People Hate Me

I was very excited to get my first two negative comments yesterday on my Multiply and Replenish the Earth Post. At first I was a little disturbed that I had possibly created some enemies because I don't like when people don't like me. However, after some pondering, I realized that the Anonymous commenters probably just don't understand the larger picture. They told me I was selfish and implied that my having a lot of children was a disgrace because trees are being chopped down to make apartments and that I wasn't thinking of my kid's future when they will have to wear UV suits in a world without trees. Therefore, I am posting my response to their comments in a post of it's own to better explain myself and because they will most likely never read my comment since they hate me. So here it is:

Wow! 2 negative comments. I love it!

First let me say, I apologize if I mistakenly implied that I thought that the less kids you have, the less that you love them. Most parents love their kids very much no matter whether they have 2 or a dozen. Secondly, just to ease your mind, you are not paying for our family's welfare. My husband earns a salary that allows us to provide all the necessities and some luxuries to our offspring. We would not choose to procreate so abundantly if we couldn't provide for them. Thirdly, I agree that civilization throughout history has made some poor decisions that have harmed the Earth, but our hindsight is what makes it easy to realize that they were poor decisions. I think many trees are unnecessarily being cut down, not because of the large families on the Earth, but because of the greed of those who will profit from such projects. Plus, a large family is not likely to live in an apartment anyway.

Although I promote large families because of the joy it brings to our lives, I don't judge couples for how many children they have. It is a decision between them and the Lord according to the wife's physical and mental health and the husband's ability to provide for them both physically and spiritually. I do believe married couples are commanded to have children and just like any other commandment, we should strive to obey it. I realize that people choose not to have children. I am sad for them, but was astonished to learn that people were willing to go as far as to pay money to have major surgery in order to prevent the 1% chance that they might accidentally conceive through normal methods of birth control all in order to "save the planet." I very much believe in saving the earth to the best of our abilities. Having a large family makes you very aware of the consumption that goes on this world. Recycling, conserving water, setting our thermostat at a respectable temperature, growing a garden are some of the things that we do on our part in preserving the Earth. I'm sure there are more things we could do, but we are learning as the "going green" campaign continues to proliferate. I must say, it delights me that the cost of fuel is rising in hopes that it will help to encourage development of mainstream cleaner alternative fuel options.

We live in an imperfect world. It will not be perfected again until the Second Coming of Christ which I believe could very well happen in our lifetime or the lifetime of our children. Until then, we can do our best to keep the Earth healthy and beautiful. I believe obsession to the point of preventing procreation is a tool the adversary uses to destroy families. I think it pleases him to know he has prevented one less spirit from obtaining a physical body. I don't think large families who are responsible are the cause of environmental destruction. I can assure you that our loving God took population growth and possibly our stupid environmental mistakes into consideration when he created the Earth.

I think if you get to know me you would realize that I'm not all that selfish. I did go on kind of a rant that day and might have portrayed myself in a dimmer light than I should have. I think choosing to be a mother is one of the most unselfish things a woman can do regardless how many children she has. A woman sacrifices her body, her time, some of her dreams and wishes, and sometimes her sanity. You say I'm not thinking of my children's futures, but I very much am thinking of my children's future! Our mortal life on this Earth is but a tiny portion of our eternal existence. One of the purposes of Earthly life is to establish families so that we can live together with them forever in eternity end experience true joy. Therefore my husband and I are taking this opportunity in mortality to raise as many children we see fit. We are teaching them to love and serve as Jesus Christ did and how to be good citizens that will become productive members of society that will contribute to making this Earth a better place. We are doing everything in our power to ensure we and our children do just that and live good lives so that we can all return to live with our Heavenly Father again for eternity because that is our future. Please don't mistake that for me not wanting to save the planet. I just have my eye on a much grander goal. Perhaps my decendents will suffer more than we have to because of inevitable environmental destruction, but all the more joy for them when they achieve eternal life in a perfect world.

I invite you to take a look at http://www.mormon.org/ so that you might gain an understanding of my beliefs. I also invite you to read the "Proclamation to the Family" that I linked to in my post. It proclaims the sanctity of the Family. Good stuff!

I also invite you to check out my blog some more and you might actually come to like my family. If not, you can let me know which four kids I should get rid of. :) Thanks for the comments!