Birth Control means Controlling Births

Whenever people talk about pregnancy it is always in a warm, loving, gushy, feelings kind of way. The thought of a new bundle of joy arriving soon delights those in proximity to the expectant mother. Everyone loves a baby. Or do they?

In early history of the family, children were not always viewed as a godsend. Oh, they were needed and necessary for various reasons, but there was not the joy and delight experienced by modern expecting parents. Male children were extremely important. They would inherit the families wealth and carry on the family name. Boy babies were desperately wanted. And if a woman failed to deliver the 'man' child, there could be consequences. 

In many early cultures, men could dissolve a marriage or take another wife if a woman was infertile. However, the early Christian church was a trailblazer in arguing that marriage was not contingent on producing offspring. The early Christian church held the position that if you can procreate you must not refuse to procreate. But they always took the position that they would annul a marriage if a man could not have sex with his wife, but not if they could not conceive. Pregnancy has always mattered to men. Pregnancy for women, or the inability of, could be a time of anxiety and fear.

In modern society, it is almost tabboo to say you don't want to have any children. People can not fathom why someone would prefer to be childless. Some research found a negative relation between these variables: parenthood was associated with decreased marriage quality, increased marital conflict, more severe symptoms of depression, and decreased marital satisfaction–especially when pregnancy was unplanned. Having children is not all fun and games. 

Children are hard on a marriage. Not only is raising children time-consuming and tiring, it is also related to a frequent exposure to stressors. With each added child there is added stress taking time and attentian away from the married couple as they manage the stressors of child rearing. The stressors may outweigh the resources the couple has at some point. Even if partners are fulfilled as parents, their relational wellbeing may be threatened due to parental distress. 

So, throughout history, ways to decrease the number of children conceived has been practiced. People knew the number of children they had affected the entire family in varous ways. How many children were people having in the days when they were not successfully able to control births?

Who gave birth to the most children in history? Between 1725-1765, Valentina Vassilyev was apparently rather busy. According to a local monestary's records, the prolific Russian mother popped out 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets, ove 27 separate lobours. The grand total: 69 children. There are many skeptics regarding this record. But, if controlling births is not practiced, there is a probability of having a large number of children. Sixty-nine children may seem like far too many. For some, 3, are far too many. It all depends on the ability of the parents to be able to care for the children. Finances are important, but emotional and mental stability to raise a large number of children is a must.

The verified record holder for most births is a Ugandan mother named Miriam Nabatanzi, who has a rare genetic condition called hyperovulation, and gave birth to 44 children across 15 births from 1993 to 2016. She is a single mother to her 38 surviving kids.

For men, and the number of children they conceive are off the charts. While records are difficult to confirm, it probably is true that Genghis Khan has fathered the most children in history, as estimates range between 1,000 and 3,000 direct offspring from his enormous harem. A 2003 study estimated that 16 million men alive today are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Similar studies have shown a Y-chromosome lineage linked to at least ten other extraordinarily prolific dads, including the Qing Dynasty ruler Giocangga. Why haven't science come up with an oral or injectable contraceptive for men?

More recently, a court case in the Netherlands exposed an alarming fact. A Dutch musician in his early 40’s named Jonathan Jacob Meijer, had fathered between 550 and 600 children through sperm donation. Meijer is a bit of a Dutch lion, with “a mane of curly blonde hair.” In online ads promoting his suitability as a sperm donor, Meijer has described himself as a “musical Viking donor.”

When we think about whether or not to have children, we believe it should be the sole decision of the future parents. But, that was not always the case.

In Ancient Rome the law provides too much freedom to householders whether to admit a newborn child or not. In order to make a decision, all family members including relatives and neighbors give their opinions. Because during that time unwanted and disabled children could be left to die on the streets. Law gives the father, who has whole authority on the family, the right to choose the life of his child. The accepted child would be welcomed by a ceremony in the family. There are several symbolic scenes such as the oldest man in the family putting the child to the ground and hanging a flashy crown outside of the house door to welcome a child. During the first 3-4 days, they hang a chain of amulet to the girl’s neck and bulla to the boy’s neck. Girls and boys get their names after 8 and 9 days of their birth respectively which is a day after die lustrous, a time period when it is no longer feared the infant would die. 

