We all know how life is supposed to go:

· You reach sexual maturity at 12ish.
· You spend time as a teen and young adult hanging out with (dating) the opposite sex so you can “explore” and “learn who you are.”
· You go to college and get a degree then begin a career.
· At some point in your mid to late twenties you find someone to live with for a couple of years, being careful to use your pill every day (This is a good 12 years after sexual maturation by the way).
· Then you get married. Heaven forbid a little brat invades on your freedom so you keep taking your friend pill.
· You buy a new home and two new cars, vacation in Hawaii, and stock your wardrobe…so…
· At some point in your late twenties or early thirties you hear that clock ticking and decide to get pregnant.
· You obediently go to every OB appointment and have every test possible.
· When you get within a week of your expiration- ummm I mean “estimated due”- date, your OB will schedule your birth.
· You show up, get you pitocin to start labor and your pain killer so you can’t feel it.
· After your little one is born he is immediately weighed, measured, given a vitamin K shot, antibiotics In the eyes, a rhogam shot if you have a negative blood type, a few tests including a blood test for genetic abnormalities, and a hepatitis vaccination.
· Eventually you are allowed to hold your baby. You nurse him for the recommended time then finish it up with a bottle of water as instructed.
· Eventually you go home and spend an entire six weeks bonding with little one and healing from the birth. You put junior on formula because your milk fails and it is more convenient.
· Then he goes into a “very good” daycare (you ever hear a parent say theirs was a bad one?) and both parents go back to their careers.
· You are sure to get your child poked with sharp objects and poisonous chemicals by strangers (vaccinated) on the official schedule.
· You go to church (when you don’t have anything better to do) where they have an awesome children’s program. You aren’t quite sure what that is since you never go back there, but they are always saying how awesome it is, so it must be.
· At some point the child transitions from daycare to a school, but otherwise his life stays pretty much the same.
· Your children (all 1.8 of them) spend most of their time at their assigned institution and with friends. Isn’t it nice they are so popular?
· You get fixed so you can’t have any accidents.
· You spend your evenings vegging in front of the TV and your weekends in the theater watching Hollywood’s latest.
· When your child hits his teens, you set rules for dates and such. Of course he resents you intrusion into his life (after all you haven’t told him where to be or who with up until now. Why change?) but it is for his own good and you suffer through those awful teen years.
· At 18 he moves out to attend college just like you did. Now you are no more than a piggy bank. Whew! Glad that parenting stuff is over!
· When you reach 65 you have a big party, retire, and travel around the US in a motor home with a bumper sticker that says “We Are Spending Our Children’s Inheritance.”
· When we can no longer do this, we move into a retirement community, then a rest home, then a cemetery.

(There are some complications however;
· Delaying onset of sexual activity until the late 20’s is frustrating. Few have the strength to wait 15-20 YEARS for sexual release.
· If you wait until your late 20’s or 30’s to marry, the good ones may have all been taken.
· Living together increases your risk of divorce.
· The pill causes heart disease, cancer, and ABORTION. Look at your package insert. In fact, every method of birth control has side effects. For example, couples who use the condom have a 60% higher risk of preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition in pregnancy.
· Those that use birth control are at greater risk for divorce.
· The later you wait to get pregnant, the less likely you will get pregnant.
· Prenatal testing doesn’t cure any birth defect. They can only –inaccurately- predict the likelihood of a defect. They do increase anxiety and pressure to abort.
· Markers to tell how far along a pregnancy is, are inaccurate. There has been a marked increase in prematurity since doctors have gone so nuts with sonograms and induction.
· Pitocin and pain killers start a domino effect of interventions ending in c-section 30% of the time. C-section is major surgery and carries all the potential complications to both mommy and baby, including cuts on the baby and perforated bowels, bladders and uterus on mommy from the scalpel.
· All medicines have side effects and travel through the mother’s blood to the baby. No medicine has been declared safe for labor.
· Blood tests hurt and don’t change anything.
· Formula babies are sicker and stupider than breastfed. Oh, wait. That isn’t politically correct. I am supposed to say “breastfed babies have fewer illnesses and score higher on vocabulary and intelligent tests.”
· Daycare increases the child’s risk of mental illness, learning disorders, serious illness, behavior problems, anger, divorce, alcohol abuse, pre-marital sex and violence.
· Again, all medicines, even vaccinations, carry risks of side effects, sometimes fatal.
· 85% of Christian kids that go to public school back slide as soon as they are adults (and private schools are generally not much better).
· Public schools produce the lowest academic scores of the three main choices and cost an arm and a leg to pay for (think fashionable clothes and various fees and fundraisers).
· Tubal litigation causes hysterectomies which cause heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, immune problems. Vasectomies cause performance problems, cancer, immune disorders, kidney failure, etc.
· TV destroys brain cells, uses up time we are accountable to God for, and brain washes us into Hollywood’s ideology. We know it works because Madison Avenue pays millions of dollars per year to do just that through commercials.
· Rebellion is a sin even in a teen.
· True retirement causes depression and a feeling of uselessness.
It seems life doesn’t always go like it is supposed to.)

Tell me; is this a Christian life or a sinner life? What! Can’t you tell? Neither can I. Can you find any of this in the Bible? I can’t.

Christians have the same divorce rate as the world, the same birth rate, the same teen pregnancy rate, the same working mom rate, the same rate of depression, heart disease, cancer, etc. You really can’t tell the difference. Why in the world should any sinner commit to wasting his Sunday’s? We are no different than he is.

