By Rev. Mark H. Creech
February 6, 2006

(AgapePress) - I first learned of America's largest family last December, from an article in USA Today. According to the story, Vladimir and Zynaida Chernenko were celebrating the birth of their seventeenth child, David, who was born December 7, 2005.

Yes, that's right. The Chernenko's have 17 biological children and are a very happy family!

Immigrants fleeing religious persecution in the Ukraine, Vladimir and Zynaida moved their family to America six years ago. Their 24-year marriage has produced Sergey (22), Lilia (21), Andrey (19), Dmitry (18), Anatoly (17), Lyudmila (16), Anna (15), Vitaly (13), Oksana (12), Svetiana (10), Inna (9), Vyacheslav (8), Paul (6), Diana (5), Alina (4), Timothy (2), and David (8 weeks).

Interestingly, about the same time I read about the Chernenko family, I also discovered an old book on a bookshelf in an antique store, written by the late Dr. John R. Rice, an influential Christian evangelist as well as founder, former editor, and publisher of the Sword of the Lord newspaper. The book's copyright was 1946 and titled, The Home: Courtship, Marriage, and Children. I quickly purchased the volume from the antique dealer because inside its pages was a chapter about birth control that was nothing less than powerful and most pertinent to our time.

Keep in mind, however, Rice's remarks in the book were made long before birth-control devices or information were widely disseminated. Rice noted at the first of the chapter:

"The Roman Catholic Church has steadfastly insisted that the use of contraceptives and the limiting of families, or preventing conception, is a sin. Conservative Protestant leaders who believe the Bible and stand for historic Christianity have usually taken the same position. And common people everywhere have felt ... there was a great danger in the spread of information about birth control, or in the general practice of birth control."

Rice went on to say that at the writing of his book every State in the Union, except two, prohibited the general dissemination of information about birth control.

Only a nation that has now completely embraced contraception would baulk at a couple having more than two or three children, and be absolutely horrified at the thought of having 17 like the Chernenkos. Yet this is the current situation in America.

In his book, Rice rightly contended the argument for contraception largely came from anti-Christian sources. He writes:

"A radical minority, usually anti-Christian or modernists who deny the authority of the Bible, carry on an insistent propaganda for birth control. Some of them, no doubt, are sincere and hope to do away with some of the handicaps and poverty, which some large families undergo. But usually those who are outspoken advocates of birth control are either feminists, or the radical groups trying to make women more or less independent of men, or are social radicals who advocate companionate marriage, easy divorce, or free love, and the radicals who try to break down the Bible standard of permanent marriage between one man and one woman ...."

Rice then argues contraception is generally wrong because all life comes from God. He cites a pamphlet, once written by Dr. B.H. Shadduck, titled, Stopping the Stork, where Shadduck suggests facetiously that if people want to limit the size of their families, they should wait until their child is two years old and then decide whether to kill the child. "There would be very little limiting of families, you may be sure, on that basis," said Rice. "Nearly every child is its own proof that it had a right to be born. The love and joy and pride that come from a child proves that God was giving an infinite blessing when the child was given, and that it would have been a foolish sin committed against their own happiness for the father and mother to have prevented the conception of that little one which later turns out to be so precious," he notes.

The Chernenkos would certainly agree with that statement. The USA Today story reports Vladimir saying, "I sincerely believe in God, and I believe my children are a gift from God."

In fact, Rice argued that bigger families are better than smaller ones. "Every reason for one child is a reason for other children," he said. "If one child brings happiness, more children bring more happiness. All parents of large families bear testimony to this. Nearly every argument against large families is a theoretical argument. When applied to a particular case, it does not stand up. There may be some theoretical argument for not having another baby, but when the baby comes, actually God provides for the tenth one as well as the first one, and the tenth one is loved as much as the first one, and adds as much to the happiness of the home. Within the limits God has set in nature, more children, mean more provision from God, more happiness."

Furthermore, contended Rice, generally speaking "children reared one or two to a family are selfish and undisciplined." "Children out of big families have more sense of responsibility," he said. "The mother who has a half dozen children is almost compelled to have some of them dry the dishes, some of them sweep the floor, some of them look after the baby," wrote Rice.

Zynaida Chernenko says that's the way it is in her family. USA Today reports her to have said that her older children help with the cooking and cleaning, as well as child-care duties. It has to be that way. "The children share duties and responsibilities, with the older ones filling in," she said. According to 17-year-old Anatoly, "The siblings do not squabble about portion sizes, TV channels or other matters because their Dad has driven home the importance of putting aside selfishness in order to survive as a family."

Such children are obviously getting a form of character education the schools could never provide. Rice noted:

"It is not often that an only child becomes great and famous. But very frequently the men of genius and of outstanding character and usefulness come from large families. John and Charles Wesley came from a family of nineteen, born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley. Note the example of Benjamin Franklin who was fifteenth in a family of seventeen .... Children who have their own way, who never have to give up to others, do not make as good citizens, do not make as good husbands or wives, do not make as good Christians, as those who grew up in large families. Lord Byron was a genius, but a very unhappy man and certainly not a great blessing to mankind. His rearing without the blessing of a large family could not keep Lord Byron from being a genius, but certainly it did not fit him for the humanitarian worth to bless society as John Wesley and Benjamin Franklin blessed it .... Overindulgence, the sin that ruins so many children in small families, becomes more or less impossible in large families."

Lastly, Rice contended that socialistic influences in government were, in part, precipitated by a contraceptive mentality. When contraception is embraced by a culture, there is a shift from an emphasis on family to an emphasis on government. In other words, Social Security takes the place of children caring for their parents in old age, which is a biblical command (I Tim. 5:4). Government welfare programs and not the support of strong, caring family-units become the substitute for help during difficult times.

I do not mean to contend every family ought to have as many children as the Chernenkos. There are some exceptions, when non-abortifacient contraceptives or natural family planning might be warranted. It is my purpose, however, to convey how far we've fallen. The prevailing practice of contraception today, which has throughout history grown out of the most-wicked of sources, is in no way consistent with Christian history, teaching, or practice. It has resulted in a culture of death that treats children like a disease, undermined the family and our national character, and in part, helped produce the welfare state. It has caused us to consider families like the Chernenkos as something freakish, rather than something glorious!

Christians definitely need to revaluate many of their current beliefs and attitudes regarding contraception, especially in light of the need to reclaim our nation for Christ. In that spirit, I submit one final quote from Rice's book:

"Why should not those who are real Christians set out to obey the command of God in multiplying and replenishing the earth with large families? Why not rear sons and daughters who can make a multiplied impact upon the world for God? A large family, when they are reared in a Christian home and according to Bible standards, is the most important contribution any home can make to society. If Susannah Wesley had had a billion dollars to spend for the uplifting of the poor and fallen, for the support of orphan children and widows, for the endowment of halls of learning, she could not have made a contribution to the welfare of society to be compared for an instant with what she did in furnishing John and Charles Wesley to the world! The other Wesley children seemed to have been fine men and women also. But if Susannah Wesley had had only two children, they would not have been John and Charles. Without the large family and the system of training inaugurated by that godly mother for her large family, John and Charles Wesley would not have been what they became, the leaders in a great evangelical revival."

Indeed. When it comes to family, Dr. John R. Rice advocated the Christian position and the Chernenkos demonstrate it -- bigger is better.

"Be fruitful, and multiply ..." (Gen. 1:28; 9:1). "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" (Ps. 127:3-5).