As we continue to travel through time, children are still not viewed as a gift. The medieval society was primarily an agrarian one (community whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland). And the family unit made the agrarian economy work. From an economic standpoint, nothing was more valuable to a peasant family than sons to help with the plowing and daughters to help with the household. To have children was, essentially, one of the primary reason to marry. Children were valued for the labor and production they could add to a poor family. Poor people had many children and did not practice controlling births.

Among the nobility, children would perpetuate the family name and increase the family's holdings through advancement in service to their liege lords and through advantageous marriages. Some of these unions were planned while the bride and groom-to-be were still in the cradle. Children were still used to increase wealth and status of a family. They were born with a job to help their family.

In 1325 and the outbreak of the first plague epidemic (bubonic), testators (a person who has made a will or given a legacy) had on average 2.8 live children. Between 1350 and 1375, the average dropped to 1.9 and continued to decrease, reaching a low of 1.4 children per testator between 1400 and 1424. To acheive this low number of children within a marriage, before the invention of reliable birth control, there must have been abstinance. Currently, there is a turning tide against the use of contraceptives, IVF, and abortions. The 1300's proved conception can be controlled without medical intervention. You just may not like how it is accomplished though.

During the 1300's when births were more than likely controlled through abtinance, life was not easy. Life was harsh with a limited diet and little comfort. Women were subordinate to men, in both the peasant and noble classes, and were expected to ensure the smooth running of the household. Children had a 50% survival rate beyond age one, and began to contribute to family life around age twelve. In 1300-1400, the life expectancy was 45.4 years of age.

Until about a century ago, many spouses died by their mid-forties, and many babies were born out of wedlock. Many children became orphans or were abandoned due to an inability to care for them. In medieval Europe, for example, people died early from disease, malnutrition, and other problems. One consequence of early mortality was that many young children could expect to outlive at least one of their parents and thus essentially were raised in one-parent families or in stepfamilies.

During the American colonial period, different family types abounded, and the nuclear family was by no means the only type. Children in colonial families were numerous and averaged between seven to ten in each household. The number of children at home varied, however, for a variety of reasons. The most common of these being (sadly) early death of children. Roughly half of the off-spring would not reach maturity. Nomadic Native American groups had relatively small nuclear families, while nonnomadic groups had larger extended families. Because nuclear families among African Americans slaves were difficult to achieve, slaves adapted by developing extended families, adopting orphans, and taking in other people not related by blood or marriage. Many European parents of colonial children died because average life expectancy was only 45 years. The one-third to one-half of children who outlived at least one of their parents lived in stepfamilies or with just their surviving parent. Mothers were so busy working the land and doing other tasks that they devoted relatively little time to child care, which instead was entrusted to older children or servants.

In 1800, most women in the U.S. had 7 children but that number has steadily decreased over the years, with the exception of the Baby Boom (when the U.S. fertility rate jumped to 3.62). In 2018, U.S. woman had 1.7 children on average.

By the 1900s, parents began to treat children more like little people and dressed them like kids, not mini adults. It was the custom to pose in front of a photographer's backdrop for family photos. Since there were no color photographs, artists sometimes painted over the black-and-white photos. This must have been the start of the wam fuzzy feelings towards having children. They were no longer viewed as bargaining chips for lucrative marriages, or free labor. Children were just children. Now a precious gift. So no need for trying to control births. Bring on the babies!

Moving much forward in US history, an important change in American families occurred during the 1940s after World War II ended. As men came home after serving in the military in Europe and Japan, books, magazines, and newspapers exhorted women to have babies, and babies they did have. People got married at younger ages and the birth rate soared, resulting in the now famous baby boom generation. Many families during the 1950s did indeed fit the Leave It to Beaver model of the breadwinner-homemaker suburban nuclear family. Following the Depression of the 1930s and the war of the 1940s, the 1950s seemed an almost idyllic decade. Life was easy and good. Why would anyone want to control births?

