Al Mohler with new family pronouncemen

[Dave Roberts]

Al Mohler is now saying (once more) that you are not in God's will unless you are a parent. I realize that the SBC is desperate for full-quiver Baptist families who will fill church pews with little people to make the SBC great again, but does he mean to say that all Christians without children are out of God's will? His certainty about God's will for everyone else is amazing.

[William Thornton]

Ok, gimme the quote on that, in context.

[Sandy]

https://albertmohler.com/2005/08/15/del ... revisited/

There's the whole blog article. In context.

I don't see much difference between his view and that of the Catholic church regarding the use of birth control. His argument is kind of backward, attributing birth control methods with the "sexual revolution" and arguing that the ability to have pleasure without procreation skews God's intent, isn't a Biblical one as much as it is cultural. I don't think he made the point with Biblical support.

[Haruo]

[Haruo]

Deliberate childlessness. Um, Dave, that's a critically important word there that you left out.

What about those who in obedience to God choose celibacy over sex, marital or otherwise?

[Tim Bonney]

[William Thornton]

[Dave Roberts]

Interestingly, to give context, I'm certain that by now Al has read "The Death of White Christian America." The author traces the decline of mainline protestant denominations in part to their declining birthrate, especially among Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and United Methodists. At the same time, the author notes the steadily higher birthrates among Blacks and more recent Hispanic immigrants. I suspect, but cannot confirm, that this type of statistics lies behind the fear-driven birthrate push since the birthrate among Baptists is also declining. One of the factors that Al does not address is not perpetual adolescence but the postponement of marriage and child-bearing due to the costs of education. To use a personal example, our daughter-in-law had to take a year off between her bachelor's and master's degrees to work in order to have a small nest egg for graduate school and still came out owing money. Also, my wife and I were doing our best to become parents from the time I left seminary. We became parents when I was forty and she was thirty-eight. We had tried to adopt and had been approved but the agency promised children to a lot of couples and took the ones who could make a larger contribution. My wife and I had been through every testing and fertility assistance procedure available in the late 1970's. I guess I take Al's slaps at those who aren't parents at 21 with a bit of ire and realize how many people who have trouble conceiving he is driving away from churches with this totally non-empathetic drivel that doesn't look beyond his declining denominational statistics. William, I hope this gives you my context, and this is no "drive-by comment."

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

I assume he's referring to the directive to be fruitful and multiply, and suck the earth dry etc. Yes, it would be good to have link to the current statement. Dave, do you have one, or are you drawing on the same secondhand source William did?

[Tim Bonney]

[William Thornton]

Mr. Evidence and Data finds a lot of things al is "basically telling"?

I'm getting a whiff of nonrhinking here from my modlib friends. Dave quoted nary a syllable of Mohler. I'm guessing that he read a tweet about it but didn't read the piece prior to his drive by.

[William Thornton]

My friends here have completely abandoned reason. Read the thing. At least Keith asked for some links.

[JE Pettibone]

[Dave Roberts]

The latest links I can find for Mohler's view come from Focus on the Family in 2016.

[Sandy]

[Dave Roberts]

Having preached in both CBF and SBC churches, I haven't been in one anywhere with a nursery or preschool area bursting at the seams. The bigger problem is that Baptists of all stripes are aging. There are certainly exceptional churches with growing preschool groups, but the absence of evangelism is the real problem in most churches.

[Haruo]

We don't have any preschool normally at Fremont, but we are growing in the 18 to 27 demographic.

[Tim Bonney]

[JE Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

[Sandy]

[Rvaughn]

[Sandy]

This is something he has been saying for a long time. I posted one of his earlier blog posts on the subject, from 2006, but many of his past writings and radio commentaries get repeated from time to time, or become one of his speaking or writing themes again, sort of like a "re-run." You'd have to ask Dave for a specific reference to recent remarks but this has been one of his pronouncements and preaching themes for a long time.