As shepherds in our local church, my husband and I are often struck by the ever-growing fear among singles and married couples to have children due to the exponential decay seen in the world around us. From dangerous gender ideologies, to the grip of social media, to the violent attack on the sanctity of life––let’s face it, it will not be easy raising children in the twenty-first century.
However, as a biblical scholar, I am always reminded of the analogous (and often worse) evils that prevailed in biblical times: realities we often glance over because we believe we live in the pinnacle of perversion. The truth is that society has not been getting progressively worse over recent millennia: cultural, religious, and moral perversity has been appearing and reappearing in cyclical fashion. This is well demonstrated in the book of Judges, where we read of periods of peace and morality brought about by the devotion to Yahweh. Then, while the body of the leading judge is not even cold yet, perversion sets in again.
This pattern is not unique. Nor are the evils of our day. Take, for example, the atrocious attack on human life, which is an apt display of humanity’s self-centeredness and hostility to anything that threatens it. However, let us not forget the mass murder of all male Hebrew infants in Exodus 1 or the sacrifice of children to Molech (see, e.g., Jer 32:35). It was also custom for Greco-Roman men to discard unwanted infants, usually because they was sick, deformed, or female. Such babies were “exposed,” a practice where infants were left outside to either succumb to the elements, be devoured by animals, or picked up by slave traders (see Cohick 2009, 84). Flashbacks of immoral sexual practices also abound in Scripture and extra-biblical literature. From priests sleeping with women inside the temple (1 Sam 2:22), to married Roman men sleeping with, well, whomever they desired at that moment (men, boys, other women), to first-century men and women sharing public baths, where sexual activity was not uncommon (see Cohick 2009, 145).
So, what am I trying to say here? That we should desensitize ourselves against the evil practices prevailing in our fallen world? Certainly not! Creation is groaning, not yawning, and evil is always an abomination to God. However, my encouragement to parents and prospective parents is this: Amid all the atrocities, God has always purified a people for himself. While all the Hebrew boys were drowned in the Nile, little Moses was carried about by a miniature ark, saved from death, and raised up to lead God’s people out of captivity. While Eli’s sons were indulging in gluttony and sexual sin in the temple, God sent little Samuel to be raised in that very space and become the ethical backbone for Israel. Amid the decaying Ephesus of the first century, God raises up Timothy through the Scripture-filled teachings of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Tim 1:5), places him under the discipleship of Paul, and chooses him to steer away the Ephesian church from false doctrine and other sins (see 1 and 2 Tim).
There is a comfort in knowing that we are not living in the most evil of times. This comfort lies in the faithful Father who has led his people through harsher, more vile times than we might ever see in our lifetime, and who has empowered physical and spiritual parents to steer young ones through such epochs of evil and root them in a love and devotion for God.
And that is truly comforting.
Works Cited
Cohick, Lynn. 2009. Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life. Grand Rapids: Baker.
Dr Cornelia van Deventer obtained her PhD in New Testament from Stellenbosch University in 2018. She serves as the Coordinator of Faculty Research and Publishing at the South African Theological Seminary and the Editor of Conspectus (see here). Her research interests lie in the Gospel of John and its impact on the daily lives of its readers and hearers. Cornelia lives in Worcester with her husband, Johann, and two sons, Ezra and Amo. They also have a late son, Ilan. Cornelia serves alongside her husband, who leads Joshua Generation Church in Worcester.
