Was God Serious When He Said “Be Fruitful & Multiply?”
Answer: Yes! He IS Deadly Serious

The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family [emphasis mine]. Don’t be afraid … because anyone who works for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be fought and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue [my emphasis].[1]

In God, this fecundity [fruitfulness -- SML] relative to God can only exist in act [SML].[3]

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Is. 55:11).

What Do the Mystics Say About God’s View of Multiplicative Fruitfulness

1). Why was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed

Quoting God Himself, St. Catherine of Siena (a Doctor of the Church) writes:

The sins of Sodom were “not simply [committed] with the sort of impurity and weakness to which you are all naturally inclined because of your weak nature ... No, these wretches not only do not restrain their weakness; they make it worse by committing that cursed unnatural sin [of homosexuality and other types of same-sex-relations]. ... they do not recognize what miserable filth they are wallowing in. The stench reaches even up to me, supreme Purity, and is so hateful to me that for this sin alone [emphasis SML] five cities were struck down by my divine judgment. For my divine justice could no longer tolerate it, so despicable to me is this abominable sin.[6]

2). We Make Ugly Beasts of Ourselves

Quoting God, St. Catherine also wrote:

You who were created kin to the angels have made ugly beasts of yourselves! You have stooped so low that even the demons whose friends and servants you have become cannot stand the sight of such indecency .... It is true that it was they who in the beginning shot the poisoned arrows of concupiscence [i.e., sexual perversion], but when it comes to the sinful act itself they run away.[7]

3). Why the Flood

We are all familiar with the world’s destruction through the Great Flood of Noah’s time. The Bible only tells us that there was great wickedness, but it is not specific. The visions God gave to St. Hildegard of Bingen, who is a Doctor of the Church, provides us with greater insight. These are God’s words to Hildegard (also a Doctor of the Church):

In this manner [Satan] enticed them to defile themselves with the animals, so that the image of God would be destroyed in man [emphasis SML]. If the product of their unnatural union was of the human kind [e.g., hominin], they hated it, but if it had more of the form of an animal, they caressed it.

At that time men had forgotten God and acted more like animals than according to the will of God. Hence it came about that many loved animals more than people, so that women as well as men mixed with animals and had relations with them to such an extent that the image of God in them was almost completely destroyed. The whole human race was changed into monsters, and transformed so that in fact some men modeled their way of life and voice after the way of wild animals in their walking about, howling and life.

But after the earth was filled with such a perverse people, I Who Am could no longer tolerate this criminal outrage. I decided to destroy the people in the water, with the exception of the few who acknowledged me. (W. M. 253) Since I could no longer tolerate that kind of thing [SML], I drowned them in the Flood. (World and Man, 285).[8]

4). We Have One of Two Callings: Desire of Fruit & Lust for Vice

God tells St. Hildegard:

Each person has in himself two callings, the desire of fruit and the lust for vice. How? By the desire of fruit he is called toward life, and by the lust for vice he is called toward death. In the desire of fruit a person wishes to do good, and says to himself, “Do good works!” … But in the lust for vice, a person wants to do evil, and says to himself, “Do the work of your own pleasure!”[9]

5). God Hates Lukewarmness

St. Jerome writes:

But while [the Lord] does not wish the death of a sinner, but only that he should be converted and live, He hates the lukewarm and they quickly cause him loathing.[10]

6). Self-pleasuring is Inherently Sterile

Quoting God, St. Hildegard writes:

As a priest should keep himself from contamination with a woman, let him also keep himself from himself; let him take care not to arouse defilement in himself by the touch of his hands [sterile/unfruitful self-pleasuring; see also Onan (Gen 38:8-10)], so that the clamor of lust may not make a sinful tumult within him. For the crime of Adam, which brought death to Man, aroused his senses to fornication; so let people restrain their flesh so as not to undergo a shameful death.[11]

Before reading God’s words to St. Hildegard, I want to point out the spiritually deadly danger to those souls engaging in sexual acts that are inherently sterile/fruitless. This category includes those who engage in biologically same-sex acts, including transgenders who have been made sterile via chemicals or surgical alterations. They are self-pleasuring by using another person’s body as an instrument. I’m sure many will attempt to justify these acts by saying they are in love with each other when it is actually false/animalistic so-called imitation love — not true spiritual Love. It is nothing more than biological/biochemical bonds created from hormones circulating through the bloodstream — bonding hormones such as dopamine, testosterone, oxytocin, and vasopressin.

7). LGB[Trans]Q+ Is Sterile Self-pleasuring Masquerading as Love

St. Hildegard writes:

And men who touch their own genital organ and emit their semen seriously imperil their souls, for they excite themselves to distraction; they appear to Me as impure animals [emphasis SML] devouring their own whelps [i.e., young offspring], for they wickedly produce their semen only for abusive pollution. And women who imitate them in this unchaste touching, and excite themselves to bodily convulsions by provoking their burning lust, are extremely guilty, for they pollute themselves with uncleanness when they should be keeping themselves in chastity. Hence both women and men who elicit their own seed by touching themselves in the body do a filthy deed and inflict ulcers and wounds on their souls; for they will not keep themselves in a state of chastity for love of Me. …

And a man who sins with a woman by this same method of perverted fornication [anal sex] is a voracious wolf of wickedness. How? A person would seem perverted and harmful to other people if he threw away beautiful clean food and ate the ordure that comes out of the body in digestion; and these are in My sight equally unworthy and unclean, since they forsake the proper way of uniting with a woman and seek in her an alien sin. And a woman who takes up devilish ways and plays a male role in coupling with another woman is most vile in My sight, and so is she who subjects herself to such a one in this evil deed. For they should have been ashamed of their passion, and instead they impudently usurped a right that was not theirs. And, having put themselves into alien ways, they are to Me transformed and contemptible. …

many are found among both spiritual and secular people who not only pollute themselves in fornication with women but also assume a heavy burden of condemnation by contaminating themselves in perverted forms. How? A man who sins with another man as if with a woman sins bitterly against God and against the union with which God united male and female. Hence both in God’s sight are polluted, black and wanton, horrible and harmful to God and humanity, and guilty of death; for they go against their Creator and His creature, which is in them. How?

