Comments on: What Jesus Had to Say About Families

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:15:23 +0000

Excellent post! Like my husband likes to say (we’re both childfree), “If Jesus never fathered children, then that’s good enough for me!” That’s also great to use on Quiverfullers, too.

By: Emilia

Emilia — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:31:28 +0000

As much as I don’t share the quiverfull philosophy – I have only one biological child, and if I decide to expand my family, I will adopt – some of the criticism of quiverfull families borders a bit on paranoia. I don’t have a problem with a woman having as many children as she wants if that’s her own choice. An example of a “quiverfull” woman is Michelle Duggar. Her views on abortion, the role of women and the Bible are worlds apart from mine (example: I don’t interpret the verse “Children are an heritage of the Lord… Happy is the man that has a quiver full of them” as meaning that everybody should pop out as many kids as they are physically capable of). Nonetheless, I respect her reproductive choices. After having been told many times I’m “selfish” to have only one child I understand what it’s like to be criticized for how many or few children one has. And Ms. Duggar doesn’t seem to be judgemental of women who choose differently from her: in an article she wrote for Parents magazine, she said that her type of life is not for everyone. In other words, for each his (or her) own.

By: shawna

shawna — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:23:32 +0000

That is great. It’s nice to hear about Christian communities taking Jesus’ family sayings seriously and not reducing it to who you are biologically related to.

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:13:34 +0000

Great post, Shawna. As an only child, I’ve always connected deeply with the idea that fellow Christians are my brothers & sisters. This idea is so prominent in the Jamaican Christian community I’ve become involved with, where it’s natural to casually introduce someone as your church brother or sister. It’s so encouraging when my friends call from Jamaica and say, “What’s up, my sistah?” They remind me that I’m part of a family so much greater than a unit with one mom, one dad, and a daughter.