John 16:21      Should You Reproduce?

Rev. David Holwick   R                                  Mother's Day

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

May 13, 2012

John 16:21


SHOULD YOU REPRODUCE?



  I. Mother's Day is based on a simple fact.

      A. We are here because a woman gave birth to us.

          1) Even if you were conceived in a test tube and placed

                in a surrogate in India, there was a womb somewhere.

          2) It is something we all have in common.

              a) It doesn't say anything about the character or

                    motivation of the one who carried us.

              b) Nor does it speak to what we ourselves have done with

                    the life we have been given.

              c) We are here because someone reproduced.


      B. Don Jacke objected to my tacky title.

          1) "Reproduction" seems so cold and clinical, like your

                 seventh-grade science class.

              a) It is something that birds and bees and slugs do.

              b) Glenn Meyer commented, would people reproduce if they

                    knew they were going to become teenagers?

          2) Don did like the verse I picked, about a woman's joy when

                she brings a child into the world.

              a) It is more human-oriented, more personal.

              b) Kathy Clark sent me a text message on Wednesday:


                 "Heather is having a girl!!!"

                    That is 5 words and 3 exclamation marks.

                 She doesn't seem depressed about it, does she?

                    Childbirth is an exciting event for most people.


          3) But I stuck with my title for a reason.

              a) It goes beyond what happens in a delivery room.

              b) It reveals something about God's plan for our universe.


      C. Should we have kids?

          1) Everyone here is the product of a woman who made this

                decision.

          2) Not all women (or men) do.  Does it matter to us?  To God?


II. It is a topic that is contemporary and urgent.

      A. A dramatic case in China.

          1) Blind Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng ran to our embassy

                because he had been systematically harassed for exposing

                   China's harsh enforcement of its "one child" policy

                      through forced abortions.

          2) I listened to a call-in radio show and one older woman from

                New York said we shouldn't interfere with them.

             If the Chinese want to force people to abort, let them.

                There are too many Chinese as it is.


             Even the host of the show seemed a little stunned.

             He could have responded, many think there are too many

                old people in America.

             Maybe we should eliminate them...


      B. The world's population has reached 7 billion.

          1) That's a lot of mouths to feed!

          2) In 90 years, there will be 14 billion people here.

              a) Or 9 billion.

              b) Or we will shrink to 5.5 billion.

                  1> All these figures are projections by the U.N.

                  2> No one really knows which way it will go.


III. The case against kids.

      A. Charles Knowlton may have started the debate in 1832.

          1) Interesting article by Elizabeth Kolbert in The New Yorker.

              a) Knowlton was a free-thinker from Massachusetts.

              b) As an impoverished medical student, he dug up his own

                    corpse for dissection class -- he was a little odd.

          2) He wrote a pamphlet that there were too many people on earth

                so we need to practice birth control.

              a) Sex and procreation can be separated.

              b) Children went from being a consequence to being a choice.


      B. An argument by a Canadian philosophy professor.

          1) Christine Overall thinks childbearing is not natural and

                needs justification.

              a) We have many biological urges that we should choose

                    NOT to act upon.

              b) Perhaps childbearing should be one of them.

          2) Reasons we give for having a kid.

              a) Having a child benefits the child.

                  1> They cannot experience the joys of life without

                        being born.

                      A> But nonexistent people have no moral standing.

                      B> They can't argue for themselves, because they

                            don't exist.

                  2> Another problem: if babies increase the world's

                        happiness, why ever stop having them?

                      A> The world would have more and more people

                            who have less and less happiness.

                      B> Eventually the happiness of each individual

                            would approach zero.

              b) Having a child benefits the parent.

                  1> They can take care of us in our old age.

                      A> But those who think this are probably deluded.

                  2> They can make parents happy.

                      A> But scientific evidence doesn't support this.

                      B> Those who have kids are no happier than those

                            who don't -- it often goes the other way.

                      C> Using someone else to make us happy is also

                            morally unacceptable.