The pill was first prescribed exclusively for mestrual regulation, and only to married women. The emergence of the women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s was significantly related to the availability of the pill and the control over fertility it enabled. This capability allowed women to make choices about other life arenas, especially work. It reduced the risk of unintended pregnancy in the context of the sexual revolution of the '60s and established family planning as the cultural norm for the U.S. and in many other countries of the world. The first pill was effective and simple to use. The theory was that the risk of pregnancy and the stigma that went along with it prevented single women from having sex and married women from having affairs. Since women on the Pill could control their fertility, single and married women could have sex anytime, anyplace, and with anyone without the risk of pregnancy.

This sounds absolutely retched doesn't it? Women having sex free willy-nilly and dodging the consequences of pregancy. THOSE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE, John 8:7-11. Men have always had the ability to decide when they wanted to engage in the duties of fatherhood. Notice I said men chose when to enter fatherhood and not when to become a father. There's a difference. 

Nearly half (46%) of men ages 15 to 44 with biological children report that at least one of their children was born outside of marriage, and 31% report that all of their children were born outside of marriage. There are also 2.9 million men (2.4%) who are living with an unmarried partner and have biological children with that partner. Nearly one in ten men have children with more than one person. Of the 72.2 million fathers, 5.9 million (8.2%) have never been married. Nearly half (46 percent) of fathers with multiple-partner fertility had at least one child within a marriage and one child outside a marriage.

A new Child Trends study estimates that 15 percent of men, or more than one in seven, will father children with more than one woman by the age of 40. According to the study, Men Who Father Children with More Than One Woman: A Contemporary Portrait of Multiple-Partner Fertility, five percent of men will father children with more than one woman by age 25. This increases to eight percent at age 30, to 12 percent at age 35, and to 15 percent at age 40. Moreover, these men have more children than men who have multiple children with the same woman: More than one-third of men (36 percent) who had children with multiple women had four or more children. 

These numbers could be higher, but men have the luxury of not being tied down by an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. They do not even have to acknowledge a pregnancy. The child being born may not ever have an impact on his life. 43% of U.S. children live without their father. 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. maybe this is one reason women say my body, my choice. 

I hate to say this but, women want to control their number of births, and men are not so concerned about controlling births. Sadly, women who want to be in control of births are viewed as promiscuous and careless. While throughout history, men have not been labled as permiscous and carless for having unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

By the 1900's we entered a period where children were not seen as a burden or just another mouth to feed. People welcomed a new life into their home. Sexual freedom for both men and women, led to an increase in pregnancies. To solve the problem of controlling pregnancy, it will take both the man and the woman. just as it takes two to make a child. Taking away the freedom of one, while the other has no accountability is not a balanced solution. There are so many alarming statistics about pregnancy, such as teen girls are usually impregnated by an adult male. Teen girls are unable to give consent, but the adult fathers are not prosecuted. Pregnancy is complicated in many cases.

Birth control means controlling births. It has been practiced for centuries in various ways, some in not so pretty or kind ways. The life of the child planned or unplanned, can be beautiful or the substance of what tragic movies are made of. The ability to control births aids in the health of society.

Parents Jailed For Children's Crimes

 

Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty (Feb. 2024) of involuntary manslaughter because she did not stop her 15 year old son from shooting and killing four people in a Michigan school shooting. She became the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack. Victims of the crime cheered while parents across America groaned.

We often sit around and complain about the horrible condition our state or country is in. We see our youth, young men with their pants hanging off of their butts and young girls displaying sexuality early in life. The children display a lack of interest in education, oftentimes disrespectful to educators and other adults. Parents complain/explain their children fell in with the wrong crowd leading them astray. Drug use is always a looming concern and source of entertainment for children. Well, these are legitimate complaints, but what can be done about them? Do we lock up all of the parents in America when their underage child commits a crime? 

IS THAT FAIR TO PARENTS?

I believe and strongly advocate change begins at home. The Bible states we are to train a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it, Proverbs 22:6. Many people mistakenly assume this passage means to force your child to attend church each Sunday in their youth and they will become a Christian later in life. THIS IS SO WRONG.

