Another thread inspired me to start this one.
If you found out tomorrow that heaven and hell did not exist (I know, impossible and ridiculous, but bear with me!), would you do anything different in your life?
Would the DINKs (Double-Income-No-Kids) be the blessed ones, who only have to take care of themselves and pursue pleasure, ease, travel, etc.?
Or is it true that after Original Sin, man NEEDS a certain amount of labor and suffering to give his life meaning?
But is anyone here naive enough to believe that the DINKs are really that unhappy? As one man famously said, "If money brought unhappiness, rich folk would simply have to give it away and be happy. So the charge that money doesn't buy happiness is a bit of sour grapes by the poor."
Isn't our REAL consolation that we'll be happy in HEAVEN? Aren't we going a bit too far to say that they're not happy on earth either? Maybe in a few cases or sometimes, but not always.
There is a debate in the world about children. Worldlings say that we religious folk delude ourselves into thinking our children will support us, give us more happiness than grief, etc. but who is right? Maybe we ARE deluding ourselves if we think that children are profitable on a worldly level.
Kind of like the famous quote, "I only believe the Bible because the Catholic Church tells me to."
On the one hand, having children is part of the natural law. But the RAISING of them to be upstanding Catholics, with self-control, etc. takes a LOT of work and it's mostly the thought of one's personal judgment that motivates you to keep at it, even when it gets difficult.
It's a very complex and interesting philosophical topic.