Is it wrong for a couple to decide not to have children?<\/a>) However, that decision should be made as a couple and, if possible, before marriage. It would be unfair to one spouse to enter into a marriage, expecting to have children only to learn later that the other spouse does not want children.<\/p>\nIn I Timothy 5:14, Paul starts out with the Greek word boulomai<\/em>. It means “desire, incline, or intend.” It introduces a piece of considered advice. Thus, Paul’s advice to the younger widows should be heeded, but it would not be a sin if it weren’t followed exactly or completely. After all, getting married does not guarantee a woman will have children. The problem was that young widows had too much time on their hands (I Timothy 5:13) and were getting involved in gossip. Since they were young, they would still desire the pleasures in this world (I Timothy 5:11), which might pull them away from any pledge (I Timothy 5:9) to serve the church in exchange for being cared for by the church. Rather than have a potential cause for scandal, they should marry “and give the enemy no occasion for reproach<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:14). All of this explains why widows younger than 60 or who have family are not put on the list for care by the church.<\/p>\nSince sex is expected in marriage (I Corinthians 7:2-5), children are the usual result. Most contraceptives have a failure rate, so while using contraceptives will reduce the odds of having children, a couple should be ready if the unexpected happens. They may never have children, but if an unplanned child does come, it should not be seen as the end of all happiness.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hello Mr. Hamilton! I hope this finds you well! I have a question and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. I don’t know of any verse that says Christians, if married, should have children. However, in I Timothy 5:14, Paul says he wants widows to bear children. Does that mean they have to?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[110,64],"class_list":["post-67407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-children","tag-marriage"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45171,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-couple-to-decide-not-to-have-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong for a couple to decide not to have children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read several articles about Christian couples who choose not to have children. \u00a0One article called it moral rebellion to willingly choose not to have children, while others of course say that God calls people to do other things that may not involve children. \u00a0I know when God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-divorce-her-husband-because-he-hid-the-fact-that-he-was-impotent\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":1},"title":"Can a woman divorce her husband because he hid the fact that he was impotent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What can the church do in a situation where a sister says she has been deceived by a brother who is impotent? He concealed the matter until he had married the sister. Can the sister marry another person since she desires children and was misled? Answer: The short answer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-attend-weddings-of-those-who-have-been-living-together-or-had-been-divorced\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":2},"title":"Should I attend weddings of those who have been living together or had been divorced?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, My question is about weddings that take place after a couple has been living together for a year or two - sometimes longer. They have a child or maybe are expecting a child, then somewhere along the line decide to get married. They have a big wedding, white\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37383,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-sinful-to-not-want-to-have-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":3},"title":"Is it sinful to not want to have children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if it's sinful for a woman not to ever want to have children? Answer: A person has the right to choose to get married or not. That choice comes with consequences since sex is only allowed within a marriage. \"But I say to the unmarried and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32436,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-ask-about-my-lovers-past-relationships\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":4},"title":"How do I ask about my lover’s past relationships?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know how I can ask about past relationships of my lover. Answer: I assume that by \"lover\" you mean the one you love and not that you are having sex outside of marriage. If you are sexually involved, you are already off on the wrong path.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23604,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-virgin-marries-a-non-virgin-will-he-be-condemned-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":67407,"position":5},"title":"If a virgin marries a non-virgin, will he be condemned to hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a pure man marries a woman who he thinks is a pure woman (virgin), and he finds out later she wasn't a virgin when they married, is he condemned to hell because it wasn't a pure and holy marriage, even though he is a member of the true\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}