Workshop info on having large families

Here are a few resources to go along with our workshop "Yes, We Know What Causes That",

North Carolinians for Home Education Annual Conference
Session 11 -- Saturday, May 24, 2007


Theodore Roosevelt on a tour of the Midwest:

"Three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Bower and their really satisfactory American family of twelve children!"

Books to Help You Make the Decision or Explain It To Others

A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ by Rick and Jan Hess
Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says About Having Children by Nancy Campbell
The Bible and Birth Control by Charles Provan
The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality by Mary Pride

Email Groups to Encourage You

Quiver-Full! is an email discussion group for those committed to or interested in the Lord planning their family.

MOMYS Mothers of Many Young Siblings is for mothers who have ever had four or more children eight years and younger at the same time -- others can subscribe as "read only MOMYS". This one is a great encouragement and you know the advice comes from people who really know.

Biblical Resources - "To the Law and to the testimony!" (NKJV unless noted)

Man and woman were created to be fruitful

Genesis 1:27-28 - The Mandate from Creation, before the Fall
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; ...

Genesis 9:1, 7 - Repeated to Noah after the Flood
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth ... And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

Genesis 35:10-11 - Repeated at the establishment of God's covenant people
And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

Children are a primary purpose of marriage

Malachi 2:14-15
Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.

Children are a blessing and a gift from God
Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

God's people should expect to have children from Him

Psalm 128:1-4
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

Leviticus 26:9 - God's promise to His people
"For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you."

1 Chronicles 25:5 - Seventeen children given as a special blessing
All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman. (NASB)

God provides for His children

Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.

Raising a family is meant for hard times, too

Exodus 1:7-9 - Israel as a refugee nation in a time of famine
But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ... And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we ... "

Jeremiah 29:5-7 - God's word to His people carried off to Babylonian exile
"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace."