Children are a blessing...

Source: E! Online

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." - Psalm 127:3 (NLT)

Yesterday morning, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar announced on NBC's "Today" show that they are expecting their 20th child, due sometime in the spring.

With that news, the critics have come out with their knives sharpened, claiming everything from spousal abuse (from Michelle Duggar being pregnant so often) to a strain on resources. Some have even said that nations should put limits on the number of kids a couple can have to save the planet.

This is just silly, and something I addressed in my old blog when another green concern was spoken with the family of Jon and Kate Gosselin:

A few years ago I saw an article about whether the family of Jon and Kate Gosselin, they of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" fame, is actually green, or environmentally friendly. Throughout the article, environmental experts weighed in that even though mom Kate Gosselin has done things like buying organic food whenever possible and recycling, and that the family has installed solar panels on their new home, they may still not be doing enough because the eight children are creating their "carbon footprints."

So say bits of the article:

One of the reasons for the lack of greenness is the emission of carbon dioxide.
 

Sure, we are to take care of the Earth, as God had Adam do in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:15). But we are not to regard the Earth as so high that people are second or lesser options compared to it. The only thing or being that is be rated higher than people, according to God, is God Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ (these are tied in Jesus saying of the two greatest commandments).

And sure, raising children is hard work, as any parent will tell you. But we just have to cling to what Philippians 4:13 says about persevering:

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (NIV)

If the eight children depicted in the show lived in Britain, they would each emit about 750 tons of carbon dioxide over a lifetime, (Rosamund) McDougall (policy director of the U.K.-based Optimum Population Organization) explains. (American carbon-dioxide emissions per capita are about double that of Britain's.)

"What's more, if the eight children each had eight children, not taking into account the fact that eight husbands or wives would be absorbed from other families, there would be 64 grandchildren, each emitting 750 [metric tons] over a lifetime," says McDougall.

Another part of the quoted this:

"No matter what this family does, it could NEVER go green," writes one blogger on Treehugger.com. "The most green families are those with one child or none. So this family has absorbed the CARBON FOOTPRINT OF 8 FAMILIES. This is very greedy!!!"

However, one thing we all sorely need to understand is that children are not to be a burden, according to Scripture. They are not damaging to the environment just because they exist. Children, instead, are a blessing.