[FONT="]And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,[/FONT][FONT="] (Gen 1:28 )[/FONT]
[FONT="]One of the most over-cited and least-understood passages in the Bible is Gods blessing: be fruitful and multiply. For many, the primary difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals is that the latter are not able to procreate through sexual intercourse. Does it mean their sexuality contradicts this commandment? [/FONT]
[FONT="]In answering the be fruitful and multiply argument, we need to point out that Gods blessing was never an order to procreate. Though it may involve procreation for some, it means much more than that. We can only understand it as the blessing that it was. The Lord never commanded humanity to procreate. Rather, He blessed and enabled humanity to do something that they could not have done without His blessing. [/FONT]
[FONT="]It says God blessed them
and not that He commanded them because God accomplishes it through His grace rather than through our sexuality. Though some have presumed to make it a commandment, without His blessing they would be barren and perish.
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[FONT="]Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.[/FONT][FONT="] (Isa 40:24) [/FONT][FONT="]To equate heterosexual intercourse with being fruitful is to reduce the grace of God to a sexual act. In that sense, its another form of sexual idolatry.[/FONT]
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Genesis 1:28 is not a commandment, but a blessing[/FONT][FONT="]. It does not refer to
what humans must do to please God, but to
what God does for and through humankind
Fertility is not a command but a blessing that God gives to his creatures, to animals as well as humans.
[/FONT] [FONT="]The scriptures make it abundantly clear that being fruitful can only come from God: Gen 41:52 -
For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. Gen 48:4 -
Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people. Lev 26:9 -
For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. Psalms 100:3
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Since being fruitful is a blessing - why would we treat it as a commandment that we need to obey, let alone condemn others for not obeying the commandment? If children are a blessing from God - and we can all agree that they are - the proper response is joy and thanksgiving. The proper attitude is not to become so proud as to condemn those who - for whatever reason have not been similarly blessed with children. [/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT="]Unjustly condemning those who could not conceive happened quite often in Israel, which is why the scriptures also say,
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. (Isa 54:1) [/FONT]
[FONT="]The verse equates being fruitful with receiving Gods blessings, whatever they happen to be. Children are certainly a blessing, though God does not condemn those who havent children as if theyd disobeyed a command. Raising children to be good and loving adults is one way of leading a fruitful life, though it certainly isnt the only way. As Isaiah pointed out - He can give us even greater blessings, so that more are the children of the desolate. [/FONT]
[FONT="]Jesus distinguished between those who bear good fruit and those who do not (Matt 7:17-20) though he wasnt talking about heterosexuals and homosexuals. He was speaking about the fruit of the Spirit, manifested in doing good works.
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[FONT="]I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.[/FONT][FONT="] (John 15:5)
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[FONT="]St. Augustine wrote in On Genesis concerning the blessing, we can rightly understand it in a spiritual sense, and assume that only after the fall was it turned into fleshy fertility ... to bring forth spiritual fruits, namely good works and praise to God, in a spiritual relationship."[/FONT]
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Living in Christ means being in a fruitful relationship with God.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Being a heterosexual parent doesnt necessarily indicate that you are in that kind of relationship. [/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT="]There are abusive parents, parents who spoil their children, and parents who have become so obsessed with acquiring money and possessions that they take little responsibility, and reserve very little time, for their children. Consequently, many children are selfish and without compassion, most are materialistic, frequently addicted, and sometimes abusive towards themselves and others. In other words, there are heterosexual parents who know a lot about procreating even though they are producing bad fruit. [/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT="]There are also gay and lesbian couples who cannot sexually procreate, yet they are raising children to become loving and tolerant human beings. So its not our ability to procreate that matters; what matters is the fruit of our life. Moreover, its not measured by how many children we produce, but in whether our efforts have added to the love and peace in the world, or only reinforced all the old divisions and conflicts. [/FONT]
[FONT="][1][/FONT] Raymond C. Van Leeuwen,
Be Fruitful and Multiply Is This a Command or Blessing? (
Christianity Today, November 12, 2001).