Nineteen kids. I don't even know how that would work.

I have one kid. One. And I feel overwhelmed sometimes.

But the Duggar family of Arkansas just announced that mother Michelle is pregnant with her 19th child. This youngest Duggar is due in March, just a few months after Michelle will also become a grandmother for the first time.



When I first started hearing about the Duggar family, I made all the cynical, rash judgments that I think many people probably make. Those kids can't possibly all feel loved. Those kids are a drain on the system. Those parents are exploiting their children (the Duggars have a reality television show on TLC and a book titled "20 and Counting.")

But as I delved into this family on their Web site, I was struck by something written on the blog of eldest Duggar son, Josh. Josh is expecting his first child with his wife and writes how they will leave the timing of their children up to God.

He writes, "The decision to trust God with our family size is based on our desire to serve God with every decision of our life. . . . God requires that we give him everything, and often the area that we want to reserve for ourselves is the very area that he knows we must surrender to Him. God wants all of us -- as He often compares it to marriage -- each must give all to the other and no less! When we let God control every area of our lives, He will give us awesome new opportunities to glorify Him!"

Yikes. Talk about feeling bad for having judged so harshly.

While I may have judged the Duggars too quickly, I don't quite agree with Josh's assessment of family planning. Essentially, his theory says using birth control is a sign of weak faith and using contraceptives shows that you haven't fully committed yourself to God.

I don't think that's true. Ultimately, yes, I believe every child is a gift from God. How many children we have and when we have them is up to God, just as when we die is up to Him. But I'm not going to stand in the middle of the freeway and trust God to save me. I think God wants us to do our homework, make informed decisions and then seek his blessing on our wise choices.

So to Josh and the rest of the Duggar clan, I agree that you should be allowed to make your own choices to use contraceptives or not. But having only one or two or even no children is not a sign of any lesser faith.

What do you think -- is using contraceptive methods a sign of weak faith? Does being a faithful person mean completely handing over our family planning (or any other decision) to God?