Go to the Ant thou Sluggard

Perhaps you are aware of the latest trends on social media. One that I am aware of is the claim that many men are dropping out of the dating scene and opting for single life, while many young women are either not interested in marriage, or if they are, they can’t find men. There are various reasons...from the disparaging of permanent relationships (marriage) and the promotion of cohabitation which has no guarantees of security, no fault divorce – in which custody battles for children and money can go on for years – promiscuity, pornography, the promotion of beauty above character, and the erosion of parental rights. I believe these claims, as I see many Millennials who are unmarried.

These are the fruits of feminism which has turned our once thriving culture upside down and has changed the nature of how men and women interact with each other. We have apps such as OnlyFans, Tinder (the most popular dating app) Instagram and Tea, the latter an app where women share “red flags” about men. (And which was recently hacked.) Some of these are often used for hook ups – not lasting relationships.

The book of Genesis tells us that after God created man and woman He blessed them and He said to them “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28) This command was unconditional. God did not add “but stop when you reach net zero carbon emissions” or “stop after reaching five hundred million” – a level deemed to be “ideal” by some Malthusians.

Have you ever read Aesop’s fable “Go to the Ant thou Sluggard”? You may know it as, “The Ant and the Grasshopper”. In it the ant diligently labours throughout the summer to collect grains of barley and wheat as provision for the coming winter, in spite of summer being a time when others take a holiday from their work. A beetle (or in the other version, grasshopper) was amazed at all the work the ant put in. After all, should he not just enjoy the summer? But when winter came, the beetle, having been idle during the summer, became famished with hunger, and asking the ant for food was told, “You should have worked... when I was hard at work, instead of sneering at me. If you had done so you would not be short of food now.”

We too have seasons in life. Like in this fable, I see a culture where many men and women who, in the summer of their lives, should be labouring to raise and educate children, thus providing for themselves when old age (winter) sets in. Instead, many are living like the beetle, looking with scorn on such a notion. They don’t want children as they would get in the way of education, careers, romance, travel and short term relationships such as hook ups. Then there are many who do want to get married and raise children but are unable to do so in this culture.

What is better - to be old, wealthy and alone, or old and poor, but surrounded by a family that loves you? In short, what will these people who are living for the moment do when winter comes? There is wisdom in God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.

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