"When married couples are physically able, they have the privilege of providing mortal bodies for Heavenly Father's spirit children. They play a part in the great plan of happiness, which permits God's children to receive physical bodies and experience mortality.
If you are married, you and your spouse should discuss your sacred responsibility to bring children into the world and nurture them in righteousness. As you do so, consider the sanctity and meaning of life. Ponder the joy that comes when children are in the home. Consider the eternal blessings that come from having a good posterity. With a testimony of these principles, you and your spouse will be prepared to prayerfully decide how many children to have and when to have them. Such decisions are between the two of you and the Lord.
As you discuss this sacred matter, remember that sexual relations within marriage are divinely approved. While one purpose of these relations is to provide physical bodies for God's children, another purpose is to express love for one another--to bind husband and wife together in loyalty, fidelity, consideration, and common purpose."
(First Presidency, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust, True to the Faith, 2004, p. 26)
"The First Presidency is being asked from time to time as to what the attitude of the Church is regarding birth control...We seriously regret that there should exist a sentiment or feeling among any member of the Church to curtail the birth of their children. We have been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth that we may have joy and rejoicing in our posterity.
Where husband and wife enjoy health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be entailed upon their posterity, it is contrary to the teachings of the Church artificially to curtail or prevent the birth of children. We believe that those who practice birth control will reap disappointment by and by."
(The First Presidency - David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, N. Eldon Tanner, April 14, 1969.)
"It is the privilege of married couples who are able to bear children to provide mortal bodies for the spirit children of God, whom they are then responsible to nurture and rear. The decision as to how many children to have and when to have them is extremely intimate and private and should be left between the couple and the Lord. Church members should not judge one another in this matter."
(Church Handbook of Instructions - p.158)
"Young mothers and fathers, with all my heart I counsel you not to postpone having your children, being co-creators with our Father in Heaven. Do not use the reasoning of the world, such as, 'We'll wait until we can better afford having children, until we are more secure, until John has completed his education, until he has a better-paying job, until we have a larger home, until we've obtained a few of the material conveniences,' and on and on. This is the reasoning of the world, and is not pleasing in the sight of God. Mothers who enjoy good health, have your children and have them early. And, husbands, always be considerate of your wives in the bearing of children. Do not curtail the number of your children for personal or selfish reasons. Material possessions, social convenience, and so-called professional advantages are nothing compared to a righteous posterity. In the eternal perspective, children--not possessions, not position, not prestige--are our greatest jewels."
(President Ezra Taft Benson - All-Church Parents Fireside, 22 Feb. 1987)
"I have told many groups of young people that they should not postpone their marriage until they have acquired all of their education ambitions--that when they marry they should not wait for children until they have finished their schooling and financial desires. Marriage is basically for the family and when people have found their proper companions there should be no long delay. They should let the children come. There seems to be a growing feeling that marriage is for legal sex, for sex's sake. Marriage is basically for the family; that is why we marry--not for the satisfaction of sex, as the world around us would have us believe. Young wives should be occupied in bearing and rearing their children. I know of no scriptures where an authorization is given to young wives to withhold their families and to work to put their husbands through school. There are thousands of husbands who have worked their own way through school and have reared families at the same time. Though it is more difficult, young people can make their way through their educational programs."
(President Spencer W. Kimball - Speeches of the Year, 1973, p.262-263.)
"Never has a generation been so surrounded with those who speak irreverently of life. Never has there been such persuasion to avoid responsibilities of parenthood...Young couples are continually told that parenthood means forfeiture of advanced degrees and limiting of occupational progress, a representation they will live to know false...Whether you will be blessed with many children or but a few...is a matter that will be made known as your life unfolds. But I urge you, I warn you to approach parenthood with reverence. When you covenant in marriage and are free to act in the creation of life, when you stand at the threshold of parenthood, know that you stand on holy ground...Young couples, draw reverently close to your Father in heaven in these monumental decisions of life...Grow close to Him. Perhaps you, as He, will come to 'suffer the little children to come unto (you), and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.' (Mark 10:14)"
(Elder Boyd K. Packer - CR, Oct. 1966, p. 132.)
