The fundies are showing a movie for free

[Burris]

Here's a special "treat."

The creators of a video essay called, "Children are a Blessing" have allowed free viewing through April at the Moore Family Films website.

You can access it through the current top post at raisinghomemakers.com. Just scroll to the bottom or you may end up at a conveniently imbedded PayPel link instead.

I can stomach e-books, but I can't stand the heavy-handed "documentaries" these people create, so I'm happy to just throw this link out there for those with enough popcorn and booze to survive the film.

[BelieveinScience]

I'll watch it if no one else wants too. I'm not sure my summary skills are as good as yours though, Burris.

[BelieveinScience]

Okay I watched it-

The introduction consisted of a lot of voiceovers and the mom dancing around in a field with a little girl.

Some of the things discussed in the intro were this- That the average number fo children in the 1800s was 7 and now its dropped to just below the replacement rate of 2.1 children.

- 50 percent of women have had abortions (1/4 in children are aborted) and the mom says she has had an abortion

-In today's society parents were told children were an inconvenience, and told women to have careers instead of following the truth of God

-Say some quotes from Maragaret Sanger like "The most immoral practice of today is bringing in too many children" and "The most merciful thing a family can do for its youngeest family member is kill it"

-Then has a voice over of alittle kid talking about the anniversary of the BC pill and spouting off facts like Planned parenthood is the largest abortion clinic and BC pills chemically kill 8-12 million babies a year in the United states

Then the actual documentary starts abotu Shane Moore and how they didn't really want more than 2 kids but then God worked on their heart. One of the little girls says how greatful she is that other people see the new baby that they are having as something to celebrate

-Mom says "Children are gifts from the lord, thankful for every single one that the lord gives us. I can sympathize when moms say it “its too much†but I know the lord says children are blessings"

-Then dad says "it’s a beautiful thing when you have a wife willing to receive the blessings of god and endure"

-Mom then goes into labor and shows shots of this (Anna duggar anyone?) while the children are praying for the birth to be okay

-They have the children figure out the gender of the baby by having them take of it's diaper

-Dad says the greatest thing he can do for his kids is give them another baby

- Mom talks about how when god gives them children he doesn't give them children they can't afford because HE is their provider

-Then shot of the baby and the dad says that the bible says that "Sons are a heritage from the lord"

Things I noticed all the kids have names starting with the letter D including a kid named Delight and Dandle

They had shots of the boys sweeping

I thought it was classless they had a little kid voicing over about the birth control pill.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Sound is busted on my computer so I'm not going to watch, but...

- 50 percent of women have had abortions (1/4 in children are aborted) and the mom says she has had an abortion

That seems a bit high to me. I thought it was about 33% last time I checked Guttmacher.

The quiverful crud at the end irks me, the make it sound like not bothering to conceive more than 2 children is just as bad as aborting them.

Also, these people ought to read a real history book and realize that of those 7 children per women, many did not survive to adulthood.

[debrand]

Mom talks about how when god gives them children he doesn't give them children they can't afford because HE is their provider

Statements like this lead me to believe that ego is at the root of a lot of quiverful beliefs. Christians have starved to death just like everyone else. Granted, she luckily leaves in a country where it is less likely that her kids will die of starvation but that has nothing to do with her faith. Perhaps she considers her faith superior to past Christian mothers who have watched their kids die from malnutrition and disease. Or she thinks that god loves modern American Christians more then other CHristians.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I know what you mean about ebooks versus films. At least with the books, I can take breaks and escape. With the films, I start feeling trapped. On the other hand, so many of the fundie movies have this repetitive quality that almost calls for drinking games.

[ilovetchotchkes]

People had 7 kids because 1/2 of them DIED before they reached adulthood. My great great grandmother was 1 of 6 and it was extraordinary that ALL OF THEM lived to adult hood!!!!!

[Deleted03]

People had 7 kids because 1/2 of them DIED before they reached adulthood. My great great grandmother was 1 of 6 and it was extraordinary that ALL OF THEM lived to adult hood!!!!!

Yes and they only had 7 because of untreated conditions and the number of women who died in childbirth and such...

You can have lots of kids, there is no restriction, but at least don't say idiocies....

[Bethella]

According to this movie

That the average number fo children in the 1800s was 7

and now

50 percent of women have had abortions (1/4 in children are aborted)

I have a college textbook* that references a study from Michigan in the 1880s which estimated that 1/3 of pregnancies in the State ended in abortion. So there were a lot more abortions being done then simply because of the higher number of pregnancies due to the lack of birth control. Don't you just love how they can manipulate information to their own ends?

*Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, 1840-1875 by Larry Lankton

[Minerva]

Ugh. Children are a blessing. That doesn't mean everyone needs to have them, let alone a ton of them. I can acknowledge that something is a blessing without wanting more/any of my own.

[lilwriter85]

Ugh. Children are a blessing. That doesn't mean everyone needs to have them, let alone a ton of them. I can acknowledge that something is a blessing without wanting more/any of my own.

This.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Ugh. Children are a blessing. That doesn't mean everyone needs to have them, let alone a ton of them. I can acknowledge that something is a blessing without wanting more/any of my own.

I think it's like cats or dogs. One or two are great. Three or four is pushing it. Beyond that... it borders on obsessiveness and gets hard to provide a good quality of life for all of them.

(Apologies to FJers who may responsibly own more than 3 or 4 pets. :lol: )

[BelieveinScience]

People had 7 kids because 1/2 of them DIED before they reached adulthood. My great great grandmother was 1 of 6 and it was extraordinary that ALL OF THEM lived to adult hood!!!!!

My grandfather was like one of 10 and only 3 of them made it to adult hood.

[BelieveinScience]

So question since I see some of you all are religious history/history buffs. In the late 1800s early 1900s was it typical if a woman died during childbirth to have the blame put on the child? My great grandmother died shortly after childbirth and my grandmother grew up being told it was her fault her mom died.

[Bookworm89]

my step mom is one of 6, her mom was one of 9. In her family they have all been lucky enough to live to adulthood and reproduce. Though my step mom's generation limited how many kids they had, most only had one or two, but one had 5 because they were trying for number 3 and had triplets.

My sister (daughter of my stepmom but we dropped the step when discussing each other, not with her mom though...confusing) is the fundy one and has 3 but wants more. She thinks unless you have as many kids as god wants to bless you with you aren't truly a christian since your not following gods way.

I like kids, even think they are blessing but if I have kids in the future it will be no more then 3 for my sanity sake. If I need to say god closed my womb *cough cough have something surgical done* so that I can continue having a relationship with my nephews and niece I will.

This movie really just highlights that fundys teach from the scripture and not much else. Yes those children can quote people and scripture, so can my nephews, but does not mean they are in context and true. It bugs me that a generation is growing up so ignorant and are going to have a rough transition to real life if they move away from family in their 20's or later for some.

[ladypuglover]

My father's father was the oldest of 3 boys. The baby died at age 2 of an illness easily treated today. My great uncle died in WWII before he had children. In the same war my grandfather came very close to dieing when he drove off a cliff and was 1 of only 2 surviviors out of 36 men. My great grandmother came very close to never having the line continue.

My father's mother was the oldest of 3 girls and all 3 lived to adulthood and each had at least 1 child. I think it was the youngest who lost her only child when he was in college.

My mother's father was #5-7 out of 23 children. Most died in infancy or early childhood. Some made it to adulthood but died in early adulthood with only 6-7 living long enough to have children themselves.

My mother's mother was the oldest of 5 girls and the baby of the family died from gangrene at the age of 10-12. Today she would never of had such an infection. I don't know how many of the other sisters had children but I do know at least one never had children by choice and lived to be a rip old age before her nephew murdered her.

We didn't know my mother's side of the family very well as my grandfather blamed his parents for destroying his first marriage and my grandmother's side were selfish, cruel and enjoyed being abusive to my mother and her children.

I was told by my father's parents that out of all the grandchildren that I was best equipt to be a mother to large brood but keep the brood # under 6 as there was no reason to have more than 3-4 in today's world other than the joy of having children.

[huntergirl]

I don't think I could watch it but I may get my husband to peep it (he's not doing anything at work) and report - and snark - back for me. :)

My dad's side of the family is large, but only because they were farmers, and farming families needed a lot of hands to work the fields. Out of my grandfather's 11 children, 9 made it to adulthood - and pretty ripe old age, too. One died at 2 of whooping cough and another died after a couple of days, most likely from a trisomy/chromosomal disorder (this was in 1940, so there are no records or testing or anything like that, and my grandmother was in her 40s by then). He was married twice, lost his first wife in the flu epidemic of 1918 and didn't marry my grandmother for a few years after that, so he missed out on a few more potential farm hands during that time, probably :P

My dad loves his brothers and sisters, they always got along well, but he thinks having that many children in this day and age is insane. I'm an only child and whenever I mention possibly having another kid (I have 2), he basically tells me I'd be crazy to have more.