I don’t have a great deal of confidence in any list of quotes from ancient history.
SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT for me.
And in terms of Scripture . . .
LOVE GOD TOTALLY
OTHERS AS YOURSELF
Covers it.
I’m extremely thankful I did not bring another child into this world to be afflicted with my family craziness and certainly not with my wife leaving for a co-worker.
I’m very thankful that I’ve devoted what I could to loving other children and helping them and their families have more loving Christian homes.
THAT has been THE MOST LOVING, BIBLICAL THING, for me.
Those of meager means who have faith to trust God to provide for 13 kids—my blood Dad was one of 13 plus 7 that Grandma sort of just took in as they wandered by . . . with an alcoholic husband.
. . . more power to them.
The idea of these END TIMES and the suffering of children is a maddening thing I have to limit my thinking about and reconfess that God loves all such more than I do and will take care of them better than I ever could . . . somehow.
It’s still highly likely that some will be martyred . . . and I can understand, that for them, it will be an honor and the pain worth it all.
Still . . .
OK, how about the FACT that Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley all spoke out forcefully and unequivocally on this subject, and that not one orthodox protestant theologian has defended Birth Control prior to the 1900's?
That's why Christians must have HOPE and place all their trust in God's Divine Providence, Quix. If we rely on our own devices, of course we will fail.
But every Saint who ever lived yearned to see the End Times and the Second Coming. This is a time for bold faithful acts, not cowering in fear of suffering or distress.
Having children in the face of uncertainty is an immense act of Faith, Hope and Love. It is not imprudent, and such fears are no excuse to disregard universal Christian moral teachings.