"Did your parents have any children that lived??!!"
Posted on 10/10/2009 3:06:34 PM PDT by reaganaut1
Families with more than 10 children are becoming the norm among a group of traditionalist US Christians. The so-called Quiverfull families believe they are carrying out God's work, and providing a new generation of moral leaders. The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott went to Illinois to meet some of them.
The way Psalm 127 talks about children has an almost military sound.
It describes them as "an inheritance, and arrows in the hands of a mighty warrior," adding, "happy is he whose quiver is full of them".
Many Quiverfull families do indeed sense looming battles for Christians, and often see their children as potential future leaders in fighting them.
Rev James McDonald has 10 children, aged between four and 26 - an extraordinary fertility motivated by obedience to the Bible.
"We believe that they are blessings… to be raised up in the worship of the Lord and they will be used by him in whatever way God will call them, to fulfil the Great Commission which we find in Matthew Chapter 28," he said.
The "Great Commission" - the duty to spread the Christian message throughout the world - is among a number of challenges Mr McDonald sees facing his family.
Among others, he cites divorce, adultery, abortion and internet pornography.
"The societal ills that we have, the challenges we have... we have rampant disease and bankrupt health systems because we don't know the truth of the Bible. But as these truths are lived out in the lives of God's people, society changes," he said.
Declining congregations
The McDonalds are being joined in the battle by a growing number of very large traditionalist Christian families equally committed to promoting Biblical values.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
How coincidental, I was just reading about the Duggars yesterday. Yes, they are part of that organization. They make up for families like mine where there were no children.
Nonsense. Even among Quiverful believers, more than ten children is not “the norm.” It’s more common than among the general population, obviously, but having one child, or even none, is as “quiverful” as having twenty, if that’s what happens.
4 filled my quiver. From that 4 have come 12 grands and from the grands 2 and another on the way.
Guess the Duggars have it all wrong.
LOL!
Congratulations on your family!
I’m surprised the BBC didn’t report on Quiverful families in the UK, instead of treating it as a crazy American phenomenon.
I do a lot of genealogical research. In the early history of our country this type of fertility was the norm. The average woman married at 18 and had a child every year or two until her early to mid 40s. This amazing feat transpired until the Civil War when many families suffered breakups do to the deaths of their breadwinners. I believe that this "extraordinary fertility" peopled our country the way God intended.
I am the oldest of 10 children. All of us are good tax-paying citizens and none have spent any time in prison.
“They make up for families like mine where there were no children.”
Your parents didn’t have any children? ;)
Without interference, many couples would have double-digit families. Like any other organism, we’ve naturally selected to produce offspring ... and today, the survival of the offspring and parents is much more likely than in the past.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
“I’m surprised the BBC didn’t report on Quiverful families in the UK, instead of treating it as a crazy American phenomenon.”
I’m guessing that Quiverfull is not a noticeable phenomenon in the UK.
I’m actually surprised that the article was somewhat fair. The BBC is not noted for fairness for anything conservative these days.
Q: What is the difference between the BBC and Cuba?
A: One is a brutal communist dictatorship that suppresses all dissent. The other is an island in the Caribbean...
I used to be on the “Quiverfull” email list, so I know there are some families in the UK. English-speaking families, I mean, not Pakistanis.
Good joke, too! My oldest daughter is in the Coast Guard stationed in Seattle, and she said that’s pretty Cuban, too, except for the lack of good Caribbean food.
I think you are on top of this one, you go girl!!
LOL. No, dear, I have no children.
Pro-Life bump
"Did your parents have any children that lived??!!"
Oh, we only have nine. We are not, in fact, “Quiverful” in the strict sense. We’ve used Natural Family Planning over the years, and thereby have fewer children than we might have otherwise. We don’t make much effort at it, because we’re okay with having more children (at least to this point, although with DP nearing 50 ...) but NFP puts us off the reservation as far as the ideology goes.
I'm suspecting that they count it as a "quiverfull family" if there is only one wife per husband involved, rather than four.
I think it is great. I live in Illinois and too bad our area everyone seems to stop at 4 kids and the father gets a vasectomy( even in our Catholic parish) I am going to pray for the quiverfull movement to come to my parish. I have 5 kids and 2 grandkids. Come from a family of 8 and think we are all great people. Too bad so many of my siblings subscribe to the zero population growth movement! There are about 19 grandkids from my parents now... from 8 kids, that is not very high. But one brother is still making babies.
yeah... there is a family of these nearby and their on food stamps and their double dipping through their eldest children.
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