Do You Respect God’s Gift of Procreation?
“AS I lay upon a hard, slim delivery-room table,” recalls Joanne, “the excruciating pain reached its peak. The doctor was washing his hands but not fast enough. ‘Doctor,’ cried the nurse, ‘the baby is here.’ Rushing to the table, he urged: ‘Once more.’ The pain was almost unbearable! And then?
“‘Congratulations,’ said the doctor, ‘you have a beautiful little girl.’ How the pain of only a moment ago paled into insignificance as that warm, soft little body was placed close to my breast. My husband’s hand in mine, we gazed upon this beautiful little miracle for which mutual love was responsible.”
God’s gift of procreation is something at which to marvel. After decades of medical practice, Dr. Joseph Krimsky wrote: “Conception and birth are miracles beyond our understanding . . . The very emotion of love and ecstasy that brings about the union of male and female germ cells is a mystery . . . that science cannot explain.”—The Doctor’s Soliloquy.
The Bible’s Explanation
‘The emotion of love and ecstasy’ enjoyed by marriage partners is a gift from God. To married men, the Bible says: “Rejoice with the wife of your youth . . . With her love may you be in an ecstasy constantly.” (Proverbs 5:18, 19) Evidently, God purposed that sex relations between a man and his wife should contribute toward a warm and lasting bond. Children resulting from such a union would have a good start in life. Thus God’s purpose for humans to fill the earth would be fulfilled in a fine way.—Genesis 1:27, 28.
But many have not enjoyed a good start in life. Some have grown up in a bad moral environment and others come from divided homes. What went wrong? The Bible explains how the first human pair rebelled against God and broke his command. Their children were conceived sometime after that pair sinned. (Genesis 3:1–4:1) Thus their offspring inherited imperfection and the inclination to sin. (Romans 5:12) Because of this, God’s gift of procreation has been abused.
Have Clergymen Promoted the Bible’s View?
Today, the abuse of sex has reached an extreme. Why is this? Over the past century, millions have looked to Christendom’s churches for moral guidance. Have the clergy used their influence to promote a respect for procreation?
“The Protestant churches of the main tradition—Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Congregational, Methodist, and many Baptist communities—adjusted themselves relatively easily . . . to the idea of evolution,” explains The New Encyclopædia Britannica. But consider: Is evolution something to which those claiming to represent the Bible can ‘adjust’? No, because evolution is a theory that knows nothing of morality. It denies both the creatorship of God and man’s need of salvation from sin and death.—Genesis 2:7, 18, 19; 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22.
The Catholic Church has also bowed to evolutionary theory. In 1950, Pope Pius XII encouraged evolutionary research in his encyclical Humani generis. During 1982, 11 scientists were invited to Vatican City for a discussion on evolution under the chairmanship of the president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Afterward, the highest scientific body of the Catholic Church published a book containing the claim that “the lineages leading to man, chimpanzee and gorilla seem to have diverged from their common ancestor . . . 5 to 7 million years ago.”
The theory of evolution is a rejection of the Bible, which states that man and animals were created separately ‘according to their kinds.’ (Genesis 1:20-27) And it is interesting that the Bible foretold: “Because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.” (Matthew 24:3, 11, 12, 33) Has evolution contributed to an “increasing of lawlessness”?
Has Evolution Promoted Moral Lawlessness?
By going along with the theory of evolution, many clergymen have undermined confidence in the Bible. ‘If the Genesis account of creation is not true, then what about the rest of the Bible?’ people ask. And even clergymen challenge what the Bible says about premarital sex and homosexuality, as well as the Bible’s view of the life of the unborn.—Exodus 20:13, 14; 21:22, 23; Leviticus 18:22; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.
There is another way in which evolutionary theory has contributed to lawlessness. Recently, during prime television time, millions in a certain “Christian” country watched the story of a father who sexually molested his daughter. According to the journal Science 85, the assumption was made that “no person can be held totally responsible for his or her behavior when passion grows strong.” Millions of people, the magazine states, are prepared to go along with this view. Why? Because they believe that “humans are so closely related to animals.” People, admits this scientific journal, “have become too accepting of Darwin’s view that ‘Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.’”
Evolutionary thinking has seriously affected people’s view of the Bible. Has this brought blessings? No. Rejection of the Bible’s fine standards of morality has resulted in an alarming increase in abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. Also, more and more children are born out of wedlock, never knowing the blessing of a warm family life.
How Can the Bible Help You?
The Bible reveals mankind’s Creator, Jehovah, to be a God of mercy. (Psalm 103:10-13) He desires to help human sinners reach his moral standards. (Isaiah 1:18; 55:6-9) For example, consider the ancient city of Colossae, where premarital sex and adultery were common. “In those very things you, too, once walked when you used to live in them,” states a Biblical letter addressed to Christians in Colossae. (Colossians 3:5-7) Yet, through the encouragement of God’s Word and through the power of his holy spirit, many Colossians made wholesome changes in their life-style. They became true Christians.
Consider, too, the inhabitants of ancient Corinth. Theirs was an immoral city where homosexuals and prostitutes abounded. “That is what some of you were,” declares a Biblical letter addressed to Christians living there. “But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.”—1 Corinthians 6:9-11; see also Luke 11:13.
Is the same thing happening today? Yes, for after reading past issues of this magazine, thousands have been helped to bring their lives into harmony with the Bible. Consider the example of a teenager in Africa who was sexually molested as a child. In time, she got involved in all sorts of immoral conduct, including lesbianism. “The world may give pleasure for a short while,” she said, “but it becomes like a drug resulting in a lost, worthless feeling.” In desperation, she tried to commit suicide, but during this crucial period something happened that changed her life. She began attending meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses and accepted the advice to read the Bible daily. This gave her strength to overcome immoral practices. “I feel so much better now,” she says. “It’s amazing what Jehovah can do for a person.”
Youngsters who grow up in a warm Christian family have an advantage. Christian parents should do all they can to explain to their children the marvels of procreation. (Ephesians 6:4) Such children will thus be helped to respect their reproductive organs and not use them as playthings. Self-abuse is often the first step toward more serious forms of immorality.a
Today, there is an urgent need to overcome immoral practices. “On account of those things,” the Bible warns, “the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5, 6) Yes, Jehovah’s mercy has limits. He is also a God of justice. (Deuteronomy 32:4) After foretelling the modern-day ‘increase of lawlessness,’ Jesus said: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matthew 24:11, 12, 21) This action by God will bring an end to lawlessness and will introduce a righteous new system.—Psalm 37:9-11, 29.
[Footnotes]
a Please see the articles “A Mother Talks to Her Daughters” and “A Father Talks to His Son” in Awake! of July 8, 1965, and December 8, 1968. See also chapter 5 in the book Your Youth—Getting the Best out of It, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
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Children need a warm family atmosphere in order to get a good start in life
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God-fearing parents should help children to get the right view of procreation