I have personally heard some pretty rude comments about the Dugger Family that I took offense to. On the other hand there have been some who highly praised the obvious love within the family, the order, and devotion of the parents to their children. I read this post by Crystal Paine the other day. She articulated her thoughts on the subject so well I wanted to post it here for others to read.
We need as many well-equipped arrows as possible from Crystal Paine
"I posted something about the Duggar's new addition yesterday and braced myself for the onslaught of angry comments which I knew would ensue. I've chosen not to allow comments of that nature here because there are plenty of other places on the internet to hurl insults at this family. Suffice it to say, people are very upset at the Duggar family for choosing to have 17 children. What I don't get is that the majority of people saying vitriolic remarks are also the same people who will say out of the other side of their mouth that everyone has a right to do as they please, a right to choose what is best for their life.Those statements all go out the window when it comes to the Duggar family, though. It is okay to sleep with multiple partners, have multiple abortions, or ship any children you have off to day care centers for the bulk of their growing up years. It is okay to call "marriage and family" a group of any sort of people you come up with that suits your fancy, it is okay for parents to work at the expense of their children, but it is absolutely not okay in their book for anyone to trust God with their family size and have 17 children. Never mind that these 17 children are in a warm and loving family environment, never mind that there seems to be much order and structure in the Duggar home, never mind that these parents are well-providing for their children, never mind that centuries ago, having 17 children was not anything extremely out of the ordinary.For some reason it is okay to have fancy cars, big mansions, and all the electronic gadgets and toys we could ever hope for. It's okay to have pets - lots of pets if you prefer - cats, dogs, reptiles. However, it is not okay to have a lot of children.Do you see how silly all of this is? We spend all of our lives working to afford fancier cars, bigger houses, and more gadgets and gizmos, and yet one of the few things which can leave a lasting legacy - our children - we overlook.No, I'm not saying that everyone needs to follow in the steps of the Duggars and have 17 or more children. Most normal married couples cannot have that many in their lifetime anyway. What I am saying is that we need to get over this low view of children, a view which has sadly infiltrated most of Evangelical Christianity.The Bible says children are gifts from the Lord, why would we want to reject His blessings? What is more important than investing our lives training and raising up the next generation?I pray God raises up many more large Christian families like the Duggars to show the world - by example - that children are a blessing from the Lord and that responsibly raising many children is possible. More importantly, though, I pray that many more parents would grasp hold of their responsibility to train and raise their children up to love the Lord with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. We live in a sin-sick world and we need as many well-equipped arrows as possible to be shot out into the world to impact our culture for the glory of God."
