BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids feel like getting riled up?

I'm a little riled up, and guess what? I am a Christian.

I do not believe that I am morally rebelling against God by choosing not to have children. The bible does talk about receiving children as a blessing, but I don't see anywhere that it is a commandment.

It just irks me that God is constantly being misrepresented by people and their opinions. I can understand why people are turned off by Christians, and that makes me sad. I wish more Christians would properly represent God.

There was a time when I "thought" we wanted kids, (for all the wrong reasons) and we tried for 2 horrible years and nothing happened, except we were totally miserable the whole time. I can't help thinking that if God wanted us to have kids, it would have happened then. Once we realized we truly didn't want kids, along with the relief came going back to the birth control pills!

I've never been happier and I don't feel guilty or sinful for it. We haven't been pressured at all by our church.

Please don't judge me, or God by what you've seen in other people. There are a lot of Christians that make me cringe and I don't agree with a lot of things people say about God. I hope this post will help you see that all Christians aren't insane;-) There really are some great, level-headed, intelligent ones out there.

Oh barf, what a ridiculous article. The whole smug tone of it and the writer alluding to the cf choice as being materialistic really annoys me. For me, being cf is a pointedly NON/ANTI-materialistic choice. And to say that giving love to animals instead of children is a 'sick worldview'? Oh and don't even get me started on the religious/christian [censored] he said. Ugh...yeah I'm riled up! Thanks for sharing though! It's good to see what we're up against

The ancient Mesopotamians had a very interesting, and surprisingly modern, take on human procreation, which I thought the people here might appreciate!

I'm learning cuneiform, and one of the texts I am reading at the moment is the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. (This is the story famously taken up in the Bible, with Noah instead of the Mesopotamian Uta-napishti (or, in an earlier version, Atrahasis).) Anyway, this is how the story goes:

The gods created humans to service their needs. However, the earliest humans has a flaw: they were immortal, they bred quickly and became too numerous, and their din kept the god Enlil awake at night. He resolved to solve the problem of human overpopulation first by plague, then by drought and finally by famine. None of these attempts were particularly successful, so Enlil decided to wipe out mankind with a great flood. Unfortunately, his plans were thwarted by a fellow god who revealed Enlil's plans to a human king, Uta-napishti, telling him to build a boat and so escape the rising waters.

Ultimately, of course, the survival of the human race proved beneficial from the gods' point of view since humans provided them with much-needed sacrifices. To prevent future overpopulation, however, the gods came up with an ingenious solution. They introduced death and disease as means of natural population control and they redesigned humans so that not all women would bear children: some women would be barren while others would be required to remain chaste (or at least childless) as part of their religious duties. In this way, human population would be maintained but would not get out of hand again.

I find this to be a refreshing alternative to the "be fruitful and multiply" message of the Bible and its fundamentalist proponents, and think it fascinating that the cause and effect of overpopulation were recognised millennia ago, at a time when population was certainly nowhere near as dense as today. So much for human progress...

This doesn't rile me up like it would have a few years ago.

My personal opinion is that yes, people can think like that all they want to. Heck, they are allowed! If you ask me to comment on how they think, I think that you only allow people to oppress you if you give them the power to do so. Such people who think this way assume that you really give a $#$# that they believe in the Bible and their god. I don't care. If they say "You're going to hell for ...", I think, maybe say, "I don't care." Get in my face about it, I'll respond in kind, but I pity people who think that way. If they attack me with such "anger", I reply with "pity."

I am aware that there are understanding and reasonable Christians out there. Those people don't get in your face about it. The author of that article is in your face, intentionally wanting a reaction. That is why I pity those radical, brainwashed kind of evangelicals.

That is just my opinion.

Hi...I am alot like Manderley on the topic. The article was upsetting to me, and I am a Christian also. I was raised in church, which is where I learned the values I have today. I do not feel that I am going against God by not having the desire for children. Yes, the bible talks about children being a gift of God (which they are in the Christian's eyes). However, not everyone is meant to have children, and I think God understands that. I do not know the specific wording of the scriptures, but I don't think God makes it mandatory that we procreate to follow Him. I know other Christians who would agree with this as well. That article is not representative of all Christians and it is a shame that many who read the article will think so.

I always LOOK at the person criticizing and judging...Is it someone I respect or admire?
The tone makes clear this man lacks balance, is emotive, judgmental, extreme/irrational with a closed mind - doesn't sound very Christian to me...or someone that I could respect or admire...
So, he can spout forth to his heart's content - it doesn't bother me - he is the one with the problem.
AND, I agree that the scriptures are open to interpretation.
I actually can't fathom any "God" would judge someone for thinking and taking responsibility...
Surely, if anyone is judged it would be those who bring kids into the world only to neglect and abuse them...they are the ones that have the explaining to do...
The article is actually quite funny (to me) - "willfully barren"...just that term says a lot about the speaker and his mindset.

Oh please, people like this make me sick. Unless this guy has a direct phone line to the man, he can not say what God may or may not want. And if he does have that direct phone line, may I borrow the phone? I need to see about a few lottery numbers....

I agree with those that say it's all just a numbers business. More babies means more Christians to these people. It's all about who is number one in terms of people.

I enjoy being wilful, but I'm just perverse like that :-)

i knew that this article would spark a great discussion. this is such an intelligent, thoughtful, fierce and FUNNY bunch and i always love hearing what you all have to say. when i read this article, i felt all of the things you mentioned. i vacillated b/w being amused, angry, disgusted and hostile. i didn't have the energy to write everything i felt, so i thought i'd throw it out there to see what you had to say. as usual, you have all articulated what was i was thinking, but couldn't say. get out of my head!!

Well accourding to this Marrage, Sex and babys are all part and parcel of marrage but what about Love Romance and Commentment? They say that gays should not marry because they can not have kids so should the CF not marry either because they dont want kids? So does that mean I need to find more g/l friends divorce my husband and we should all get together for one great big orgy?! What is wrong with these people? I can just see our local news now doing a report on the CF and interviewing me.

Reporter: How immoral do you feel by not having kids?

ME: Oh I feel EVERY immoral we dont add to the over population of the Earth and rest assure that the TAX PAYERS money will never have to be spent on my kids or finding the REAL "Daddy" of my babys because I am such a whore that i cant remember what the guys name was or what he looked like or how many i have been with in the past month or two even!!!

Reporter:........ ([censored] what do I say to That?).....And back to somebody else in the studio PLEASE!!!


LMAO!!!