I have previously dealt with the Jeubs' (a Quiverfull family that makes a living selling other people on Quiverfull) disingenuous arguments concerning unrestrained baby making and poverty here and here. They're at it again, it's Monday and I'm at a bit of a loss for something else to write about*, so here we go.
Many got what we were saying. Glum financial circumstances have hit most people at some time in their life, especially today. And we so identify! While these times may not be enjoyable, few can confess that they were absolutely debilitating. Whose to say that God can’t reach into the glummest of circumstances and pull people through? We prefer to give hope, not doom.
But a number of people insisted on doom. Read through the 100+ posts, some posts with an attitude like, “How dare you say poverty isn’t bad. It is very, very bad!” And they rattled off the worst of scenarios (famine, starvation, abuse, drug addiction, homelessness, etc.) as if to say, “Seeeee how bad it can get?”
Such hopelessness. Do people really believe money is that much of a determiner of their fate? Apparently so. Does poverty define a person (or wealth, for that matter)? It doesn’t for us. And we don’t believe it should be for anyone!
"Worst of scenarios"? Those are peoples' lives asshat! Right now, in this country, all over the world, famine, starvation, homelessness, etc. are peoples' lives. That is how people, right now, are living. Whether poverty "defines" people or not is rather irrelevant to this particular discussion.
Remember, the Jeubs call upon everyone, regardless of circumstance, to have as many babies as is humanly possible. If you know who the Duggars are, you know what I'm talking about. To the Jeubs, there are no reasons, none at all, to not have 20 children. That's why all the posturing about poverty. Poverty is a damn good reason not to have children. Famines and homelessness are not fixed by adding another person to your family. All you do in that situation is create another starving, homeless person. There's nothing in any of these posts by the Jeubs that actually deals with the issue of how having to divide limited reasons n+1 ways helps anything.
Well, it's dogma, don't expect answers there. It's not like the Pope has ever explained how a million more children ends a famine. (Although Jonathon Swift did . . .)
