Psalm 127:5 in the ESV and "What He Must Be..."

I've been reading "What He Must Be... If He Wants to Marry My Daughter" by Voddie Baucham, and really enjoying this title. So much of this instruction is directly relevant to my own situation of not only preparing and direction my own children spiritually for their future spouses, but also in terms of cultivating an understanding of what to be looking for in future sutors.  I will likely have more to post about this book later.

We attended Voddie's church in Houston a couple years ago, and other than a few minor doctrinal issues I think he's a fantastic teacher, and what he covers in this book will definitely be considered controversial by many, both in and out of the church.  Not many people like to hear someone defend and encourage the principle that a potential son-in-law, other than just being an upright individual with a genuine Christian faith, must also be a man who loves and craves having children.  In a day and age where some evangelicals like to dismiss the creation mandate, I love reading from the occasional pastor who defends (and encourages) believers to have large families.

Especially interesting to me was Voddie's elaboration on Psalm 127:5 (the "quiver" passage) from the ESV.  As he states in the book (pg. 123-124) there are many translations of the Bible that render this passage, speaking of the blessing of children, as "blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them".  But the ESV picks up a missed nuance, "Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!"  Voddie points out the crucial distinction: "this rendering paints the picture of a man who desires children, who seeks children.  What a scathing rebuke to those in our culture who do not value children."

The Next Story - Tim Challies - Genesis 1:28 and Sloppy Exegesis

What follows is my brief review of Tim Challies "The Next Story"
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Tim Challies isn't offering anything ground-breaking here: the basic requisition I took was that as a Christian should use discernment with the world of rapidly-changing technology.  Sure. 
But some better exegesis of Genesis in the first chapter would have made a much better lasting impression. In the first chapter, Tim Challies speaks about the creation mandate from Genesis 1 and refers to this as "...man WAS supposed to be fruitful and multiply." "Was"? Maybe I missed the part in Scripture where this divine injunction was rescinded. He then goes on to make the somewhat ridiculous statement that this mandate has less to do with having children and more to do with "developing the social world by building families, churches, cities, etc." The creation mandate is, at its core, about FILLING the earth, not just Challie's notions about utilizing technology for practical purposes and promoting human flourishing.  That sort of chucked me off early into the reading.

I think there's a bigger issue at state here, overlooked by Challies, and that's that evangelicals today have bought into the secular ideas of being "responsible", limiting their children to 2-3, so that more personal time and resources can be devoted to the latest Sheepware that the Apple store rolls out, so that then technology becomes THE big issue to be concerned about.  But far more important than irrelevant shifting technological patterns would be shifting DEMOGRAPHIC patterns. The Muslims of Europe understand this and are continuing to produce sizable families... are Evangelicals even aware of this or are they too caught up in updating their Facebook profile or being concerned about the irrelevent use and misuse of technology, all of which would be rendered completely useless if and when the power is ever knocked out.