One, Big Beautiful Truth: Christians Need to Have More Children

Delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday in Dallas in favor of a resolution calling for the overturning of any laws that define marriage as anything other than a union between one man and one woman.

Titled, “On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and Family,” the eloquent and biblically rooted document affirms numerous other truths and calls attention to various cultural challenges – including the pursuit of “willful childlessness.”

Here is the actual language:

WHEREAS, Our culture is increasingly rejecting and distorting these truths by redefining marriage, pursuing willful childlessness which contributes to a declining fertility rate, ignoring and suppressing the biological differences between male and female, encouraging gender confusion, undermining parental rights, and denying the value and dignity of children; and 

WHEREAS, Commercial surrogacy often treats children as products and women as a means to an end, and may entail the destruction of embryonic life, violating the dignity of human life and distorting God’s design for procreation within marriage;

WHEREAS, Christians are called to grieve with and support couples who struggle with infertility and to uphold moral and compassionate paths to parenthood that protect human dignity;

At first, the pursuit of “willful childlessness” sounds almost oxymoronic, but we all know what that means: married couples who could presumably conceive children are deliberately deciding not to and for not very good reasons.

At the top of the list of reasons couples often give for not having children is the “burden” they supposedly introduce to personal freedom. Then there are the financial obligations. Media loves to quote how much it costs to raise a child from birth to adulthood. It’s always an eye-popping number but also void of context and the fact that children truly are “cheaper by the dozen.” 

Other reasons for the collapsing birth rate include prioritization of career over family – and the obvious observation that fewer marriages inevitably lead to fewer children being born.

Scripture is crystal clear that “Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:3-5).

Within the Christian community, there is a broad spectrum of conviction regarding family planning and the conception of children is the most deeply intimate and personal aspect of the marital union. At the same time, Christians should be in full agreement that children are a blessing and not a burden. Going into marriage, and barring any unusual circumstances, the desire for children should be the norm and not the exception.

The Christian birth rate (1.9-2.2 children depending on the study) in the United States is slightly higher than the overall fertility rate (1.7) – but only slightly. As such, the Church would be wise to prioritize the biblically sound and culturally critical message that believing couples should prayerfully and bravely be open to having more children.

Observed Benjamin Franklin, “He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.”

For months now we’ve been hearing a lot about the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” – legislation that promises to enact wide sweeping positive changes in the tax code, including the defunding of Planned Parenthood and an increase in the Child Tax Credit. But the “One, Big Beautiful Truth” is that the health and prosperity of America correlates with the vitality of the family – and we need Christian families with lots of children to truly thrive as a nation.

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