Liahona article on infertility - to multiply and replenish the earth


romans8
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Regarding this March 2021 Liahona article.

"While waiting to have children, I learned that I could multiply and replenish the earth in other ways".

"During my ups and downs, I have found myself often reflecting on the commandment given to Adam and Eve. 
We believe that this commandment remains in full force today and that we are expected to follow it. 
However, my husband and I haven't yet been able to. But neither could Adam and Eve, at first. So what 
did they do? The only thing they knew how-they took care of the garden. While I don't live in the Garden 
of Eden, I do live in the garden of the earth, the garden of the Netherlands, the garden of my family, 
and the garden of my ward. These are my gardens that the Lord has asked me to multiply and replenish".

When God gave the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, did he only have procreation in mind or were
Adam and Eve being fruitful and multiplying by taking care of the plants and trees in the Garden of Eden?  
Can this commandment be applied to married couples or single people who do not or cannot have children
or who remain single?

Matteo

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1 hour ago, romans8 said:

Regarding this March 2021 Liahona article.

"While waiting to have children, I learned that I could multiply and replenish the earth in other ways".

"During my ups and downs, I have found myself often reflecting on the commandment given to Adam and Eve. 
We believe that this commandment remains in full force today and that we are expected to follow it. 
However, my husband and I haven't yet been able to. But neither could Adam and Eve, at first. So what 
did they do? The only thing they knew how-they took care of the garden. While I don't live in the Garden 
of Eden, I do live in the garden of the earth, the garden of the Netherlands, the garden of my family, 
and the garden of my ward. These are my gardens that the Lord has asked me to multiply and replenish".

When God gave the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, did he only have procreation in mind or were
Adam and Eve being fruitful and multiplying by taking care of the plants and trees in the Garden of Eden?  
Can this commandment be applied to married couples or single people who do not or cannot have children
or who remain single?

Matteo

It seems the part quoted in blue text answers your question. Having children is the highest and primary way to keep this commandment, these other ways are acceptable to the Lord by His grace given the circumstances that prevent us, and after all we can do. He will judge us, as He did Adam and Eve. The scriptures indicate that they were under no condemnation with regards to this commandment.

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This is a nice perspective. My wife's health isn't the best making it difficult to bring children into the world plus the fear of passing on these health conditions to the kid, it is disheartening. We are striving to save up for a farm were we want to grow a range of fruits, vegetables and herbs making our own little piece of Eden. We want to be able to give and help through this way at least for now.

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12 hours ago, romans8 said:

 

When God gave the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, did he only have procreation in mind or were
Adam and Eve being fruitful and multiplying by taking care of the plants and trees in the Garden of Eden?  
Can this commandment be applied to married couples or single people who do not or cannot have children
or who remain single?

Matteo

In my opinion no. I can appreciate the sentiment of the person writing the article but nothing else equates with having and raising children. Obviously, if a couple try to obey this commandment but are not able to for whatever reason the Lord will honor their desire to obey and reward them accordingly. But we should never try to substitute this commandment with anything else.

What is interesting is that the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth is really just one part in a string of commandments the Lord gave Adam and Eve in relation to their purpose on earth. But if you read it all as one long commandment then I guess you could say tending the garden is complying with the commandment in part but obeying one part does not excuse you from obeying the rest when it is within your power to do so.

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On 2/19/2022 at 8:58 AM, romans8 said:

Regarding this March 2021 Liahona article.

"While waiting to have children, I learned that I could multiply and replenish the earth in other ways".

"During my ups and downs, I have found myself often reflecting on the commandment given to Adam and Eve. 
We believe that this commandment remains in full force today and that we are expected to follow it. 
However, my husband and I haven't yet been able to. But neither could Adam and Eve, at first. So what 
did they do? The only thing they knew how-they took care of the garden. While I don't live in the Garden 
of Eden, I do live in the garden of the earth, the garden of the Netherlands, the garden of my family, 
and the garden of my ward. These are my gardens that the Lord has asked me to multiply and replenish".

When God gave the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, did he only have procreation in mind or were
Adam and Eve being fruitful and multiplying by taking care of the plants and trees in the Garden of Eden?  
Can this commandment be applied to married couples or single people who do not or cannot have children
or who remain single?

Matteo

 

That's an interesting take on the idea that I had not thought of before.  Thank you for bringing it up.

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On 2/19/2022 at 8:58 AM, romans8 said:

Regarding this March 2021 Liahona article.

"While waiting to have children, I learned that I could multiply and replenish the earth in other ways".