Also, parents believe what they SAY to their children, if it is said often, is the meaning of training their child in the direction they should go and they will not depart from it. But, TRAINING means living by the WORDS you teach. Being a present example not displaying hypocrisy or empty preaching.

Being a military veteran, while in boot camp, our drill sargeants were tough on us. Barking out one instruction after the next. Correcting us on the spot at every mistake. But, there was another thing they did while being unrelenting in our training. They SHOWED us how to execute what they required from us, and were doing it CORRECTLY at every turn WITH us, ALONG side of us. They DID what they expected us to DO. THEY were fit soldiers. A living, breathing, EXAMPLE of what it looked like, what WE could, would, eventually look like and be capable of doing and being.

The EDUCATION and TRAINING of a child is mainly in their home enviroment. From the day the bundle of joy is brought home from the hospital, they are a sponge soaking up their enviroment mimicking those that surround them. The adage of do what I say and not what I do IS SOOOO WRONG. The children do as their parent does and will not depart from those lessons.

If parents have a household filled with cursing--the children will learn to curse and not depart from it.

If parents have a household that acts one way behind closed doors and another way when people are looking or when in public---they will raise a DECPTIVE person who knows when to turn it on and to turn it off. They learn how to manipulate people through deceptions and lies.

If a parent's words do not mean anything in the home and lying comes easy to them about small things-- the child will learn lying is o.k. and won't even notice the ease in which they do it. I have had people lie about their real or fake hair at church (a not even necessary lie) and not realize if they lie about small things they more than likely lie about big things too, in my opinion.

If parents DISRESPECT people at home, their children will disrespect other's: property and authority.

And if you do not VALUE your child as a individual with a gift that should be nutured at every step in life--your child will not have respect for human life. This is why drive by shootings can exist. This is why mass shootings can exist. The child does not feel seen or heard at home and if that feeling carries to outside of the nome, they do not believe there is anyone who cares about them. If you do not value your own life you, will not value the life of others.

There are many cases where mental illness plays a factor. Parents also must pay attention to their children's mental health. Mental health issues requires professional help. Just as when you child has a cold, or an injury, the parent seeks medical help. Mental disorders are medical issues and the proper physician needs to be found for the particular issue. You don't take a child with a cold to a cancer specialist. The same is true for mental health concerns. The right doctor matters.

The quickness in which teens fall in and out of love is astonishing. In the dating world of today it is easier for toxic relationship habits to form. Abuses in teen relationships surface with each other not returning or responding to texts soon enough, keeping up with each other's location, constant contact monopolizing each other's time, and forcing each to not have any contact with the opposite sex in any way socially.  Parents should monitor boyfriends and girlfriends and skills they are learning in relationships. Practicing bad relationship skills as a teen can lead to the child not having any respect or boundaries in and for future relationship partners in the future.

People are quick to say marriage takes work. Well, parenting is a job. A child IS their parent's responsibility. If the parent is not responsible for their own flesh and blood, who should be? I once was a child. many moons ago. I did things that could have gooten me into serious trouble as I learned through trial and error. But, in the end, I knew my behaviors would reflect on my parents and I would be held accountable for my actions. I think this may have limited some of the choices I made, even though I made a lot of dumb choices.

Parents are first in line to take ALL the praise when their child succeeds and reach wonderful acheivements, but wipe their hands clean or even blame others when their child gets into trouble. Parents will insist a child they have had influence over for 13 years can be swayed by other 13 year olds in a month to do things they were never exposed to before. Of course peers influence children. Children have a relentless need to fit in and belong. But, 13 year olds should have to put up a hell of a fight for longer than a month to wrestle and undo what you have invested into your child. It should not be so easy for others to waltz in and take your child's entire soul from you. 

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IS DONE BY EXAMPLE. Jesus demonstrated this through his life on earth. He came to earth in human form to SHOW by example how Christians were to live holy lives. Just telling us as in the Old Testament was not good enough and too hard for us to maintain so he said "copy me" and you will be fine. Do we get it right? Not by far, but we keep trying, those who love Jesus. There is nothing worse than disappointing those who love you and who you love. People who love Jesus realize they represent Jesus and do not want to reflect a bad light on him.

