"Over the years I have found that people in the church make a lot of assumptions about the people around them"
Many judgments come from reading ourselves into other people’s heads. It’s a bit arrogant, actually, to think that others view the world exactly as we do, and feel the same way about things.
The remedy for assumptions is to get to know people. But when we do that, people get to know us, and many of us are invested in keeping ourselves to ourselves. Making assumptions is much easier, and allows us to maintain our superiority.
That’s my theory. 
Wow…I can honestly say I have never looked at singles or married without children couples and thought they were neglecting their procreation duties. My wife and I were married for 8 years before we had children. Why? It is expensive out there and we simply couldn’t afford it since I was a graduate student. To my knowledge no one expressed to us in the slightest way that we were neglecting our procreation duties.
Now what DID happen was most people our age had children, and since we didn’t, it was hard to relate and connect with other married couples.
[Mark_Smith]That seems common enough. One of my pastors told me once that couples with kids relate to each other much more on the basis of their kids’ ages than on their own ages, and it certainly seemed true to me.Before my wife and I had kids, we pretty much hung out with the singles rather than with the couples married w/ kids. We just had more in common with the singles.And before we did have kids, we certainly got enough comments that “you ought to get started,” and “what are you waiting for?” We just shrugged them off.Now what DID happen was most people our age had children, and since we didn’t, it was hard to relate and connect with other married couples.
Dave Barnhart
that he said this:
In the case of the married couple that does not have children, we must first recognize that the church does not fulfill the dominion mandate (Gen 1:28) through procreation. After the fall, fulfilling the dominion mandate in this manner became impossible. Through Christ, the last Adam, the church fulfills the dominion mandate through evangelism.
Discussion