Video from Facing Life Head On
The Blessings of Big Families Part 1
"Speaking of Motherhood is a group of six moms who travel across the country and share their testimonies of family and motherhood on college campuses, at women’s conferences, and even in high schools. The founder, Jenn Giroux, is a registered nurse and mother of nine who sees her role as mom as her crowning achievement. On the road, Jenn is joined by Mary Ann de St. Aubin (mother of four), Nancy Findley (mother of 11), Darla Wainscott (mother of three), and Kristina Fiore (mother of nine). These moms share their powerful testimonies of being open to many children and respecting the idea of motherhood. The mainstream media and the feminist movement have shaped the culture's perspective on motherhood and large families. Two children per family has become the norm and couples who desire more are sometimes judged and ridiculed. Respect for motherhood and family has been devalued. Speaking of Motherhood hope to change those norms by sharing a counter-cultural message about family and motherhood. (Season 6, Episode 3)" from the video introduction.
"We believe that children who've been taught to serve God and work hard will grow up to benefit society, to be contributors. Twenty years from now we hope and pray that they will be the teachers, nurses, computer programmers, missionaries, mothers, and fathers that our world will need at that time," says Mary Ostyn, author of A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family and Family Feasts for $75 a Week. Ostyn lives in Nampa, Idaho with her husband and 10 children, including six adopted kids, ranging in age from 5 to 22 (six girls, four boys)." from the article: Is a Large Family a Blessing or a Burden?
Large families used to be the norm in fact many if not most of us Boomers had parents that came from large families. There were many pragmatic reasons which Joe Carter explains well in this article: Cultural Indicators: The Fertility Rate
Are Christian Couples Required to Have Kids?
Video from Desiring God
"The Bible is clear that children are a gift from God. So is there any room for a Christian couple to decide not to have any? We love to hear from our international listeners, who are spread out all across the globe. Here’s a question today from a young woman. “Hello, Pastor John! Greetings from Finland and thank you for this podcast. I am married, but my husband and I have no children. In Genesis, God tells the first couple to ‘be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it’ (Genesis 9:7). Today many people in my nation, people who are married and capable of having children, choose not to. Intentional childlessness has become very common in the past decade, and the reasons are diverse: fears about climate change worries about the fragile health of the mother, worries about being a bad parent, and simply de-prioritizing children entirely. “I know you said it was permissible for couples to wait to have kids and to limit the number of children they have. And you said it is permissible, in some cases, for a missionary couple to forgo children altogether. But how about non-missionary Christians? Is it permissible for an ordinary Christian couple to simply choose to not have children?” How would you respond Pastor John?" from the video introduction.