Why Some Remain Childless

Many Christian couples, on the other hand, do not have children.  Some are infertile and yet do not adopt children. Other couples who have the ability to produce  offspring decide not to do so.  Such couples do  no remain childless because they shirk responsibility or are afraid to meet the challenges of parenthood.  Rather, they have determined to give their full attention to different avenues of the full-time ministry that the rearing of children would not allow.  Some serve as missionaries. Others serve Jehovah in the traveling work or at Bethel.

Like all Christians, they realize that there is an urgent work to do. Jesus said:  "This good news of the kingdom will be  preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." This work is being done today. It is a vital work, since "the end" will mean destruction for those who have not heeded the good news. -Matthew 24:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8. 

Ours is a period similar to the time when Noah and his family constructed the gigantic ark that preserved them through the great Flood.  (Genesis 6:13-16;  Matthew 24:37) Although Noah's three sons were all married, none fathered children until after the Deluge. One reason for that may have been that these couples wanted to devote their full attention and energy to the work at hand. Another may have been reluctance to bring children into a debased and violent world where "the badness of man was abundant . . .and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time." -Genesis 6:5. 

While this does not imply that it is wrong to have children today, many Christian couples decline to have children so as to become  more fully involved in the urgent work that Jehovah has  given his people to do. Some couples have waited for a long time before having children;  others have decided  to remain childless and consider the possibility of bearing children in Jehovah's righteous new world. Is this shortsighted? Are they missing out on life? Are they to be pitied? 

Next time: Secure and Joyful Lives

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000