Children in marriage
Topics[edit]
Desirability for those without children of adopting education responsibilities of a child[edit]
"Those without children should, if possible, make themselves responsible for the education of a child."
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá in London, p. 91)
Home without children like one without a light[edit]
"Mrs Maxwell said to Him, `At the time that I visited `Akká I despaired of ever having the blessing of children. Praise be to God! My supplications and your prayers at the Holy Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh were accepted and I was blessed with a dear baby.' Bestowing His grace and kindness upon her and the child, the Master said, `Children are the ornaments of the home. A home which has no children is like one without light.'"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Mahmúd's Diary, September 6, 1912)
Can truly have a family life only when there is a child (and through the child the bonds of love and service can be truly maintained between wife and husband)[edit]
"The new child which will soon be given to you by God is, indeed, a divine blessing, of which you should feel proud, and of the manifold responsibilities and obligations which it necessarily entails you should become fully aware. It is now that you can truly say that you have a family life. Without a child there can be no family, and through him the bonds of love and of service can be truly and strongly maintained between the wife and husband."
- (On behalf of the Guardian, 4 November 1933, at https://bahai-library.com/compilation_naming_babies )
Couple incapable of having children may still marry since procreation is not the only purpose of marriage[edit]
"They should realize, moreover, that the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation of children. A couple who are physically incapable of having children may, of course, marry, since the procreation of children is not the only purpose of marriage. However, it would be contrary to the spirit of the Teachings for a couple to decide voluntarily never to have any children.""
- (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, November 3, 1982; in Lights of Guidance, no. 1269)
Couples being unable to have children does not vitiate the other bounties of marriage[edit]
"Some couples are unable to have children, and that, in itself, is an affliction, but this fact does not vitiate all the other bounties of the marital relationship."
- (Universal House of Justice, 16 March 1992, at https://bahai-library.com/compilation_homosexuality_bwc#17 )
Prophets of decadence who (among other things) do not regard procreation of children as sacred and primary purpose of marriage would, if given free rein, lead the human race back to barbarism, chaos, and ultimate extinction[edit]
"The recrudescence of religious intolerance, of racial animosity, and of patriotic arrogance; the increasing evidences of selfishness, of suspicion, of fear and of fraud; the spread of terrorism, of lawlessness, of drunkenness and of crime; the unquenchable thirst for, and the feverish pursuit after, earthly vanities, riches and pleasures; the weakening of family solidarity; the laxity in parental control; the lapse into luxurious indulgence; the irresponsible attitude towards marriage and the consequent rising tide of divorce; the degeneracy of art and music, the infection of literature, and the corruption of the press; the extension of the influence and activities of those "prophets of decadence" who advocate companionate marriage, who preach the philosophy of nudism, who call modesty an intellectual fiction, who refuse to regard the procreation of children as the sacred and primary purpose of marriage, who denounce religion as an opiate of the people, who would, if given free rein, lead back the human race to barbarism, chaos, and ultimate extinction--these appear as the outstanding characteristics of a decadent society, a society that must either be reborn or perish."
- (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 187-188)
