Q #1 - Why have children ?

[Sudsy]

I'm curious as to how Christians would respond to various questions regarding Christianity and will start with this one, more to follow.

Everyone is welcomed to contribute.

Why I am asking this first question is that it would seem logical to not have children when surveys I have read indicate that approximately 75% of the world's population are not professing to be born again Christians. And that is professing to be born again. What percentage really are born again and will end up in heaven could be an even lower percent. I suspect the more 'conservative' brand of Christians would come up with a quite lower percent of making heaven, if they were to guess.

Scripture does say that the way is narrow and few there be that find it which is often interpreted as very few of the world's population will go to heaven. And amongst professing born agains, the most popular belief is that those not born agiain (unsaved) will spend eternity in hell. Hell, believed by most born agains as being a place of endless torment.

So, considering having children, does it make any logical sense and seems quite selfish to have children if only 1 in 4 could possibly get to heaven and 3 of 4 will end up in a place of unending torment ?

[Josh]

I'm curious as to how Christians would respond to various questions regarding Christianity and will start with this one, more to follow.

Everyone is welcomed to contribute.

Why I am asking this first question is that it would seem logical to not have children when surveys I have read indicate that approximately 75% of the world's population are not professing to be born again Christians. And that is professing to be born again. What percentage really are born again and will end up in heaven could be an even lower percent. I suspect the more 'conservative' brand of Christians would come up with a quite lower percent of making heaven, if they were to guess.

Scripture does say that the way is narrow and few there be that find it which is often interpreted as very few of the world's population will go to heaven. And amongst professing born agains, the most popular belief is that those not born agiain (unsaved) will spend eternity in hell. Hell, believed by most born agains as being a place of endless torment.

So, considering having children, does it make any logical sense and seems quite selfish to have children if only 1 in 4 could possibly get to heaven and 3 of 4 will end up in a place of unending torment ?

The Bible says that children are a blessing and are an inheritance from the Lord. It also says that marriage is a blessing. The Bible never teaches that married couples should seek to be abstinent or use birth control in order to avoid having children who might end up not choosing to follow Jesus.

Every individual on earth who hears the gospel has a choice: heaven or hell. They each make their own decision, even our own dear precious children. The good news is that there is a saviour who makes it possible to choose heaven.

Now, the topic you describe is one that is often found in fiction: if humankind is suffering, then would it not be best to exterminate humanity in order to end humanity's suffering? Perhaps a "benevolent" benefactor could engineer some disease or some calamity that could peacefully and painlessly kill every human on earth. Wouldn't that also mean there would be no more people created who might end up not accepting Jesus and choose hell instead?

I hope it is obvious how absurd such an act would be.

[Sudsy]

I'm curious as to how Christians would respond to various questions regarding Christianity and will start with this one, more to follow.

Everyone is welcomed to contribute.

Why I am asking this first question is that it would seem logical to not have children when surveys I have read indicate that approximately 75% of the world's population are not professing to be born again Christians. And that is professing to be born again. What percentage really are born again and will end up in heaven could be an even lower percent. I suspect the more 'conservative' brand of Christians would come up with a quite lower percent of making heaven, if they were to guess.

Scripture does say that the way is narrow and few there be that find it which is often interpreted as very few of the world's population will go to heaven. And amongst professing born agains, the most popular belief is that those not born agiain (unsaved) will spend eternity in hell. Hell, believed by most born agains as being a place of endless torment.

So, considering having children, does it make any logical sense and seems quite selfish to have children if only 1 in 4 could possibly get to heaven and 3 of 4 will end up in a place of unending torment ?

The Bible says that children are a blessing and are an inheritance from the Lord. It also says that marriage is a blessing. The Bible never teaches that married couples should seek to be abstinent or use birth control in order to avoid having children who might end up not choosing to follow Jesus.

A little push back. I agree but would you consider it a blessing if your child ends up in endless torment ? I think it was Charles Finney who preached that we would even look down upon those in hell in unending torment and would approve of their state. Really ?

Every individual on earth who hears the gospel has a choice: heaven or hell. They each make their own decision, even our own dear precious children. The good news is that there is a saviour who makes it possible to choose heaven.

And for those who don't hear the Gospel, which is probably a huge percent ? I know some use a scriptural reference on this. Do you ?

Now, the topic you describe is one that is often found in fiction: if humankind is suffering, then would it not be best to exterminate humanity in order to end humanity's suffering? Perhaps a "benevolent" benefactor could engineer some disease or some calamity that could peacefully and painlessly kill every human on earth. Wouldn't that also mean there would be no more people created who might end up not accepting Jesus and choose hell instead?

I hope it is obvious how absurd such an act would be.

And would it not be more like a loving God, whose mercy endureth forever, to not punish those who reject the Saviour for an endless amount of time but would at some point of judgment, exterminate them as it seems to read, for instance, in John 3:16 where the word 'perish' is used ?