"During my ups and downs, I have found myself often reflecting on the commandment given to Adam and Eve. 
We believe that this commandment remains in full force today and that we are expected to follow it. 
However, my husband and I haven't yet been able to. But neither could Adam and Eve, at first. So what 
did they do? The only thing they knew how-they took care of the garden. While I don't live in the Garden 
of Eden, I do live in the garden of the earth, the garden of the Netherlands, the garden of my family, 
and the garden of my ward. These are my gardens that the Lord has asked me to multiply and replenish".

When God gave the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, did he only have procreation in mind or were
Adam and Eve being fruitful and multiplying by taking care of the plants and trees in the Garden of Eden?  
Can this commandment be applied to married couples or single people who do not or cannot have children
or who remain single?

Matteo

Obviously there are some that physically cannot reproduce.  In addition, many like myself and my spouse have passed through the time appointed to continue to have children of our own.  I believe that the commandment means that we spend such years and time by committing ourselves to supporting and building up an environment where the procreation of human life is neutered and supported.  This concept has far reaching influences in politics, economics, education, social interactions and even the  basis of sustainable civilization.  I believe you are correct - obviously there is much more to the ancient revelation than just getting women pregnant. 

 

The Traveler

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25 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Obviously there are some that physically cannot reproduce.  In addition, many like myself and my spouse have passed through the time appointed to continue to have children of our own.  I believe that the commandment means that we spend such years and time by committing ourselves to supporting and building up an environment where the procreation of human life is neutered and supported.  This concept has far reaching influences in politics, economics, education, social interactions and even the  basis of sustainable civilization.  I believe you are correct - obviously there is much more to the ancient revelation than just getting women pregnant. 

 

The Traveler

This reminds me of the idea that much of what the Lord tells Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden sounds like a marriage ceremony (some scholars believe it is a temple text), so while they physically could not reproduce while still in Eden, they were still married by the Lord, and His promises and commandments would be fulfilled in the right time and place.

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I'll be the contrarian and argue that there's a whole lot more to this commandment than having children.  The full text of the verse is

Quote

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Anecdotally, this seems to get reduced to "multiple and replenish the earth" a lot in religious circles, with the common connotation being to reproduce. I'm not sure that's a fully accurate interpretation of the scripture though. 

Considering the full phrase

Quote

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it

The it being referred to at the end is the earth. If "multiply and replenish the earth" is meant to primarily apply to having children, then "subdue" seems like an odd term to apply to our offspring. Yes, as a parent, I get the appeal of subduing my children from time to time, but by and large I don't want them to be subdued so much as I want them to be independently and willingly faithful. So I'm going to hold to my assertion that "subdue" is meant to apply to the earth, not to our children.

 

In the broader reading, this verse taken as a whole addresses a commandment from God not just to have children, but to be careful and deliberate stewards of all of His creations. That means wise management of resources. It would suggest that renewable use of resources, such as crop farming, livestock management, etc have his blessing. You can interpret this to apply wise management of waste streams and products to reduce the effects of pollution. We are commanded to subdue to the earth and its resources in a way that we can harness its abundance to support our population. Some might even interpret this to justify moving away from fossil fuel use, or plastics, or what have you. While any of us agree or disagree with such interpretations doesn't necessarily make them wrong, nor do the scriptures justify claiming them as scripturally mandated. The limit of what we can say, in my opinion, is that God expects us to take good care of what he gave us, and to teach whatever children we have to do the same thing.

 

So no, the commandment is not solely about having children.  Do these commandments apply to the unmarried, or those that are unable to have children? Yes.  They are under the same obligations as the rest of us. And if their circumstances are such that they are unable to complete the part of the commandment that involves bearing children, I assume the Lord will either give them a pass, or judge them according to the desires of their heart (I'm not going to stress myself about it either way). 

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1 hour ago, MarginOfError said:

I'll be the contrarian and argue that there's a whole lot more to this commandment than having children.  The full text of the verse is

Anecdotally, this seems to get reduced to "multiple and replenish the earth" a lot in religious circles, with the common connotation being to reproduce. I'm not sure that's a fully accurate interpretation of the scripture though. 

Considering the full phrase

The it being referred to at the end is the earth. If "multiply and replenish the earth" is meant to primarily apply to having children, then "subdue" seems like an odd term to apply to our offspring. Yes, as a parent, I get the appeal of subduing my children from time to time, but by and large I don't want them to be subdued so much as I want them to be independently and willingly faithful. So I'm going to hold to my assertion that "subdue" is meant to apply to the earth, not to our children.

