Natural Living

Living with Autism

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Babies Are A Blessing:
I know this is an unusual topic to cover in a website about autism, but we are asked so often about the size of our family that we have decided to include some information on why we believe that babies are our greatest blessing!

The Brock Bunch would like to welcome the newest member of the family... Josiah Aaron Brock, born at home on Oct. 13th, 2009 - 9lbs. 14oz.

Thirty years ago a family of five would hardly have been considered a large family. By today's standards however, we are already pushing the limits of what is considered a socially acceptable number of children. For those of you who also have large families, you know that we must continually endure insensitive comments such as " Don't you know how that happens by now?" or "Are ALL THOSE KIDS YOURS?" combined with a look of disgust. We've also heard "There's a simple operation that will 'fix' that for you", and my personal favorite, "God bless you!" (To which I always reply "Oh, he certainly does!") Needless to say, most people today don't have a very pleasant view of large families.

Our decision to be open to the blessing of a large family was not one made in haste. It came about after much research, pro-life work and prayer. We began investigating the history of birth control in the church sometime after our third baby, Nicolas was born. We were shocked to find out that ALL churches (Protestant, Catholic & Eastern Orthodox) were opposed to artificial birth control until the year 1930. It was then that the Anglican church agreed to allow the practice of contraception when there was a serious reason for it. Prior to this, ALL faiths were united in their opposition to birth control. In fact, in the late 1800's a Protestant Congress passed the Comstock Laws which made owning or distributing contraceptives illegal.

Around 1913, a woman named Margaret Sanger decided to devote herself to the distribution of birth control and the promotion of "free thinking" sexual freedom. She started a magazine titled "The Birth Control Review" and wrote many articles on the "benefits" of eugenics. (Eugenics is the practice of eradicating "inferior" people from the face of the earth. Historically the practice has been aimed at minorities and handicapped individuals, which makes this practice even more personally appalling to us.) Margaret Sanger became the founder of Planned Parenthood, which is now the world's leading abortion provider. She set up the first clinic in Brooklyn, New York and targeted the ethnic people of that area. She also helped to make birth control an accepted alternative by bribing ministers to oppose the common teaching that it was immoral. It was a great benefit to her cause when the Anglicans approved contraception in 1930, because within just 30 years of that time almost every other Protestant denomination also approved it. Sadly, this led to legalized abortion in the 70's and a huge increase in the divorce rate of our society. 

It is now common knowledge that birth control is widely accepted and available. Instead of being ashamed about using it, people are made to feel guilty when they don't! Now that you know a little bit about the history of birth control, we'd like to share a few scriptures that show what the Bible says about children...

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...”
- Psalm 127:3-5

God sees children as a GIFT, not as a BURDEN like so many people believe. The Bible tells us that our babies are a REWARD from the Lord.

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house,
Your children like olive plants around your table.
Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.”
- Psalm 128:3-4

In biblical times the olive was a symbol of divine blessing, beauty, and wealth. The comparison here obviously shows that children are revered by God as a true gift to be cherished. We do fear the Lord, and want to walk in His ways. We have seen His blessings shower down upon our family as we became open to the gift of life and His will for our lives.

"God blessed them; and God said them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth"
- Genesis 1:28


Here we see the first command that God gave to mankind. He also repeats this command to Noah's family after the flood, and again to the Israelites. No where in scripture does He EVER take back that command. Since the Bible tells us that God's words are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow then we must logically conclude that this command still stands. He doesn't say "When you feel that the earth is populated enough, then you can stop listening to me." Sadly, people continue to use overpopulation as an excuse for not having more children. If you take the time to do some research into that theory, you will find that it just isn't true. In fact, it takes 2.4 children per every married woman just to maintain the birth rate at the replacement level. Due to the large number of sterilized people and families with only one or two children in them, we have been under the replacement level for several years now. Looking at the statistics in that light, larger families are doing the world a favor!

Many people also believe that having a large family is too expensive today. Let me start by asking you to examine your heart on this one...Are brand name clothes really necessary? Do kids need tennis shoes that cost $100.00? Do you need that brand new car or will your old one run a few thousand miles more? What's wrong with wearing second hand clothes sometimes? Our children LOVE to get clothes handed down to them by older family members! Do you need to take extravagant vacations, or will your little ones enjoy camping out just as much? Perhaps these are questions you have never asked yourself. We think about them all the time because we see the extravagance of those around us, and yet we have learned to be happy with the simple things in life. In the end, your family is really all that matters, right? God promises that we will have the basic necessities if we are faithful. King David himself once said:

"I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing."
- Psalm 37:25-26

There are many other scriptures that mention the blessing of life. My favorite is psalm 139 where God talks about knowing us all before we came to be. It is very inspirational.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
- Psalm 139:13-16

The bottom line is, we believe that contraception is deliberately messing around with God's plan for lives. If we are supposed to trust God with all of our hearts and surrender everything to Him, then how can we hold back our bodies? It's like saying, "Yes, I trust you God, but not with my womb! I'm way too afraid to surrender THAT much to you. Sorry!" We just can't do it. At this point in our lives, what started as mere obedience to the Lord (and it was somewhat grudgingly at times), has turned into JOYFUL obedience to Him. That's right, we are actually HAPPY to welcome our babies into the world. We delight in taking part in the creation of life and consider each new soul a precious blessing from our creator. In fact, the hardest part about having a large family is dealing with the constant criticism from others! We are not going around telling everyone else that they are crazy for having only one, two, or three children. Nor would we ever judge them for their beliefs. (That is up to God). So please, show the same respect for us and don't attack us for doing what we believe is right in the eyes of the Lord. We'd even like to ask you to take it a step farther, and REJOICE with us over the blessed news of another pregnancy if and when God chooses to give us one.

Since the main focus of this website is to educate others about autism, we will not go into greater detail with the family planning issue. We would, however, like to offer some resources in case someone reading this would like to investigate the matter in detail. The following are books we have read that explain a lot about Christianity and contraception. They are very enlightening, and if you feel God leading you to read them we strongly encourage you to do so!
  1. Birth Control and Christian Discipleship; by John Kippley
    www.ccli.org
  2. The Naturally Healthy Pregnancy; by Shonda Parker
  3. Be Fruitful and Multiply; by Nancy Cambell
  4. A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ; by Rick and Jan Hess
    www.quiverfull.com
  5. The Art of Natural Family Planning; by John and Sheila Kippley
  6. Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing; by Sheila Kippley
  7. Open Embrace; by Sam and Bethany Torode
  8. Life Giving Love; by Kimberley Hahn
  9. The Bible and Birth Control; by Charles Provan
  10. Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?; by Randy Alcorn

Our prayer for you is that you will see children as God intended for us to see them...as a reward and a blessing! And that you will see Motherhood for what it truly is... the greatest profession in the world!!!

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