The hand that rocks the cradle--the hand holding the future and direction of our society, in most cases are single women. We are already off to a bad start with our children not experience the balance of  mother and father working together on a common goal of raising well adjusted children. I just noticed female starts with an 'f' and father starts with an 'f' and male starts with an 'm' like mother starts with an 'm'. Both are needed in a child being well-rounded, exposed to the human condition.

Anyway, moms-- you can directly influence the direction of our states, of our nations. If you are politically concerned and savvy--your children will be. If you are seen reading a lot, your children will read. If you are constantly challenging yourself to try new things and think outside the box--your children will be inquisitive and seek higher and higher goals in their lives.

Finally, if you love God and others when no one is looking and make love and doing kind and good deeds daily for no recognition but because it is the right thing to do--your kids will be concerned with the good things and create good for themselves and others.

Believe it or not, children, are at their core, more like their parents than you know. Their philosophy on life began with the parent. They may do different things but they attack it with the worldview they formed, revised, and edited, they learned in their home. Inately, children want to make their parents proud.

Girls expect to be treated well in relationships because they saw their mom treated well and demanded to be respected for her mind and personality and not her body by her husband.

Boys will treat women well in relationships if they see their mothers demand to be respected by men for their minds and character and not their body. Remember, mothers rock the cradle whether there is a man presence or not.

Give your parenting skills much thought. Don't just wing it. The kid will grow up whether you instill anything in them or not. But help mold people you want to meet in your daily life. Do you want to be around someone always ready to fight or who talks about you as soon as your back is turned? If that is the type of person you don't care for, then don't you do it in your home in front of young developing minds.

Break the tradition of THAT'S THE WAY I WAS RAISED AND I'M FINE. You may be fine but are you a productive member of society for it's good or are you only concerned with your little part of the world?

Answer this question to know if you are fine:

Are you the same person you were in your early 20's, 30's, 40' 50's etc. or have you changed and grown adding more positive skills and experiences to your life?

If you are still the same person enjoying the same things and people you did when you were a teen; then what do you have to offer your children in their education of life? You haven't tasted the diversity of people and thoughts that this God given world has to offer.

Offer your kids amlife filled with more than the same old same old. Read, learn, grow, pray. Ask God to help you discover that wonderful talent he gave to you at your creation and to help you guide and direct the talent instilled from God in your children.

God gave parents the gift of children. Children belonged to God first and He intrusted parents to help prepare their children for their kingdom work and life.

So moms (and fathers), I encourage you to begin from day one while rocking that cradle. You are changing the world for the better or worse, but you are having a hand in the future.

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What Kind Of Lover Are You?

    Face it. People love to be in love. There are love songs that tug at heart strings we play over and over. Etta Jame's cover of the song "At Last' is played as a first dance song at weddings. Her soulful crooning about love sends shivers up the spine. "All Of Me" by John legend takes your breath away as he voices words of deep love in verses of song.The classic Al Green song "Let's Stay Together" is filled with the desparation of a man in love unwilling to give up on love. Sinead O'Conner blew our minds with "Nothing Compares 2 U" finding the love of a lifetime. Dolly Parton may have been the first to write and sing "I Will Always Love You" But Whitney Houston took it to a whole 'nother' level of undying love. Rhianna's "Diamond In the Sky" really strikes a chord with me.

    The list of love songs go on and on about love lost, love found, enduring love, yearning for love, and the need to be loved. Humans love love. We desire love. But I ask the question, what kind of LOVER are you? I came across a beautiful poem which delves into a DIFFERENT type of love. A love many of us never thinks about. Indulge me for a moment please as I go into the world of religious LOVE

MY FRIEND

I stand in Judgement now,
And feel that you are to blame somehow.
On earth I walked with you day by day,
And never did YOU point the way.
YOU knew the Lord in truth and glory,
But never did you tell ME the story.
My knowledge then was very SLIM,
YOU could have led me safe to Him.
Though we lived together on earth,
YOU never told me of the SECOND birth.
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because YOU failed to mention HIM.
YOU taught me many things, that's true,
I called YOU "friend" and trusted you.
But learn now that it's too late,
YOU could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet YOU showed me not the Light.
YOU let me live, and love, and die,
YOU knew I'd never live on high.
Yes, I called you a "friend" in life,
And trusted YOU through joy and strife.
And yet on coming to the end,
I cannot, NOW, call YOU, "My Friend."

