The Duggars Under
Fire
The latest issue of People magazine has the Duggar family featured in
its cover story. The Duggars, as you probably already know, are a large
family also featured in a reality television show with Mom (Michelle),
Dad (Jim Bob), and their now 19 children. The aforementioned magazine
cover has a picture of Michelle and Jim Bob along with the Duggar
family’s latest addition, Josie Brooklyn, born this past December via
emergency C-section. Also on the cover is the copy “How Many Kids Are
Too Many?”, and “The Duggars Under Fire”. At the bottom of the cover
this explanation is given: “As their 19th child, Josie, fights for
life, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar say they might have more children-
igniting a controversy over their supersize family”.
Actually, controversy about the Duggars long pre-dated the birth of
baby Josie and any recent acknowledgment that there may be more little
Duggars yet to come. Criticism of the Duggars goes back a few years,
even before the time they came into the national spotlight in
2004
when their first special was aired on the Discovery channel.
The criticism directed at them runs the gamut: Their religious views,
their environmental impact (the Duggars do, no doubt, produce a lot of
CO2), the health risks they’ve taken, and their view that they
have
all the emotional and economic resources required to have 19 children
(and maybe more).
They are said to be a part of the “Quiverfull” movement, a stream
of
doctrine and practice within evangelical Christianity that, among other
things, emphasizes the great gift and blessing that children are. The
movement takes its name from Psalm 127:3-5:
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb
is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are
children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of
them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies
in the gate.
There is much to be said positively for Quiverfull. They obviously
possess a high regard for children, have a great emphasis on the
family, and reject the modern day feminist dogma that says women can’t
be fulfilled simply by being mothers and homemakers. They aren’t mere
throwbacks to a 19th century social model, rather they stand as a
living antithesis of what the world around them believes and does.
Yet, while Quiverfull is not a monolithic movement, it nonetheless has
a number of tenants within it that are generally held, and may be seen
as troubling even within the most conservative of evangelical circles.
For example, the notion that “birth control” by any means in any
circumstance is always wrong is something that many (most?)
evangelicals cannot accept as a Scriptural teaching. John Piper’s
Desiring God Ministries has argued that there is no inconsistency in
believing that children are a gift from God, and yet regulating the
“timing and number” of those children: “Just because something is a
gift from the Lord does not mean that it is wrong to be a steward of
when or whether you will come into possession of it.”
But for the Duggars, stewardship of these gifts from God doesn’t
include such matters as Piper contemplates. Their idea of stewardship
is post-conception.
And we should be okay with that.
Despite all the critical noise in the media and on the internet (which,
arguably, they brought upon themselves with their television show), the
Duggars seem to have been successful by every measure in their
endeavors to raise all their little gifts from God. It is a commitment
and lifestyle that they have chosen. While one might not agree with a
number of Quiverfull movement views, the Duggars and others like them
need to be defended from all the spurious attacks that are made against
them. They get hammered on because they take the Bible literally.
They
get scorned because they believe in creationism. They are the subjected
to these stupid environmental/resource criticisms that are utter
Leftist drivel.
Sound familiar?
Moreover, the current trajectory of our society would suggest that
somewhere down the line we will have government legislation that limits
the number of children families can have. Recently Diane Francis wrote
in the Financial Post : “The “inconvenient truth” overhanging the UN’s
Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling,
but that humans are overpopulating the world. A planetary law, such as
China’s one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous
global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four
days.”
Perhaps you had a small family by choice. Perhaps you think that the
Duggars have some far-fetched ideas. Whatever the case, you might want
to consider supporting the Duggars’ right to live and procreate as they
please.
Contact: Brian Myers
Source:
Caffeinated Thoughts
Publish
Date:
February 8, 2010
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