"...to a great extent, the readiness of a couple to enter into the bonds of matrimony can be measured by the desires they have to bring children to this earth. A lack of this desire indicates immaturity, and a couple that feels this way is probably not ready for marriage."
(Hugh B. Brown - You and Your Marriage, p.135.)
"I think it is a crying evil that there should exist a sentiment or a feeling among any members of the Church to curtail the birth of their children. I think that is a crime wherever it occurs, where husband and wife are in possession of health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be entailed upon their posterity. I believe that where people undertake to curtail or prevent the birth of their children that they are going to reap disappointment by and by. I have no hesitancy in saying that I believe this is one of the greatest crimes of the world today, this evil practice."
(President Joseph F. Smith - Relief Society Magazine, 4:318.)
"There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles. Now what is our duty? To prepare tabernacles for them: to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can."
(President Brigham Young - JD 4:56.)
"Women who are deliberately childless will regret it. I am not sorry for women who sacrifice their lives for children. I am not sorry for those women who have many children. But I am sorry for women who come to the Judgement Day who have never assumed the responsibility of rearing children, who have been afraid of pain, resistant to sacrifice. They are the ones whose hearts will be heavy..."
(President Spencer W. Kimball - Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp.328-29.)
I do feel that the choice to have children lies between the couple and God. The church teaches self reliance and when a young couple chooses to have a child when they cannot support that child on their own, they then become a burden to society. Too many people take advantage of government medical programs. I feel that parents will know when the time is right and when it is right will be able to care for their family and be self reliant.
ReplyDeleteOne of the presidents of the Church I read online last night (don't remember which one right now, off hand), said that if we wait until we can afford children, we'll never have them.
DeleteI have been self-employed since the day our oldest child (now of nine children out of 15 pregnancies) was born. I carried health insurance on my my for the first 18 years of business. Then, my wife had 3 medical procedures done; the health insurance carrier we had been with was exiting our state, so we had to try to get with another health insurance carrier; but none would take us, since my wife had just had double carpel tunnel procedures and a gall bladder removed. (Actually, as things turned out, we had no more major family health issues or need for procedures for a couple more years. So it would have actually been better for them to take us then than had she not had those procedures already done)!
We had no health insurance for a few years. Then we were able to get on MedicAid. We were on that for several years, until my wife went to work outside the home, and got health insurance through her employer, which is the Church.
During all the 18 years I carried personal health insurance, my premiums were typically in the $400 to $600 plus range, often with very high deductibles (like $1000/individual per year, and an 80/20 split up to $5000, which after, the insurance carrier would then cover 100% (which we never got up to)!
Who knows what one may be able to afford in the future. I know people who had all financial bases covered for years, and then, due to the economy or other reasons, couldn't cover them.
Also, while one indeed should do all one can to provide for one's self and one's family, I also do not remember the commandment being, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth (ONLY IF AND/OR WHEN YOU CAN AFFORD IT)!
I have two college degrees (got those before I met my wife, and we were married in the House of the Lord). I believed, as Nephi expressed—
I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
I'm fairly certain this promise applies to MUCH more than merely beheading wicked men to get scriptures written on plates of brass! Most assuredly, I believed then, and still do, that the Lord will open a way to make it all possible.
Of course, I've had to compete (prior to my wife taking a job outside the home two years ago) with couples across the country (even around the world), and against long a majority of LDS couples, who had 2-income families.
But of course, by law (Federal law), I am obligated to allow the fruits of our labor (our children) to contribute a substantial portion of the fruits of their labors to EVERYONE, REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY CHILDREN THEY HAD, AND RAISED TO BE WAGE EARNERS AND TAXPAYERS.
OUR CHILDREN are paying what taxes is paid, disproportionately, I might add, to people who on average, have born children at sub-replacement rates (for example, on average, "baby boomers" in the U.S. averaged about 170 babies born (and raised). And since then, the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of so-called 'boomers' have not had a higher birthrate overall than their 'boomer' progenitors had.