After studying the Bible and God’s creation, I believe God’s perfect Will would look more like this:
· You reach sexual maturity at 12ish.
· You spend time as a teen serving God and developing those skills you will need as an adult (homemaking skills, child rearing, job skills, money management, etc. as well as a thorough knowledge of the Bible. You realize life isn’t about you and your happiness, but about God’s plan for the world and how you fit into it.)
· You find a wonderful, God fearing mate and marry while in your late teens or very early twenties (only a very few years after sexual maturity. This removes the temptation to sin through adultery). Since you have never been alone, your adjustment to married life is much easier. You grow up and form who you are together.
· Since you trust God to only give you those children you need, He blesses you with a little one a year after the wedding. (Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalms 127:3)
· You do a lot of research and decide to use your aunt who is a midwife and have a home birth due to its increased safety. (Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7)
· You rent a small apartment and drive one used car (supplementing with a city bus when necessary) in order to pay for the midwife. (Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8)
· You go to every midwife appointment, but refuse most of the tests. You wouldn’t abort the baby even if something was wrong so why bother? And some “tests” (sonogram) are so new we don’t yet know if they have long term side effects. Others (amnio) have been known to hurt, even kill, the baby. (Thou shalt not kill. Exd 20:13 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12)
· You (im)patiently wait until your body says it is time for the baby to come. You go into labor naturally (drastically reducing the risk of prematurity). (For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child (that unexpected and unpredictable); and they shall not escape. 1Thessalonians 5:3)
· The midwife arrives and doesn’t leave your side (except for the occasional potty break:-) until baby is here. She is there to minister to you. She constantly monitors you with the best monitoring device known to man- the human eye.
· Your baby is born with no drugs in his system and thus is breathing well and lively and alert, looking you in the eye from the start.
· The midwife will weigh baby when he is an hour or so old, letting you bond first.
· The vitamin K shot is only given if you want it. Rhogam is given if you are negative AND the dad is positive AND you say you want it. Antibiotics are put in the eyes to prevent blindness in babies born to moms with VD. You have never had sex with anyone but your hubby and he with you. You refuse. Only those tests you want are preformed. Most would make no difference in your decisions on the child’s upbringing, so you refuse. Hepatitis is a disease passed through contact with infected bodily fluids (i.e. gay sex). Your child will not be having gay sex nor working with those that do so, again, you refuse. (How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! Proverbs 16:16 )
· You nurse baby for as long as he wants. No artificial nipples at all. This will make it much more likely that nursing will be successful. (And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. Genesis 21:7)
· Midwife tucks you in for a nap and goes home when little one is a few hours old.
· You raise your child yourself. Studies show children raised by mommy are more mentally healthy, able to learn normally, healthier, obedient, self controlled and less likely to engage in violence, drugs, sex, or divorce as teens and adults. Also, “traditional” families are less likely to suffer divorce. (Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 18:10 The aged women likewise, … That they may teach the young women to be…keepers at home, … obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:5 But if any provide not for HIS own, and specially for those of HIS own house, HE hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (atheist). 1Timothy 5:8)
· You do a great deal of research and decide to only give your child the tetanus vaccination. The others don’t seem worth the risk for the benefit. (Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Proverbs 4:7)
· At some point you begin introducing ABC’s and 123’s, but otherwise his life stays pretty much the same. (And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture (culture) and admonition (education) of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4)
· You continue to add a child every three years or so (spaced by breast feeding) until you have seven (the historical average before modern birth control). You welcome each as a great blessing from you Lord. Then you simply don’t get pregnant again. (But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:67)
· You spend your time carefully, picking entertainment that will up lift and strengthen either the body or the spirit or both. (Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8) Sometimes that is TV (mostly videos) but not very often.
· Your children spend most of their time with you and other adults. They learn manners and respect. They have self confidence. They are also fun to be with and not selfish. (He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20)
· You go to church whenever the doors are open if at all possible. Your faithfulness is awarded with a position or two. (His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Mathew 25:21)
· Your church doesn’t squirrel the children away in never-never land but welcomes them as important members of the body of Christ. They grow up participating in worship with you, as a family. (But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14)
· When your child hits his teens, you gradually transition him into the adult world. You don’t set rules for dates and such. He is responsible and you know you can trust him to make good decisions. Of course he appreciates the new freedom and is careful to respect it. (Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12)
· At 18 or 20 he or she marries and gets his own apartment. You help out some but they are mostly independent. They may try to have daddy go to school and work, but they are together and happy. Soon you will be a grandparent! (Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:24)
· When you reach 65 you transition into full time ministry in your church. God needs you! (The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31)
· You slow down a bit, but suffer no ill effects of sterilization, drugs, alcohol, depression, heart disease, cancer, divorce, or any of the other results of the “normal” choices.
· Your work only gradually declines in volume as younger ones take over. You work for your God until your dying day.
· You celebrate your 75th wedding anniversary with the love of your life.
· When you can no longer live alone, you move in with a child and help out as much as possible. When you “graduate” to eternity, it is surrounded by friends and family, maybe even four generations! Let’s see: seven children times seven children each times seven children each- potentially 399 descendent “arrows” to go work for your King! (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. Psalms 127:4,5)


The Christian life should be different than the sinner’s life. Following God’s rules in the Bible brings good results. Ignoring them brings disaster. This is true even if you don’t believe in God and just follow the rules. But how much more should a Christian benefit? We should be really different from the world so they can see a better way of life. It makes no sense to live just like them and suffer the same consequences. We should know better!