Actually, marriage was created by God because ""It is not good for the man to be alone" so He made "him a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2.18. Having children was an after thought. He created a wife for Adam so he would have companionship. If the purpose of marriage was to create children, wouldn't He had said something along the lines of "I will make him a helper to have children with?" Also, the be fruitful and multiply thing? You realize that when He spoke that to Adam and Eve there were 2 people on the earth and not 6 BILLION, right? And its all about context. Was God speaking to every single human being or was He talking to two specific people? I believe the latter.
An afterthought? I hardly think so considering God was quite specific from the beginning that there was going to be male and female. Okay, I'm not going to debate you further on the 'latter' because it seems we're both unmoveable in our position on that one.
Every God fearing woman in the Bible had kids? The problem with this statement is not every God-fearing woman is mentioned in the Bible. If they were, then there were only a dozen or so God-fearing woman in Biblical times and I have a really hard time believing that. Also, the women who are mentioned, not all of their stories were recorded because they wanted children. Ruth's story was about unconditional love and faithfulness to family and God, not about having kids. Ester's story was about doing what was right in the face of death and following God. The fact that they had children has nothing to do with why their stories were written.
Which is why I said, 'every God-fearing woman
in the Bible'. I wasn't talking about Bible times because we don't know who existed in Bible times. We only know the ones that are mentioned in the Bible. But the fact that these women were mentioned in a nearly all-male cast, we ought to perk our heads up and try get as many lessons out of them as we can, I reckon!
Hey, totally agree with you there! They weren't mentioned 'just beacuse they had kids'!
The truth of the matter is that there are people who should not have kids. Period. My parents were such people. By the grace of God I was raised by my wonderful grandparents, but I don't know if I would even have been here if my parents had raised me.
No offence, but this paragraph really got me. Fact; you do not tell God who are and who are not to be parents! God allowed you to be born for a darn good reason and He loved you enough to give that mercy to you! And God thought that it was good enough for your folks to be parents. Even if all they serve Him as are bad examples! If He agreed with you on that one, He wouldn't have let you be here! And it's not that you wouldn't been here if your parents raised you. You wouldn't have been here if your parents raised you because of
what was within you. Hey, I was suicidal too so I know how you feel! Until I grew up and realized that it wasn't because of my parents; I had a bigger enemy to deal with than my folks! And I took that ol' devil head on! You can too! This battle isn't about flesh and blood. Let's put our focus on the real enemey out there! 'Honour your father and your mother, for this is the first commandment with promise!' Yeshua said. Now there's a challenge that we are
ordered by God to do! It's unconditional there!
You're welcome to disagree with me all you want, but just as you're sticking to your convictions, I'm sticking to mine. And just because you think that following God and all of His commandments equals all of His blessings and a great and perfect life (which is what I gather from all that you said), you're totally wrong. My mom's best friend wanted kids more than anything in the world- not more than God Himself, but more than anything. She is the most God-fearing, Godly, humble, amazing Christian woman you could ever meet in your life....and to this day at 45, she has never been able to have kids and never will be able to have them. And its not because she's done something wrong and is being cursed by Him like you implied.
What's in bold, no, I don't believe that at all. Life is hard. It's hard because the sin of mankind makes it hard! But do I believe that if I follow His commandments, I will get His blessings, hey, sure I do! That's what He promised and I choose to stand on those promises.
Whoa, crikey! Hold the horses there, ma'am. Forgive me if that's how you got what I said, but nowhere did I say that God gave diseases because they were a curse! I said that there are 5 reasons that I've counted up so far and not all of them are curses, by the way. It's just up to us to figure out what He's trying to say.
And just because I think that being barren would be a blessing, doesn't mean you're not free to disagree with me. You're more than free to think that having kids is great and since you want them, I wish you all the kids in the world. But why jump down my throat and imply that I'm not a God-fearing woman just because I don't want them? And no, a marriage (which is an implied calling) does not ALWAYS equal kids- it just doesn't. And there's nothing wrong with that. And "God promised He wouldn't put diseases on His people if they followed His commandments?" God also promised that we would suffer in this life because Christ suffered. And barrenness to a woman who wants kids is suffering, singleness to someone who longs to be married is suffering, diseases like cancer and every other fatal disease are suffering, and Paul suffered more than anyone who ever lived besides Jesus Himself. From what you said, you are implying that is was because Paul was disobedient to God and that is why he was dealt all the blows he was in his lifetime. Really? I don't agree with that at all.
Again, I never said that you weren't a God-fearing woman at all. Scripture clearly tells us why Paul had his 'thorn in the flesh' and no, it wasn't because he wasn't Godly or that he was cursed. God put it there to 'buffet' his faith. Just to keep him in place. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Kids are not the be all, end all of life. What about someone who deeply longs to be married and share all the love in their heart with a life companion who WANTS TO SERVE GOD with everything they are and being tied down to kids would completely prevent them from doing such a thing? I don't think its up to you to condemn the people who don't want them. I'm not judging or condemning you for wanting them so badly (which is something I completely don't understand, but fully respect), so just because I've stated my opinions, convictions, and desires, doesn't mean that that's an invitation for someone with different opinions on the whole kid thing to trample over me and suggest that I'm not a Godly woman.
I agree that kids aren't the be-all and end-all of life!
Okay, this one is a big issue. In Titus 2, Paul lays down what a wife's role is (there are 8 rules there) and the rest of scripture backs that one up. So, that first statement in bold, I have to say is unbiblical.
Again, forgive me that that's how it came across to you because I am in no wise implying that at all!
And if I ever found out that I had a condition like you (if your condition is indeed what you think it might be), I'd thank God and praise Him for giving me such a gift. I'd thank Him and praise Him anyway, regardless...but if He gifted me with biological impossibility of having kids, I'd be grateful. I sincerely hope that's not the case for you since you want them so bad. I hope you have as many kids as you want.
I give thanks to God for everything I have; the good and the bad; but still do keep in mind that He's trying to tell me something and it's up to me to figure out what that is. But to be honest, your view on my condition I do find saddening.