This just in: being a parent is hard. Very hard. The Washington Post recently published an article about a study from Germany which indicates that parenthood is downright awful. Here's how the article starts:
Life has its ups and downs, but parenthood is supposed to be among the most joyous. At least that's what the movies and Target ads tell us.
In reality, it turns out that having a child can have a pretty strong negative impact on a person's happiness, according to a new study published in the journal Demography. In fact, on average, the effect of a new baby on a person's life in the first year is devastatingly bad — worse than divorce, worse than unemployment and worse even than the death of a partner.
So we've known for a long time that we kill babies in this country to the tune of over 1,000,000 per year. And now we know Planned Parenthood sells baby parts to the highest bidder. It should surprise exactly no one for me to say we don't actually like our children...
Why not? I wrote recently that if we want to be rid of abortion, we must be rid of feminism, and the Washington Post helps us see the connection between the two. The feminist promise is freedom from responsibility and self-sacrifice, and in this world children are unwanted parasites. They are intruders. Alien invaders. It's not surprising that
"The data showed the larger the loss in well-being, the lower the likelihood of a second baby. The effect was especially strong in mothers and fathers who are older than age 30 and with higher education." (emphasis mine)
Of course the effect was particularly strong in older parents with higher education. College grads have spent years drinking the feminist kool-aid .
Still, it's not just feminists drinking kool-aid. Plenty of Christian mothers out there (gays call them "breeders") drank a quite-different sentimental kool-aid about how having children would make their lives wonderful and fulfilling. So how did that turn out for us?
Parents know there is no better mirror in which to view ourselves than our children. Children help us understand ourselves better. And speaking only for myself, I hope you won't mind me saying that I don't like what I'm seeing. Maybe you understand? Watching our children, we see the depth of our own selfishness and hatred and anger and lust and fear and pride and idolatry, and there are only two ways for us to respond: either we become bitter/angry/depressed about it all, or we humble ourselves, repenting of our sin and casting our hope on Christ to give us new, soft hearts of flesh. In short, we choose to die... So we may live.
I can't get Planned Parenthood's slogan out of my mind: "Every Child a Wanted Child." And what of the unwanted child?
Planned Parenthood's solution for unwanted children is murder.
But perhaps there's another option? Perhaps we should particularly want the premature, special needs, and handicapped children?
Concerns about overpopulation are overblown. The real question is whether we have enough love in our hearts?
Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. (Matthew 19:13-14)
Lucas serves as an assistant pastor at Clearnote Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Although he pines for the warm, tropical weather that was familiar to him growing up in west and central Africa, he has since made peace with the harsher climes of North America.
Want to get in touch? Send Lucas an email!
