5 Reasons Christians Shouldn't Have Kids

Sometimes Christians feel pressure to have children from their own churches and communities. This is a crying shame. With a view to remedy some poor attitudes and to offer assurances to those who are called to not have children, I have produced this short video.

I hope and believe that you will find these five points of living child-free helpful and practical.

You will find a brief discussion of 1 Corinthians 7 below the vid. The Lord bless you and keep you.

1 Corinthians 7 is often used as a "proof-text" that celibacy is spiritually superior to marriage, because Paul urges Christians not to marry. He allows that some of the saints might be unable not to marry, so that if the choice is between burning with lust or marrying, they should go ahead and marry.

In evangelical circles this is used to make marriage, family, and children a matter purely of preference and personal choice, with the caveat that only super-awesome grace-filled Christians can handle being Christians. Last week, for example, my wife met a woman who told her she never married because she needed all her time to do the Lord's work. This attitude despises what the Bible teaches us we are called to in our Christian walk.

The context of Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7 is this: The world is being turned upside down, a new age is coming. Persecution is coming. Paul promises there will be much suffering. And there is. Read 2 Corinthians 4 to realize how much the Corinthians suffered between receiving the two letters from Paul.

Here are some key phrases from 1 Corinthians 7, followed by the text of verses 25, 26, 29-32.

"in view of the present distress"

"those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you"

"the appointed time has grown very short"

"the present form of the world is passing away"

In context: "Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties."