Can a person choose not to have children?

[jrone]

My daughter, who has become a Methodist has decided not to have any children. I know this is wrong! Besides Genesis where God says be fruitful and multiply, are there any other scriptural passsages that address this subjest?

Thank you.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

You don’t mention your daughter’s marital status, and whether or not she is obliged to be open to the possibility of children is dependent on whether or not she is married. If she has decided to remain single, that is a legitimate vocation to which she is bound to observe the chastity required of a single person (which would, of course, rule out children). If she is married, she is bound to observe the chastity required of married persons, and marital relations should be open to the possibility of life; although for just reason natural means may be used to postpone conception, even indefinitely.

For scriptural support, the verse from Genesis (1:28) is helpful. Also see Luke 23:28-29 where Jesus warns the women of Jerusalem to be wary of the days when people would consider barrenness a blessing rather than a tragedy:

But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’”