What does it mean to be "Quiverfull"?
A note from Jeff & Ann:
In 1995, after the conception of our 5th child, we began to question God and ask Him if He was sure He knew what He was doing with this pregnancy. (This was our second baby conceived in spite of using birth control, and #4 was only 5 months old!) We prayed and we studied God's Word searching for answers, desperately wanting to know what God was doing and what His thoughts were regarding family planning. We believe the Lord spoke to our hearts during those days. He took us to His Word, and showed us that He says children are a blessing, a reward! He showed us that He alone opens the womb and closes the womb! He showed us how we could greatly increase our spiritual usefulness and power as a family, and that we can grow closer to Him by welcoming the blessing of children. We came to see that there is a huge difference between what the Bible teaches about children & birth control and our own culture's attitude. We have decided to follow God's word and the Lord's leading in our hearts, to give up birth control and allow Him to be the Lord of our life in this area, to trust His sovereign control, and we have chosen to gladly accept as many children as the Lord chooses to give us!
God has given us such joy through our large family. We long to share this joy with others!
We would like to recommend 2 books on the subject that helped us to confirm what we believed God was calling us to do in this area! These books can greatly increase your understanding of God's Word on this subject, and maybe help some of you understand that maybe we aren't so "crazy" after all . . . We would love to see many of you join us on this journey of trusting God for the size of your family! Even if you've had surgery, it's not too late! These books can tell you why!
"Who Controls the Womb?"
"Can you imagine attending a wedding where the family of the bride prayed for her to have vast legions of children who would grow up to have dominion in the land for the glory of God? This was precisely the blessing offered by the sisters of Rebekah upon her marriage to Isaac. These sentiments beautifully harmonize with Scripture after Scripture which extol the virtue of trusting the Lord to control the womb and the necessity that believers be fruitful and multiply. For six-thousand years, believers viewed children as a blessing and reward of the Lord greatly to be desired. It was widely accepted that those who cut off their seed usually did so in violation of the express commands of God. Only in the last seventy-five years have child prevention and birth control become acceptable among Christians. Perhaps more than any other philosophical shift in the history of the Church, the modern anti-child philosophy has changed the way we view the role of fathers and mothers as well as the meaning of family life and multi-generational faithfulness. But genuine questions persist: Does the Bible address the question of child prevention? Is cutting off the godly seed ever an act of "good stewardship"? Are economic considerations a valid biblical ground for closing the womb? What about "natural" family planning? What about families who cannot have children? Is the widespread use of the "pill" by Christians, a child prevention device with abortion potential, bringing judgment on the Church? This book makes the case that Christians should do more than just "trust God" for children, we should cry out to the Lord to bless the fruit of the womb!"
***Excerpts taken from the book, Be Fruitful and Multiply Written by Nancy Campbell, Forward by Doug Phillips, Vision Forum. To order this book go to www.visionforum.com
"Where Do Babies Come From? (It's an Open and Shut Case!)"
"What we believe about the origin of life - particularly where children come from - can either help us to find or lead us to miss, many blessings, especially the blessing of a full quiver.
So where do babies come from? There are two ways to answer that question. A proponent of what we will call "Philosophy A" would say that babies are simply a product of a random meeting of sperm and egg. The tots so produced are wonderfully cute, certainly, but really they are only a function of biological probability, with personalities and talents determined solely by random chance. Those who hold to this also teach that parents are the only thinking, responsible agent behind the conception process. If this is true, it follows that we are the only ones who can and therefore should or must exercise control in conception. This is the philosophy that has led to seeing nothing horribly wrong with ending the existence of a random "product of conception," as the unborn child has been conveniently labeled. It also sees nothing wrong with performing experiments on these babies before and after birth, or "logically" for that matter when they grow up to be ninety years old and confined to a hospital bed. No blessings here!
Now it's time to meet "Philosophy B". This is where we come in. This concept is different. Really different. So different, in fact, that those in the Philosophy A camp cannot fathom why Philosophy B people believe what they do - except for one thing - they know it has something to do with the Bible and God.
But what is it in the Bible that runs contrary to the random theory held by so much of our society? Maybe you yourself believe that your own existence began solely at a chance uniting of a couple of cells. Please read on and discover the amazing truth!
So, where do babies come from? Let's look at some Old Testament Examples:
Eve: "With the Help of the Lord"; Hagar: God does the multiplying; Abraham: The Blessing; Abimelech: God closes the womb; Sarah: The Lord did for her as He had promised; Rachel & Leah: The Fertility Bowl; Moses: God conceives and brings forth; Moses again: The Lord makes you abound; Ruth: The Lord enables you to conceive; Samuel: The Lord closes the womb and opens the womb; David: God planned you; Ezekiel: God causes population growth; Psalm 100: It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.
Now for some New Testament Examples: Elizabeth: God looked with favor on her; Luke: The doctors diagnosis - "the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her"; Hebrews: God is the Giver of children; Jesus: Conception without fertilization - This example is the finest, so we saved it for last. Here we find a very strong argument for the doctrine that God, not statistical probability, controls conception. We are referring to the conception of our Savior, Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. This is the perfect example that God ultimately and infinitely does whatever He pleases in conception. Not only did the Father pick the exact time that His Son would come to earth ("in the fullness of time"), but the Scriptures demonstrate that God could operate even despite the total absence of an ingredient most would deem absolutely essential for fertilization.
The joyous fact is that God opens and closes the womb! He alone decides when and if anyone will have any (more) children. And not only does He decide, He then makes it happen.
Let's look at a Word's-Eye View of Kids instead of the World's-Eye View! The Bible's most explicit statement about how much children are worth appears in Psalm 127:3-5. Solomon, the wisest man in the world, wrote this Psalm. Let's read what Solomon says about children.
Behold, children are a gift of 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.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Children are a gift! A reward! A bonus! A promotion! A public honor bestowed by God! This reward is unique - none other like it in the universe! Planned for you, it may even look like you! Maybe even sleep with you sometimes when they are little (especially during thunderstorms!). This reward comes with a guarantee - God promises that this reward will positively be good for you (Romans 8:28)! What a gracious God we have! By the way, archeologist from the Middle East state matter-of-factly that the correct number of arrows in a quiver was between 12 and 15!
To avoid any misunderstandings concerning the message of this book, realize that we are not stating that every couple must have 12 to 15 children! Couples just need to trust God to provide them with the perfect number of children for their situation. God can choose the ideal number for any couple! God can close the womb at any time He feels your quiver is full (without surgery or pills!) Scripture here is inarguable - a man with a full quiver, i.e., the number he is supposed to have according to God's planning, is described by God as "blessed"! The issue is: Do you trust Him? With every area of your life?
Those people who think that children are primarily trouble and that large families are to be pitied are not sitting on God's side of the blessing!"
***Excerpts taken from A Full Quiver - Family Planning and The Lordship of Christ written by Rick & Jan Hess. To order this book go to www.quiverfull.com This website www.quiverfull.com offers many other resources and information on the subject, including a book that explains how the "pill" actually causes abortions more often than it prevents conception! Very enlightening!!! This website also offers free membership to an email support group - which we are one of almost 2,700 subscribers from around the world! (It's nice to know there are others out there as "radical" as we are!)
May God bless you as you seek to know Him more!
If any of this information has been helpful or encouraging to you, please let us know! We would love to hear from you!
Gratefully His ~
Jeff & Ann
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