Many people of the comments here indicate that if I love God and country, I need to have children like Ford builds cars: cheap and plentiful.
This is no longer reasonable in modern society. Kids are a cost now. It used to be you had a large brood to help work the fields. Now we don’t have so many fields to tend, and I don’t want to be a farmer at my current state, nor would the law allow a farmer to put his kids in the field.
Kids are now a luxury “product”, unless you are willing to let the government assist you in paying for those kids.
We can cut this ever how we want, but kids now have a negative effect on our personal wealth, and the statistics reflect that. Now, I am prepared for the accusations of selfishness, etc., but I was always taught to pay my own way... And that sets a natural upper limit on the number of kids I will have.
My neighbor is a quiverful catholic, and they are the on the edge of bankruptcy, and the kids are homeschooled. One of the kids has “issues”, and the oldest upon leaving home was in constant trouble.
I’d rather have a quality “product” than a truckload of mass produced defective output any day.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. / As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. / Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
— Psalm 127:3-5
Fully agree; often the troubled older kids have issues because their parents delegate a lot of adult responsibilities to them before these kids in question have time to be kids themselves. Having been down that route I can assure you that it messes you up, having to help crazy Mommy. Not helping raise a broodful of kids, but end up being the co-adult.
Quiverful types have no clue that a lot of these kids can end up a mess since they don’t get to be kids, but have to help out at an early age.
Re your post 31, I agree with you 100%.