How can we tackle the generational shift where older generations (boomers and beyond) often express discouragement towards larger families while simultaneously advocating for the sanctity of life? The mixed messages can be confusing: on one hand, there’s a strong pro-life stance, but on the other, comments like “I think that’s enough” or “I feel sorry for you” can undermine that commitment. How might a Christian worldview guide us in addressing this inconsistency, encouraging a culture that truly values and supports families of all sizes without sending contradictory signals?
That's an interesting question, I wonder if that attitude is a strange hybrid of a scarcity mindset mashed together with the free love '60s? A lot of people don't have time/space/encouragement to sit and examine what they have absorbed unquestioned from the culture and whether it lines up with the Word. We all think our thoughts are our own. So maybe just a "why do you think that?" is enough of a pebble in the shoe, to start a change?
I was thinking that the older living generations have waning influence these days, but I guess their grandchildren are now of family-forming age. It seems a lot of the boomers did not pass down the values they thought they were passing down; Xer's and younger have followed what they saw, not what they heard. I've also heard complaints that the boomers have never really passed the baton to the younger generations, so it might be a case of gentle pushback.
I think, like a lot of these issues, you gotta just be faithful as far as it depends on you, walking the walk, but also knowing why you do what you do. It may be a slow avalanche that starts in several different points and converges into a cultural shift we see in decades to come, Deo volente.
How can we tackle the generational shift where older generations (boomers and beyond) often express discouragement towards larger families while simultaneously advocating for the sanctity of life? The mixed messages can be confusing: on one hand, there’s a strong pro-life stance, but on the other, comments like “I think that’s enough” or “I feel sorry for you” can undermine that commitment. How might a Christian worldview guide us in addressing this inconsistency, encouraging a culture that truly values and supports families of all sizes without sending contradictory signals?
That's an interesting question, I wonder if that attitude is a strange hybrid of a scarcity mindset mashed together with the free love '60s? A lot of people don't have time/space/encouragement to sit and examine what they have absorbed unquestioned from the culture and whether it lines up with the Word. We all think our thoughts are our own. So maybe just a "why do you think that?" is enough of a pebble in the shoe, to start a change?
I was thinking that the older living generations have waning influence these days, but I guess their grandchildren are now of family-forming age. It seems a lot of the boomers did not pass down the values they thought they were passing down; Xer's and younger have followed what they saw, not what they heard. I've also heard complaints that the boomers have never really passed the baton to the younger generations, so it might be a case of gentle pushback.
I think, like a lot of these issues, you gotta just be faithful as far as it depends on you, walking the walk, but also knowing why you do what you do. It may be a slow avalanche that starts in several different points and converges into a cultural shift we see in decades to come, Deo volente.