Pro-Life? Or Anti-Abortion?

An encounter I had with a family we met in church we visited recently got me thinking about something I've pondered before.

After service we met this couple with six small children. The wife mentioned that, as they'd watched us happily take our seats with our five children, she and her husband were encouraged to see that we "had survived".

I'm sure that by "survived", she was referring to the baby and toddler years. I reminded her that motherhood is a blessed calling, God equips us for this task, and the rewards are worth the struggle for persevering, rather than merely surviving the days.

Craig encouraged the father to be mindful that, although the days seem long, the years are short. As we quickly tried to offer them a bit of on-the-go advice in a nutshell, the two of them kept staring at us with a glazed-over look in their eyes.

How sad that parents like these are left feeling overwhelmed and discouraged in their parenting with very few available to offer biblical counsel and model engaged parenting. 
As I looked around at this particular congregation, I wondered whether there may be that "select few" who would offer encouragement - beginning with the leadership - to a growing family such as this, or if most of them - like the super-majority of society - have been naysayers, making "jokes" about fertility and pressuring young families such as these to stop having children. 


As a family, we have observed and concluded that many Christians are admittedly Pro-Life, as long as parents adhere to a 2.5-child family and not one more.

The Christian community embraces a Pro-Life stance for the unborn.

However, most attitudes toward children, in general, seem to contradict this position or relegate "Pro-Life" to being as selective as "Pro-Choice" by preempting conception and discouraging men and women from having more than three children.

It seems that while many hate the thought of killing babies - and rightly so, as it is heinous and abhorrent - the same balk at the idea of having children "too early" or having "too many". 


If you consider children an unworthy burden, I urge you to challenge your view to come in line with God's Word... learn of His position on children. 
If you see a young family joyfully embracing the blessing of fruitfulness, encourage them, for the Scripture says:


"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."
Psalm 127:3


Let us embrace a Whole-Life stance and consider that to be the biblical "Pro-Life" approach.
Remember: 
~All children are a blessing from God.


~We are instructed to approach our Saviour as a child.


Let's not model for them an unbiblical worldview that leads them to believe that they're taking up too much space, using too many resources, or will demonstrate responsibility by not having too many children of their own when they are married adults.