WHAT KIND OF LOVE IS THIS AND HOW IS THIS LOVE DEFINED?

LOVE= unselfish, benevolent, concern for others (1Corinthians 13:4-7 charity). To love God supremely and others unselfishly are the 2 most important commands of Jesus (Matthew 22:37-40). Christ's death was the supreme expression of love (John 13:1 and 15:13).

AGAPE= A Greek word for selfless love, the type of love which characterizes God. If we are made in his own image, we should have his characteristics. Agape is primarily an ACT OF THE WILL rather than the EMOTIONS (John 3:16 and Romans 5:8). Agape love is the GREATEST and most enduring of ALL CHRISTIAN VIRTUES (1 Corinthians 13). Agape love for others is a badge of discipleship (John 13:34-35).

    Notice God says there are outward signs of His people. Is love an outward sign of love or a type of badge? Does it speak to the world? Are we not His disciples, His children? Police wear badges. They have to show their badge so you will know they are who they say they are. They are given the authority to use their job description. Are you flashing your badge of authority, your job description of love?

    Now that we have the definition of love, we now have the knowledge of love. What we are lacking at this point is the WISDOM of love. Wisdom is when you take the KNOWLEDGE you have and use it. So now we come to the question: "What kind of lover are you?" We should love God, ourselves, and others as we love ourselves. There is no command to leave anyone out. FORGIVENESS helps us to accomplish loving others as we love ourselves.

1. ARE YOU A STINGY LOVER? Do you designate how much you are willing to love someone? How long you are willing to love someone? Do you give yourself wholly to the love experience or are you half into it making the person work for your love? Do you pick who is or is not worthy of your love?

2. ARE YOU A PRIDEFUL LOVER? Do you pat yourself on your own back, praising yourself for how wonderful you are at showing love to others? Do you bother to check and see with the recipient of your love if they are being loved in the way they need to be loved? Your definition of love can be totally different from someone elses.

3. ARE YOU AN ABUSIVE LOVER? Are you loving someone grudgingly? Are you giving love only when someone else is looking? Do you with-hold love to get people to behave the way you want them to? Do you neglect yourself or people closest to you, but have an abundance of love for a stranger? Do you hold grudges? Does someone have to ask or beg you for your love?

4. ARE YOU A WISHY-WASHY LOVER? Are people afraid to approach you because the don't know what they may run into day by day or hour by hour? Are some days easier for you to show love and other days difficult? God wants consistency, not double mindedness.

    The type of lover you are does not have to be dependent on whetehr you are a Christian or not.

WE SAY WE HAVE THE LOVE OF GOD IN US BUT.....

    We have children we don't minister to or make disciples of Christ equipping them to lead others by sharing the gospel. We do not lay hands on them and pray for them. We leave prayer for our children to the school and then become angry when the institution fails to pray. We try to give our children everything their hearts desire except the gift of eternal life with God. Remember, whether you are religious or not, the philosophy of love you instill in your children matter.

    We love our sisters, brother, parents, and yet we don't invite them to church with us or live Godly examples of joy and peace so that they can see God through us. We tell them what we don't and can't do because we are Christians, not exampling Jesus among those who needed him most. As Christians, it is about what we are WILLING to do to show the love of Christ. Christian or not, the way you treat family members matter. 

We love OURSELVES, yet do not do what is in our own best interest: pray, love, spread the gospel, have faith through deeds, read the word of God, study the word of God because it is life and light, and be obedient to His will. Nowadays, people have to reminded to love themselves. Some of the biggest wounds people have to recover from, are making bad decisions which hurt themselves. 

We say we love God. To love God is to be obedient and to be holy as He is holy. To love yourself is to do what is good for yourself and humankind.

    We need to pray and ask God to bring us to this level of agape love. It may not happen over night, but a willing heart accomplishes much through the grace of God. Romans 13:8 "OWE no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law." If you do not pray, come to some knowledge that love, beyound love relationships, are important. 