(The U.S. birthrate has been approaching exact replacement for some time, but that has largely been due to, ironically, illegal aliens, mostly Latinos from Mexico and Central America)!
The 'multiply and replenish (fill)' command was not only given to Adam and Even and Noah and Naamah [his wife], and their sons and daughters-in-law), but indeed a covenant is made to do precisely the same between God and members of the Church now.
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DeleteAnd yet, if you analyze LDS fertility rates, worldwide, we find a huge drop off in birthrates. In fact, overall, for every four children born per capita to Latter-Day Saints in 1982, only ONE child is born, per capita NOW. That is a whopping 75% drop. That's HUGE! And, it's also NOW at a sub-replacement level! Which means that, overall, Mormons are NOT keeping that covenant with God!
President Benson put it well—
"The Lord did not say to multiply and replenish the earth if it is convenient, or if you are wealthy, or after you have gotten your schooling, or when there is peace on earth, or until you have four children."
Recently, I met an older non-LDS lady who resides in Sandy, Utah. We were got on the subject of family sizes (she and her husband only had two [now adult] children). Asking me about Mormon families, she remarked, "What, is four now the old eight (children)?" I replied, "Evidently so!"
Anecdotally, in both my parents' family and that of my wife's parents' family, four is the maximum any of them have on my side (except for one, who just recently gave birth to her 5th child). And of 63 grandchildren on my wife's parents' side, six have five children, but none have more (many have four or fewer).
The average for BOTH my siblings' generation and those of my wife's is 5.125 and 5.25 respectively. NONE of our childrens' generation have YET in their EXTREME highs (in number of offspring) reached the AVERAGE of our generation, though among both my siblings and my wife's, one of each have not been married or had children (that is, a brother-in-law IS married on my wife's side, but to a man), our average was that high. Obviously, many of us 'super-sized', as it were, our families. By the same standard of 'super-sizing', NONE of our childrens' generation have evidently done this (yet), nor do I know how many, if any, WILL eventually do so.
If there were NO converts to the (LDS) Church [and thankfully, there are], the Church would actually be shrinking in numbers, year-after-year!!
Personally, I doubt that the Lord is involved much, if much at all, in the decisions of many couple as to how few children they should have. Or, if He is, it is only to say (essentially), "If you want to reward yourself/selves with a small number of children—that is your desire, for convenience (lower hassles) reason; and you will not do otherwise, you're going to do it anyway, so go do it (but NOT to your ultimate BLESSING)!!!
...I know that (God) granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
(Alma 29:4)
So, I am NOT saying that prayerful, earnest couples are NOT receiving confirmation from God as to how many children they should have. I'm just saying that I am inclined to suppose that many of them, possibly even a majority, are receiving an answer from God where he is allowing them to exercise their agency, but NOT as he would necessarily prefer them to do!
BTW, most medical problems and costs happen in old/older age.
I am 60 years old. My wife is 7 years my junior. I had a cataract removed from one eye 2 years ago. She has had a knee replacement (3 years ago), major foot surgery (last year), and will have neck surgery (on her spine) this year. She's "only" 53!
Heart problems, cancer, diabetes, dementia diseases, joint replacements, and so forth, are more likely to occur the older one gets. MediCare costs (for ONLY older U.S. citizens or residents) has produced an as yet unfunded liability that is SIX TIMES the amount as the unfunded liability for Social Security ALONE!
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DeleteThe taxes extracted in the pyramid schemes of the Federal government (don't worry, they're 'legal', if still, ultimately, unsustainable), come from the children of those who are retired, as well as illegal immigrants and their children, who are still working and being taxed. Those who had no children or not 'enough' children have been really irresponsible. Their current burden is cast both upon the children of those who had 'enough' children (to fund these things), and 'to spare', besides the children, grandchildren, and future generations of those who still reproduce, as far into the future as the eye can see (or at least, imagine)!
Agreed, we need to be mature and prepared, but these quotes definitely opened my eyes more to the idea of children sooner.
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