Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Blessing of Children




Truitt Hendeerson, Sarah Henderson, Sophie Henderson, Ethan Davis, Hannah Davis, Austin Davis, James Turner

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...”

 
Psalm 127:3-5
 
 
Isn't that wonderful? God calls children gifts, rewards, blessings, and arrows all in one passage! Yet in our culture, children are looked upon as none of these.

In fact, our culture has a totally different vernacular than the Word of God when it comes to children- they're often referred to as burdens, inconveniences, and pains.

This stems from a worldview that is diametrically opposed to Biblical Christianity and its command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28) Yet this mentality pervades even most evangelical churches!
 
Speaking of the way the world views debt and children, Doug Phillips says, “We apply for curses, and abort our blessings.”
 
 
Sarah and Blake Henderson
 
 
Millions of children all over the world are aborted every year. Just since Roe v. Wade in 1973, more than 50 million babies have been aborted in America alone. That averages at nearly one and a half million babies a year, and around four thousand babies killed every day.


Sickening isn't it?
 
 
Austin Davis, James Turner, Truitt Henderson, and Ethan Davis
 
 
And that number doesn't even take into account the countless “unknown” abortions caused by contraceptives, such as the Pill, which are abortifacient. Or the many children that are refused by parents who choose to “play god” and cut off their seed through tubals.


It seems that many have forgotten that babies are not fetuses- they're human beings! Precious children that the Lord Jesus created in His Own Image. Babies are not blobs. Babies are not kittens. Babies are humans, and sinful though they may be, they have eternal souls!
 
 
Rayah Pogue
 
 
So what can we do?


First, we can ask God to change our hearts. We must ask Him to help us stop looking at babies and children the world's way, and start looking at them the way He intended us to.
 
 
Sarah Elizabeth Herring
 
 
Second, we must begin to accept with open arms the wonderful blessings that the Lord sends to us, whether they come in the form of a pregnancy, reversal babies, or adopted children.
 
 
Rayah Pogue, Kourtney and Kaitlynn Thompson, and Jerah Pogue
 
 
And last of all, we should shout from the roof tops (or blog posts :p ) that children are a blessing, and praise God for the ones we have!
 
Why not come celebrate life at the
 
 

Monday, June 28, 2010

Children are a Blessing!

I would highly recommend Nathaniel Darnell's article on The Lost Appeal of the Pill at Persevero! to everyone, as it is very timely in its observations on the Pill.

And congratulations to David and Monica Brown on their great news- "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth." (Psalm 127:4)

Hope to see ya'll at the Baby Conference!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Baby Conference Topics Announced

The lecture topics for the Baby Conference have been announced! With speakers ranging from Doug Phillips, Kevin Swanson, and Geoff Botkin to Jennie Chancey, Kim Coghlan, and more, the Baby Conference promises to be one of Vision Forum's best conferences! Some of the topics covered will be:

The Message & Mission of Christian Adoption

Naming Babies

The Glory of the Fruitful Womb

The Wonders of Embryology

Why We Must Be Ladies Against Feminism

The Hopeful Theology of Miscarriage 


Hope to see ya'll there!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

May's Best Books

It is so hard to believe that June is almost over! It's also very exciting because that means that it is only ten days until we leave for the Baby Conference! :) 

I also just realized that I hadn't posted about the books I read in May! Since we did the Great Authors Webinar, I read many of the books that those authors wrote during the month. But overall, I think the two best books I read were Killer Angel: A Short Biography of Planned Parenthood’s Founder, Margaret Sanger by George Grant, and The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum by R.J. Rushdoony. Both of these books reflected a common theme that has been on my heart and mind these past few months as I've contemplated babies, birth, children, education, and life in general. (Perhaps this has been encouraged by my great anticipation of the Baby Conference, and also that my Mamma and I are attending a Doula Course in late July)


Not a book for young children, Killer Angel, while being very discreet, was shocking and nauseating. While I  knew that Margaret Sanger was a wicked woman, as I read the book I gained a chilling realization that she was even more despicable and vile than I realized. It is easy to see how she was one of the most dangerous people in history, falling in the ranks of Hitler.

The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum was a wonderful book, as well. It caused me to stop and consider some of my own ideas about education, and curriculum in particular. I would not recommend this book to the new home educator, simply because of Rushdoony's stance on home education. However, I would highly recommend it as a very useful tool, when read with caution, and most of all, a Biblical view of education, as according to Deuteronomy 6:7.

Something that was once again thrust before my view as I read these books, was that ideas have consequences, and also that culture is religion externalized.


The way we look at education impacts our view of curriculum, and our methods of teaching our children. In the same way, the way we look at babies and children impacts our view of family, church, and state.

Margaret Sanger's view of children (and, in some cases, entire people groups) as a burden, inconvenience, etc. gave us the Pill, abortion, and euthanasia. We must embrace a Biblical view of life, babies, children, and family if we will reform our culture! And for that reason, I would greatly encourage you to attend Vision Forum's major 2010 event- The Baby Conference: A Historic Summit on the Triumph of Life over the Culture of Death.

 I hope to see some of you there!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Why Read Elsie Dinsmore?

Why read the Elsie Dinsmore books??


Girls Discuss Martha Finley's Literary Classics: The Elsie Dinsmore Library from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

Meet my animals...

I thought ya'll might like to see all of my critters:


Angel, my Shih Tzu

Annie

Lindsay

Wallace
(like William Wallace)

Bruce
(like Robert the Bruce)


Joy, a Jersey

Elsie, a Jersey
(like Elsie Dinsmore)

Vision
(Elsie's calf)




Have a blessed day, everyone!

A Giveaway...

Hello, everyone!

I wanted to let ya'll know about a giveaway over at Raising Homemakers! They are giving away a set of three wonderful items that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the years- So Much More, Strength and Dignity for Daughters, and What our Father Taught us About Boys! So go register here before it ends!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Teddy Roosevelt on Education

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Quote from Teddy Roosevelt...

"It is better to be faithful than famous."