I once heard someone lead a devotion by reading from Luke 18:16, using the King James Bible. He read these familiar words: “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” The person then talked about what that verse meant to him. He said, “Jesus knew that children suffer in lots of ways, from hunger, disease, and mistreatment. He wants us to take care of them so they do not suffer.”
While I admired the man’s love for children, I was just fresh from seminary, and had to stifle the desire to interrupt him to explain that the word “suffer” in the 1611 King James Bible did not mean what it does now: “To feel pain or distress; sustain injury or harm.”* What Jesus was saying to his disciples was to “allow” the children to come to him, reinforced by his very next words, “and forbid them not.” That’s why our modern translation render Jesus’ words as: “Let the children come to me” (Luke 18:16, ESV).
In recent days, however, I have come to believe that the leader of that devotion wasn’t too far from the truth, for it seems that something has gone very wrong in our culture in the ways we value and treat our children. And this is not good. It seems that our society is doing all it can to either harm children, or to prevent their even being born. Consider the following:
1. Fewer marriages. Marriage is the basic unit of the family. It is within the context of marriage that children are produced, nurtured, and raised to adulthood. This was God’s design from the beginning when “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 19:5). Although people do conceive children out of marriage (hence the terms “baby momma” and “baby daddy”), such children are more likely to suffer (current meaning of the word) poverty, abuse, unemployment and prison. The stability of a two-parent household is undeniable, but the rate of such marriages is declining in the US. Genesis 2:18 quotes God as saying, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” And Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
2. Pornography. When people find sexual release and satisfaction through images, video, and other means, they are not fulfilling their duty to their spouse, nor producing the children that God gave them those desires to produce. Instead, children are often suffering as the victims of sexual trafficking, often for the production of pornography. . When God made people male and female, he commanded them to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth ” (Genesis 1:28). He designed them to find pleasure and fulfillment in each other, to bond them together even as they produce children in love.
3. Neutered human beings. When our culture celebrates what it calls “gender affirming care,” what it means is, “gender destroying care.” The removal of a person’s sexual organs makes them infertile (obviously), as does the injection of hormones that block the natural development of puberty. When we had our cat neutered we didn’t change him from a male cat to a female cat. He became an “it.” He is still a male, but unable to make new kitties. When we push children to have the same thing done to them, we are not affirming, but neutering them. They are becoming “its.”
4. Same sex attractions and “marriages.” Obviously, the joining of two men or two women will not produce children. Even when such couples want to raise children, they have to turn to the opposite sex to create such babies, either by adoption or artificial insemination. The surge in such “marriages” means fewer children are conceived, and for children raised in such a family, they are more predisposed to look upon their own future partner as being of the same sex as themselves. But this is contrary to God’s design and intent: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
5. Birth Control. I used to think that birth control was fine, as long as the means of such control didn’t destroy a fertilized egg. However, I now see the effect such readily available contraceptives has resulted in significantly lowered birth rates in the countries most able to provide for their children. It also has made “recreational” sex more prevalent by removing one of the consequences of sex. Also, women who use birth control to advance in their careers may end up not having children when they decide to do so.
6. Abortion. This is the big reason our birth rate is down, because children are being killed before they can be born. In 2021, the numbers were 625,978 abortions, which was up 5% from the year before.
7. Attitudes against children. For many young people, children are seen as an inconvenience or an impediment to other goals they have. They think children take too much time, cost too much, or interfere with work, travel, or entertainment goals. Then there are the people who say “I don’t want to bring children into the world when we all are going to die from (name your poison).” And then there are those who see humans as a plague on the earth, and therefore they want to reduce the population either totally, or to a more “sustainable” level.
The result of all these factors is that the birth rate in the US is 1.64 children births per woman, below the rate of 2.1 to maintain our population. Other countries are facing even worse declines. In South Korea, the rate is only 0.76, causing their President to form a Ministry of Low Birth Rate Counter Planning tasked with the handling the “national emergency.” The moves are part of Seoul’s intensified efforts to reverse the trend: including cash subsidies, infertility treatment, and childcare services.
Today, the assault against having children is happening in many ways. All in defiance of God’s command to multiply. According to God’s word, children are a blessing. When the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Old Testament were childless, they conceived and birthed children, often miraculously, as blessing from God. The list is long: Abraham, Sarah, Manoah, Hannah, and a Shunammite woman. In the New Testament, we read of Elizabeth and Zechariah who gave birth to John the Baptist, and of course to Mary, the mother of our Lord. That’s one birth we are all blessed with!
In Psalm 127:3-5 it says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (** Please see the important footnote below.)
Children are a blessing. But there are forces working against God’s plan to bless us with children made in his image. What are those forces? Where do they come from, and what do we do about them? I will address these questions in the next blog. See you there!
May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
Read: Genesis 1:26-28, Psalm 127:3-5.
*The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition, 2011
**Important Note for Childless Couples: I want to express clearly that it is neither my belief nor my intent to criticize those husbands and wives that have been unable to have children, in spite of their desire to do so. They do not despise God’s commandment to “be fruitful and multiply,” they endorse it. But for some reason, they have been unable to reproduce. Often this has caused disappointment and deep hurts. Being one of those couples ourselves, my wife and I share those couples’ pain and pray, both for their comfort by the Holy Spirit, and for God to fulfill their lives in other ways: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
Rich, A real dark and depressing subject. Sadly, you are right about the challenges children and young people face in today’s society (If they are allowed to be born). I look forward to reading part 2 and hope my spirit will be lifted.