WHAT KIND OF LOVER ARE YOU?

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Sowing Your Seed not Wild Oats

All human beings are blessed with a special gift from their creator, the ability to reproduce. While thinking about humans reproducing, I began to wonder why the male sperm is called a "seed" but a woman's egg is not called a seed and the significance of that distinction. I also wondered why men had a longer window to sire children than women. Sperm is the male reproductive cell and is derived from the Greek word sperma (meaning “seed”). A sperm cell is the male sex cell. The word sperm is derived from the Greek word σπέρμα, sperma, meaning "seed". This sperm is a very minute cell present in all men. 

In animals, female gametes are called ova or egg cells and male gametes are called sperm.  When an egg cell and a sperm cell unite, the two combine to form an embryo or an unborn, developing organism. Approximately 200 million to 500 million spermatoza (also called sperm or spermatozoans), produced in the testes, are released per ejaculation.

It may come as a shock but sperm can survive within the female reproductive system for a week! There is a strong desire of the seed to produce life. Sperm are tenacious. The female's egg is viewed as passive. Just hanging out for a while waiting for a sperm to come along. In early reproductive thought, the female's contribution to the formation of life was seen as minimum and downright dismissed.

Four centuries before Christ, Aeschylus wrote: “The woman you call the mother of the child/ is not the parent, just a nurse to the seed. …The man is the source of life — the one who mounts.” The general idea was that the womb provided merely a soft field in which the male seed was sowed. Then in 1672, a Dutch physician named Regnier de Graaf found ovaries full of eggs in a number of mammals, and although he couldn’t find any eggs in humans, he was convinced they must be there somewhere. It would take 150 years and a microscope before anyone would confirm the notion. 

It is unimaginable now to believe people thought only a man could create life. People in past history believed the man alone with his ejaculation at the end of the sex act put a baby inside the woman. The newly formed child was 100% his own creation because he mounted the woman, entered her, and made a deposit. In all honesty I can see it being a plausable assumption before the advancement of science. MEN CREATE LIFE ALONE. Not arrogant at all.

It wasn’t until Antony van Leeuwenhoek sprang up from his marital bed to spread his semen on a microscope in 1677 that anyone saw them. Sperm were first observed in 1677 by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek using a microscope. He described them as being animalcules (little animals), The first person to discover where babies come from, strictly speaking, was a German biologist named Oscar Hertwig. In 1875, working at his microscope in a Naples, Italy laboratory, Hertwig dabbed a drop of sea urchin semen against the gelatinous surface of a sea urchin egg. “Moments later,” according to science journalist Edward Dolnick, “the nucleus of the sperm cell came into view, inside the egg…and then—before Hertwig’s eyes—the two nuclei fused into one. No one in history had ever seen the process of fertilization play out.” 

It was not until 1875 that a German scientist finally put the sperm and the egg together conceptually.

So why then is sperm seen as a "seed?" In farming the land is prepared for the seed to be planted and eventually grow. The seed has to be placed into a forvorable medium and environment to sprout and grow. Even though a woman has an egg, half and the same cell containing DNA to create a totally new human, her "egg" isn't placed into anything by her to sprout and grow. The sperm penetrates the egg. This is one thing (seed) going into another thing (egg) like a plant "seed" must go into the "soil." 

You may say the egg is planted within the uterus which can also represent fertile soil. But the egg just being IN the uterus does not generate or grow. The female egg is more so the representation of fertle soil and the uterus is the enviromental condition condusive for the seed to sprout and grow. Women do not plant seeds. The female egg is singular like a large field would be singular while the male's sperm is numerous just like a farmer would plant several seeds in the hope at least one (or several) will germinate. The man has millions of seeds and a long time to sow the seeds. His potential to reproduce on a large scale is assured by his daily sperm count. Thus the saying a man is sowing his seed and a child is his seed, meaning from his seed (sperm). Women do not refer to their children as their seed.

