The very first words God spoke to Adam and Eve upon their creation were, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Was this just a benevolent consent to enjoy life, or was God signaling His intention to continually foster and bless the way of life He had given them?When our nation took a callous, immoral stand against the sanctity of life in 1973, it unleashed a murderous storm of abortions in direct contravention of God's Word in Eden (Gen. 1:28). But neither advocates nor opponents of this terrible slaughter considered all the unintended consequences.
Loss of any life is supremely costly, but with abortion it's not an unintended consequence. Abortion is not a mishap. Abortion never happens accidentally. I tell catechism students 1.5 million more of their equals should be in their grade level. Hardly a fluke.
In 1973, one unintended consequence hardly taken into account was the post-abortion stress syndrome which “Ms Magazine” pooh-poohs as a “bogus affliction.” It’s editors belittle confession and reconciliation as God's way to bringing healing to emotionally and psychologically broken women who elected to employ abortion perhaps many years earlier and now grieve.
But there is another consequence beyond the implications to one unborn child deprived of life or one aching woman deprived of peace. It is the aborticide of our national way of life. Evil is never a private matter. Few have considered the ominous consequences of a declining birth rate and that abortion doesn't just murder a child or make its mother a casualty. It also slays the culture.
Forecasts suggest there will not only be fewer in the American workforce and fewer to remit taxes and fewer schools, etc., but the culture itself is threatened. Once a birthrate declines, there is no way to recover retroactively. The biological clock is ticking. The Lord's exhortation to be fruitful is concomitant with the very perpetuity of life. Christians having substantial families is not just good for the church. It's good for the world.
We may hope beyond mere wishful thinking that trends will change. But ours in an objective hope in the Lord who oversees the passage of humanity through this world. See how he comforted His people during the dark days of Judah’s decline.
“Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” (Jeremiah 23:3)
