm not denying that attitude's destructiveness and incompatibility with Biblical teaching. Christians who believe the Bible won't be anti-child or anti-family, and most of them will have more children than the feminist-controlled majority. However, having more children than the majority doesn't mean Bible-believing Christians must engage in uncontrolled, irresponsible reproduction.

There are legitimate reasons for limiting procreation, at least in certain situations. Financial difficulties, health issues, and pathologies like addiction and abuse are all legitimate reasons for delaying childbearing. Christians who use contraception in such circumstances are showing neither anti-child prejudice nor a lack of trust in God. On the contrary, they are using the common sense God gave them to make responsible decisions in trying situations. Such believers need support and understanding, not condemnation, from their brothers and sisters in Christ.

I believe the quiverful movement means well. I admire its commitment to following the Bible's standards rather than the world's. On that score, I think the movement can teach something to the larger Christian community which is plagued by worldliness. I also believe, however, that the quiverful movement has the potential to do more harm than good. Runaway reproduction can have serious consequences for families, consequences which are NOT God's will. If the quiverful movement can accept that fact then it can be a positive force in the Church. If it can't, the movement will undermine itself by judging Christians who use family planning in tough circumstances. That, not using birth control, is the real sin.

Cute!

I found this video on www.tangle.com, formerly known as God Tube, and it's so cute I just had to post it. This adorable trio of siblings saying the Lord's Prayer will put a big smile on your face. Enjoy!