With the sperm being half of the miraculous ingrdients needed to form life, it is important for men to have healthy viable seeds. Studies have found men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a  lower risk of prostate cancer compared to those who ejaculated 4–7 times a month. Researchers theorize that frequent ejaculation clears the prostate of irritants or toxins that cause inflammation and contribute to prostate cancer.

A healthy lifestyle and diet are important. Foods to increase sperm production are dark chocolate which is a powerful aphrodisiac. Dark chocolate contains L-Arginine, an amino-acid which works by increasing nitric oxide, which essentially dilates blood vessels and promotes blood flow to your sexual organs, enhancing sensation, satisfaction and desire. Oysters which contain zincan essential mineral that plays an important role in improving testosterone levels as well as sperm production. Also on the list of foods good for sperm health are eggs, bananas, spinach, asparagus, garlic, and carrots amongst others.

We Are A Trinity Too

     

    Humans are COMPLICATED! I could stop right there and not say another word because that sums up what we are as human beings: complicated. Psychology has tried to explain the human mind and how it affects our human behavior. Theory after theory has been presented and diagnosis after diagnosis is attributed. But through all of the study by experts of human beings, the conclusion remains, people are complicated and cannot be put into ONE nice neat package wrapped with a lovely bow.

    After speaking with my daughter and she laughingly admitting, "I'm so much like daddy," I had to agree. But on the other hand, she does so many little things that remind the family of me. All of a sudden it came to me and I said, "You are three people. You are dad, me, and your quirky self. You are a TRINITY."

    It's true. We acknowledge on a biological level that our children possess DNA from the father and the mother. The passed along DNA gives the child certain PHYSICAL characteristics from each parent. We are comfortable acknoledging our sweet little child has their father's ears or feet or our child has their mother's eyes or delicate hands. We look for those passed along similarities often with joy. But then there are those times of frustration or stress when we say with not so happy feelings, "You act just like your father. You act just like your mother." Oh, if you are a parent, sooner or later, it slips out. We also know it is not good for a child's mental health to be told they behave like a parent who has been disappointing, missng, abusive, or any other negative attribute by a parent. 

     But, when I began to think about the THREE-PART-PERSON on a level other than biological, I thought, "If we are created in the image of God and God consists of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, then may we also on another level exist as a TRINITY on another level?"

    Children who have been raised with a single parent, mysteriously enough still have certain BEHAVIOURS of the absent parent even though they were never exposed to those behaviours to mimic or incorporate internally from enviromental exposure. You may notice the child tilts their head in a certain way when they laugh just like the absent parent. The child may hold objects or react to things in the same way as their absent parent and it usually blows the present parent's mind.

    There is an ESSENCE to us we carry from our parent in which glimpses are always peeking through. I don't believe scientists have come to a conclusion saying PERSONALITY traits are passed down from each parent. Scientist have said NURTURE and ENVIROMENT (nature) have the biggest influence on a child's development not exactly knowing which is the most influential at all times in a child's life. But who has looked at the SPIRITUAL part of the transfer children receive from EACH parent?

    In Christianity, it is taught that the body is only a TEMPORARY housing for the spirit. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. In Thessalonians 5:23 it says, "And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your SPIRIT, and SOUL, and BODY be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." Our material bodies are evident, but our souls and spirit are less distinguishable. Thessalonians also shows the TRINITY within us in that particular verse.

    Each day, if what I am now coming to believe is true, then we each walk around EVERYDAY with the SPIRIT or essence TRANSFER from each of our parents along with our own individual SPIRIT or essence. That is MINDBLOWING isn't it? I have come to advocate for dating people to be knowledgeable of the people you may PROCREATE with. RIGHT? We are doing some serious transfers with each others and to our children. 

     I want to also say we need to nurture those transfers were receive from each of our parents present or absent. A person is NOT ALL BAD OR ALL GOOD. Parents should recognize those little quirks and if there is a comment; make it a positive one. If correction is needed; be gentle and positive too. But, I do wonder, "How much of the TRINITY can be changed and manipulated by us mere mortals?" We didn't put it there so can we change it?

    Anyway, I just found it awesome to discover we are created in the image of our Creator in such a dynamic way. We are a TRINITY also in so many ways.

This post dedicated to my beautiful daughter, Desarea.