      C. An even more extreme argument.

          1) Philosopher David Benatar thinks having kids is evil.

              a) Children don't suffer if they are never born.

              b) They probably WILL suffer if they are born.

          2) His conclusion: a life filled with good, and a tiny bit of

                bad, is worse than no life at all.

              a) Therefore, not only should you not reproduce, you should

                    not have been produced.

              b) If we all saw the logic of this, within a century the

                    world's population would drop to zero.


                 Benatar hopes this comes true.

                 He writes, "Humans are the most destructive and

                    harmful species on earth.

                 The amount of suffering in the world could be

                    radically reduced if there were no more" of us. [1]


          3) Believe it or not, some Bible verses reflect this.

              a) Job's lament in 3:3-4:


                 "May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was

                    said, 'A boy is born!'

                  That day -- may it turn to darkness; may God above not

                    care about it; may no light shine upon it."


              b) The prophet Jeremiah in 20:14-15:


                 "Cursed be the day I was born!

                    May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

                  Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,

                     who made him very glad, saying, 'A child is born

                        to you -- a son!'"


              c) It should be noted that both of these guys were very

                    depressed at the time.


IV. Life is a blessing.

      A. God created us to live, and pass on life.

          1) The classic passage is Genesis 1:28:


             "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and

                increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'"


          2) Humans are stewards of the earth.

              a) While we can sometimes mess things up, we can also fix

                    them.

              b) Most of the doom-and-gloom predictions on population

                    growth have been wrong.

              c) Humans have a way of transforming their situation.

                  1> When hunting and gathering petered out, agriculture

                        started.

                  2> The industrial revolution came new, plus the green

                        revolution.

                  3> Who knows what will come next?

          3) Even though life has pain, it is worth living.

              a) Disabled people can still have meaningful and joyful

                    lives.

              b) Even though we don't know what the future holds, we

                    have faith that God is still in charge.

                  1> Having kids is a statement of our confidence in

                        a God who can provide for us.


      B. There are advantages to having kids.

          1) Bryan Caplan thinks their value increases over time.

              a) Little kids are a lot of work, so people in their 30s

                    want one.

                 During your 40s, the best number rises to two - you have

                    more time as your kids assert their independence.

                 In your 50s, the kids have their own lives so you should

                    have four of them to periodically drop by.

                 In your 60s you have lots of free time and want

                    grandkids, so five kids would be a good insurance

                       policy against grandchildlessness.

              b) Having more kids isn't necessarily more work.

                  1> Scientists say genetics is more powerful than

                        parenting skills.

                  2> Your personal effort doesn't make much of a

                        difference.

              c) More kids means more people on earth, means more ideas,

                    which are the fuel of progress.

          2) Are there any limits?

              a) Some argue that God's command to fill the earth is complete.

                  1> We don't have to over-fill it.

              b) Catholics believe it is sinful to limit reproduction.

                  1> Or I should say the leadership believes this.

                  2> Most Catholics are no different than anyone else.

              c) Protestants believe children are a good thing, but not a

                    required thing.  It all depends on God's will for you.


  V. There is a different way to be fruitful.

      A. Biological growth has its limits.

          1) Quality of life is just as important as the quantity of it.

          2) Loving and caring for an elderly person is just as valid

                as having a baby.

          3) Life is more than biology.


      B. Reproduce your faith.

          1) How many people have been born again because of your witness?

          2) The results can be dramatic.

              a) Jesus' parable - 30, 60, 100 times more offspring.

              b) Any of us can be the Duggars family spiritually.

          3) Even churches depend too much on young families and

                biological growth.  They shouldn't.

              a) The only lasting growth comes through conversion.

              b) We don't have to re-create the 1950s to survive.


      C. It is not a human decision, but a divine one.       John 1:12-13


         "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his

             name, he gave the right to become children of God --

          children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision

             or a husband's will, but born of God."



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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


[1] Quote from the article, The Case Against Kids: Is procreation

      immoral? by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, April 9, 2012.

      <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/04/09/

      120409crbo_books_kolbert>


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