Saddened and Disgusted
**CAUTION** this will be a LONG blog entry....
There are some things that just get to me. THIS is one of them.
It's a news article from yesterday about a couple in Illinois who left their 5 month old baby boy strapped in his car seat for 8 days while they were home in the house - ignoring his cries, and he finally died with his eyes wide open, fists clenched, sitting in his own waste.
This kept me up last night. I partly hoped the parents would be found to have been doing drugs or something. I just can't imagine two people ignoring a child so long it would starve to death in their own house! A few months ago an Ohio woman's baby was found dead, an autpsy discovering the baby died of internal burns that could only have been caused by putting her into the microwave!
The list goes on, we all know it. I'd like to give my opinion.
We live in a society that treats children as a burden. I was reminded of this as I sat in my doctor's office for my first appointment and she said "Didn't they [my other doctor] give you any birth control?" Or the question "Was this a planned pregnancy?" to which I always reply "Yes, planned by God..."
We unwittingly give the impression - or outright state it - to young women that children are a burden. Programs in schools have young women take home a doll that cries, wets and needs to be picked up, etc. This is to detur them from getting pregnant as teens. I do not know what statistics say about this program, it's not working in our county that's for sure.
Then there's the abortion option. Oh, well, this child is going to be a burden, I don't want it and "poof" it's gone. There are a myriad of tests done in the first 12-15 weeks of pregnancy so that you can "terminate" an unwanted "fetus" with a possible "defect." Oh, that would just be an added burden, right?
Why do we not instead teach our young women to rejoice in the joys of motherhood? That children are not a burden that get in the way of us realising our dreams - our dreams are misaligned if they get in the way of caring for our children!
Yet, sadly I know the answer - the answer that even creeps unwittingly into Christian society as young women go to high school constantly having to answer "What do you want to be...?" and then to college where if they do not enter a career immediately or they desire to have children and stay at home they are "wasting their education."
I am not saying pressure to succeed in a career caused those parents aforementioned to kill their children, but it is a part of our society that says children are a burden, pursue your own desires. There is so much emphasis on birth control for young women it's staggering - like that is the cure-all to a society that does not believe in self-control.
So what are we going to do about it?
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to teach my children a family is something to rejoice in. That children are a blessing from God, not a burden. I'm going to teach my daughter(s) as best as I can how to be a "keeper at home" as Titus 2 instructs and teach my son(s) as best I can and my husband can, how to care for a wife and family - to be a provider and a protector. And above all I am going to pray, and ask others to pray that God will work in the individual lives of families (and in my family) to give us wisdom in raising sons and daughters in an age of wanton neglect of these things.
I know our society will not change by lobbying for new laws, by more social workers, by more "education" etc. We cannot mandate change as a "quick-fix" for sin. But we as believers can one by one do all to the glory of God and have an effect on all we come into contact with.
There are some things that just get to me. THIS is one of them.
It's a news article from yesterday about a couple in Illinois who left their 5 month old baby boy strapped in his car seat for 8 days while they were home in the house - ignoring his cries, and he finally died with his eyes wide open, fists clenched, sitting in his own waste.
This kept me up last night. I partly hoped the parents would be found to have been doing drugs or something. I just can't imagine two people ignoring a child so long it would starve to death in their own house! A few months ago an Ohio woman's baby was found dead, an autpsy discovering the baby died of internal burns that could only have been caused by putting her into the microwave!
The list goes on, we all know it. I'd like to give my opinion.
We live in a society that treats children as a burden. I was reminded of this as I sat in my doctor's office for my first appointment and she said "Didn't they [my other doctor] give you any birth control?" Or the question "Was this a planned pregnancy?" to which I always reply "Yes, planned by God..."
We unwittingly give the impression - or outright state it - to young women that children are a burden. Programs in schools have young women take home a doll that cries, wets and needs to be picked up, etc. This is to detur them from getting pregnant as teens. I do not know what statistics say about this program, it's not working in our county that's for sure.
Then there's the abortion option. Oh, well, this child is going to be a burden, I don't want it and "poof" it's gone. There are a myriad of tests done in the first 12-15 weeks of pregnancy so that you can "terminate" an unwanted "fetus" with a possible "defect." Oh, that would just be an added burden, right?
Why do we not instead teach our young women to rejoice in the joys of motherhood? That children are not a burden that get in the way of us realising our dreams - our dreams are misaligned if they get in the way of caring for our children!
Yet, sadly I know the answer - the answer that even creeps unwittingly into Christian society as young women go to high school constantly having to answer "What do you want to be...?" and then to college where if they do not enter a career immediately or they desire to have children and stay at home they are "wasting their education."
I am not saying pressure to succeed in a career caused those parents aforementioned to kill their children, but it is a part of our society that says children are a burden, pursue your own desires. There is so much emphasis on birth control for young women it's staggering - like that is the cure-all to a society that does not believe in self-control.
So what are we going to do about it?
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to teach my children a family is something to rejoice in. That children are a blessing from God, not a burden. I'm going to teach my daughter(s) as best as I can how to be a "keeper at home" as Titus 2 instructs and teach my son(s) as best I can and my husband can, how to care for a wife and family - to be a provider and a protector. And above all I am going to pray, and ask others to pray that God will work in the individual lives of families (and in my family) to give us wisdom in raising sons and daughters in an age of wanton neglect of these things.
I know our society will not change by lobbying for new laws, by more social workers, by more "education" etc. We cannot mandate change as a "quick-fix" for sin. But we as believers can one by one do all to the glory of God and have an effect on all we come into contact with.
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
Titus 2:3-5
posted by Rebecca at 11:46 AM
2 comments
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