 

In the broader reading, this verse taken as a whole addresses a commandment from God not just to have children, but to be careful and deliberate stewards of all of His creations. That means wise management of resources. It would suggest that renewable use of resources, such as crop farming, livestock management, etc have his blessing. You can interpret this to apply wise management of waste streams and products to reduce the effects of pollution. We are commanded to subdue to the earth and its resources in a way that we can harness its abundance to support our population. Some might even interpret this to justify moving away from fossil fuel use, or plastics, or what have you. While any of us agree or disagree with such interpretations doesn't necessarily make them wrong, nor do the scriptures justify claiming them as scripturally mandated. The limit of what we can say, in my opinion, is that God expects us to take good care of what he gave us, and to teach whatever children we have to do the same thing.

 

So no, the commandment is not solely about having children.  Do these commandments apply to the unmarried, or those that are unable to have children? Yes.  They are under the same obligations as the rest of us. And if their circumstances are such that they are unable to complete the part of the commandment that involves bearing children, I assume the Lord will either give them a pass, or judge them according to the desires of their heart (I'm not going to stress myself about it either way). 

I love this, but I’d offer one caveat:

For Latter-day Saints who are married, this commandment is repeated to them at a sacred time and in such a way that it is crystal-clear that it is referring to child-rearing.  I don’t say this to suggest that your exegesis on Genesis is wrong; but merely to restate that in the divine plan child-rearing *is* important.

That said:  we often look at exaltation as a sort of carrot God that offers us as a reward for our being (at least, willing to be) parents.  I think that’s perhaps backwards.  Exaltation isn’t the reward for parenthood.  Exaltation is parenthood.

If due to circumstances, I can’t find a spouse/become a parent in this life—okay.  But (speaking anecdotally) we seem to be seeing increasing numbers of nominal Mormons who aspire to exaltation while expressing a permanent distaste for parenthood; and I think perhaps as a church we could do a better job of reinforcing that the link between parenthood and exaltation is not arbitrary.  It’s inherent to that whole state of being.  

Edited by Just_A_Guy
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3 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I love this, but I’d offer one caveat:

For Latter-day Saints who are married, this commandment is repeated to them at a sacred time and in such a way that it is crystal-clear that it is referring to child-rearing.  I don’t say this to suggest that your exegesis on Genesis is wrong; but merely to restate that in the divine plan child-rearing *is* important.

That said:  we often look at exaltation as a sort of carrot God that offers us as a reward for our being (at least, willing to be) parents.  I think that’s perhaps backwards.  Exaltation isn’t the reward for parenthood.  Exaltation is parenthood.  

I wanted to get a good balance of "child-rearing is commanded, just not the only thing" but I guess I missed it.  Thank you for adding the missing emphasis. 

Quote

Exaltation is parenthood.  

Never has anyone made exaltation sound so unappealing :D

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So I'll make the announcement with you guys: Despite multiple forms of birth control, my husband apparently looked at me the wrong (right?) way.

Husband's view: we need kids being raised in good and loving homes.

My midwife's view: Oh, we have so many little spirits so desperate to come to this earth (She works for a very professional organization and has professional degrees and doesn't seem woo at first glance...)

I believe that not everyone will be parents on this earthly plane of existence at this time. It doesn't keep me up at night. 

But I suppose I generally take the view that part of multiplying and replenishing the earth is something akin to doing what we can to have children in gospel-centered homes (not even necessarily our specific church, but, yeah, good Christ-like homes). I think it's part of spreading the gospel. 

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6 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Exaltation isn’t the reward for parenthood.  Exaltation is parenthood.

Amen. It's amazing how many outside the Church and positively shocking how many inside the Church utterly fail to understand this. If we are sealed to our spouse, we are living our eternal marriage (and by extension, our eternal life) right now. If our children have been born within our marital covenant, or equivalently have been sealed to us parents, then that part of the eternal plan is already in effect.

Exaltation is not merely some wonderful state to be achieved or granted us in a distant future time after our death. For many Saints, in a very literal sense, many of the blessings of exaltation are literally available to us right now. If we don't always see them as blessings, then that's a demonstration of our own ignorance and immaturity.

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2 hours ago, Vort said:

Amen. It's amazing how many outside the Church and positively shocking how many inside the Church utterly fail to understand this. If we are sealed to our spouse, we are living our eternal marriage (and by extension, our eternal life) right now. If our children have been born within our marital covenant, or equivalently have been sealed to us parents, then that part of the eternal plan is already in effect.

Exaltation is not merely some wonderful state to be achieved or granted us in a distant future time after our death. For many Saints, in a very literal sense, many of the blessings of exaltation are literally available to us right now. If we don't always see them as blessings, then that's a demonstration of our own ignorance and immaturity.

Being sealed to my wife, and then our children, was an incredible event.  In a way, I'm glad my kids were older and could experience it.

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