[ohio jones]

So, considering having children, does it make any logical sense and seems quite selfish to have children if only 1 in 4 could possibly get to heaven and 3 of 4 will end up in a place of unending torment ?

One would hope that Christian parents who raise their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" would have better results than the general average.

[Soloist]

Wife (I decided this was worth posting on because I love babies and I guess that makes me biased )

Reminds me of a story I heard about some Amish people being convinced to have abortions after contracting rubella, because the children would have horrible birth defects. If I’m correct, quite a few of those children, if not most of them that were aborted, were healthy.

Statistics don’t always equal reality, considering families with 10 boys and one girl, or the other way around. Someone could choose not to marry because 50% of marriages end in divorce, but you don’t see that statistic at conservative anabaptist churches. Also, if Jesse and his wife stopped with boy number three or four or even just one or two more, David would never have been born, and if Jacob only had 10 sons, his family and much of the world at that time may have died in the famine. Assuming the statistics are accurate in your situation, what if that one child happens to be a missionary and bring many other people to Jesus?

It’s like the chaos theory… you don’t know what you might be messing with. Plus, in a more temporal reality, all you need is one or two children who like you enough to keep you out of the nursing home, so that’s a good reason to have children.

[ken_sylvania]

I'm curious as to how Christians would respond to various questions regarding Christianity and will start with this one, more to follow.

Everyone is welcomed to contribute.

Why I am asking this first question is that it would seem logical to not have children when surveys I have read indicate that approximately 75% of the world's population are not professing to be born again Christians. And that is professing to be born again. What percentage really are born again and will end up in heaven could be an even lower percent. I suspect the more 'conservative' brand of Christians would come up with a quite lower percent of making heaven, if they were to guess.

Scripture does say that the way is narrow and few there be that find it which is often interpreted as very few of the world's population will go to heaven. And amongst professing born agains, the most popular belief is that those not born agiain (unsaved) will spend eternity in hell. Hell, believed by most born agains as being a place of endless torment.

So, considering having children, does it make any logical sense and seems quite selfish to have children if only 1 in 4 could possibly get to heaven and 3 of 4 will end up in a place of unending torment ?

God created mankind with freedom of choice, knowing some would reject Him. Immediately after the flood, having destroyed the unbelieving population, He instructed Noah to be fruitful and multiply. To refuse to have children because they might choose wrong and suffer because of it would seem to be an act of arrogance - it would certainly imply that I think I know better than God.

That being said, I wholeheartedly disagree with the premise of the question (that only one in four can get to heaven, and that three out of four must go to hell). The Scriptures are quite clear that every person has the ability to choose to do right and reach heaven. While it is clear that a majority of people choose wrong and will suffer for it, it is due to their individual choices, not because God has denied them opportunity.

[ken_sylvania]

I suspect the OP's motive here is not to get answers to the question of "Why have children?" so much as to argue for his theory that there is no such thing as eternal torment in hell.

[Josh]

I believe Jesus’ offer of salvation is without limit. Offered for free, and to those who don’t deserve it. And I believe his offer stays good for all of eternity.

The question remains why some would choose to reject such a wonderful gift… yet if someone rejects Christ whilst on earth, why would this change in the next life?

“A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

[Sudsy]

Reviewing the responses to challenge more input -

I agree that the stat of 1 out of 4 will make it to heaven may not be reflective of Anabaptist raised children. But suppose this stat was 1 out of 4 Anabaptist children will end up in hell. Whatever the stat, to have children where even 1 of your children will end up in endless torment in hell for their decision to not accept salvation through Christ is this not reason enough to avoid the chance of having that child ? However, if their decision results in a punishment that has an end to it (they ultimately do not exist), then would this not fit better with God wanting us to 'go forth and multiply' ?

It was mentioned that doing right instead of doing wrong appears to be the grounds for entering heaven. Is it not a matter of accepting God's gift of salvation through what Jesus did to save us, the grounds for entering heaven ?

How does God provide equal choice to enter heaven for those who have not heard of Jesus for them to accept His salvation ? Do we know what scipture is used to explain this ?

Questioning my motive for this thread (ken_sylvania) - yes, the question of having children is related to the possible decision they make to end up in eternal torment in hell. If unending torment in hell is a possibility in having children, then why would any parent take that chance ?

I am challenging the idea that people who were not responsible for coming into this temporal world and they don't make the right choice about salvation through Jesus will suffer endless torment for that decision. Here is a scripture that appears to say otherwise -

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

Does this not say that God can destroy the soul. The "soul" then is not immortal. Immortality is a gift from God. Therefore, no one will suffer endless torment in hell but rather will suffer the amount due them and then 'perish' (exist no more).

[silentreader]

I suspect the OP's motive here is not to get answers to the question of "Why have children?" so much as to argue for his theory that there is no such thing as eternal torment in hell.

False pretenses? Surely not.