God united man and woman, thus joining the strong to the weak, that each might sustain the other. But these perverted adulterers change their virile strength into perverse weakness, rejecting the proper male and female roles, and in their wickedness they shamefully follow Satan, who in his pride sought to split and divide Him Who is indivisible. They create in themselves by their wicked deeds a strange and perverse adultery, and so appear polluted and shameful in My sight.[12]

8). In 2014, Pope Benedict XVI said This About Transgenderism:

According to Simon Caldwell,

The next great challenge the Church is going to face is gender ideology, and it will be the ultimate rebellion against God the Creator. … The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.

 

According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God.

 

This very duality as something previously given is what is now disputed. The words of the creation account: “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27) no longer apply. No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves. …

 

Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed. But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him. …

 

When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being.

 

The thrust of this entire article has been to show that we cease to be in the image and likeness of God when we intentionally engage in artificial/inherent practices that render us sterile. And, as stated previously, when we are no longer in God’s image, we are spiritually dead — seriously, dead![13]

What Does Scripture Say About Unfruitfulness

Keep in mind that each of you has your own vineyard [from which God expects a fruitful harvest]. But every one is joined to your neighbors’ vineyards [emphasis SML] without any dividing lines. They are so joined together, in fact, that you cannot do good or evil for yourself without doing the same for your neighbors.[16]

(Gen 38:8-10): The Contraceptive Sin of Onan

Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him also.

(Gen. 19: 24-26): Brimstone Rained Down on Sodom; Lot’s Wife Became a Pillar of Salt

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomor′rah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife [likely named Idit] behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

(Zeph. 2:9): A Sequel to Pillar of Salt in Gen. 19: 24-26 Above

“Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomor′rah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste for ever.”

(Deut. 29:16-19,22-24): Spread Poisonous and Bitter Fruit

You know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; and you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit [emphasis SML], … This would lead to the sweeping away of the moist and dry alike [emphasis SML]. …And the generation to come, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick—the whole land brimstone and salt, and a burnt-out waste, unsown, and growing nothing, where no grass can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomor′rah, Admah and Zeboi′im, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—yea, all the nations would say, “Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What means the heat of this great anger?”

(Is 55:10-11): The Fruitfulness of God the Father’s Son

For as the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

(Ez. 47:7-11): Living Water flowing From the New Covenant Temple

As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea; from En-ge′di to En-eg′laim it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.”

(Jeremiah 48:10): Cursed is He Who Works With Slackness

Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

(Deut. 11:13-17): You Will Perish Quickly from The Good Land

And if you will obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be full. Take heed lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

(Psalm 107:33-34): A Salt Waste

He changes rivers into a wilderness

And springs of water [i.e., Living Water] into a thirsty ground;

A fruitful land into a salt waste [i.e., a barren land],

Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.

(Heb. 6:7-8): If Yield Is Thorns & Thistles, It Is Burned

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

(Mk 11:12-14, 20-21): Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. … As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Master, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered.”

(Lk. 19:20-23): The Parable of the Sums of Money

Then another came, saying, “Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.” He said to him, “I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?”

(Lk. 13:6-9): The Parable of the Fig Tree

A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, “Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?” And he answered him, “Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”

(Luke 3:9): Axe is At the Root

Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire [i.e., hell].

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

(Mt. 21:33-34, 41,43): The Parable of the Tenants

There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit … [When the tenants produced no fruit, the owner decided] He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons. … Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.

(Mt. 13:22): Seed Sown Among Thorns

And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Please note. According to the Centers for Disease Control:

By age 30, three-quarters of women in the U.S. have been married and about half have cohabited outside of marriage, according to a comprehensive new report on cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and remarriage released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[19]

More than 99% of women aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method.[20]

(Mk 4:19): Seed Sown Among Thorns

But the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

(John 15:6): Abide in Jesus or Be Cast into Fire

If anyone does not abide in Me [via Baptism and the Eucharist], he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Fact 1: The very Essence of a Trinitarian God includes an unceasing Dialogue among three Divine Persons which is eternally Fruitful;

Fact 2: We are created in the image and likeness of an eternally Fruitful God; and,

Fact 3: Artificial, intentional, inherent sterility destroys* the likeness of God within us.

(James 2:14-26): Faith Without Works is Dead

What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him (v. 14)? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (v. 17).

“[God] made no distinction between us and [the Gentiles], but cleansed their hearts by faith” ([Acts] 15:5-11). “Faith cleanses the heart ... Faith comes about because men are touched deep within by God’s Spirit, who opens and purifies their hearts.”[21]

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead [because we do not breath in, or exhale out, the Breath], so faith apart from works is dead” (v. 26) and, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe [SML] — and shudder” (v. 19).

(Luke 6:44): For Each Tree is Known by its Fruit

Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like ... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:19-23).

For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (Eph. 5:8-11).

(Rev. 3:15-17): I Will Spew You Out of My Mouth

I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked (Rev. 3:15-17).

[The lukewarm] are one who begins, but not one who finishes; you touch the beginning of good, but you never feed on its perfection, like the wind that blows around a person’s mouth and not the food that reaches his stomach.[24]

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit … I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him [it is through Baptism and the Eucharist that we obtain this mutual abiding. See Jn. 6:56], he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned (Jn. 15:1-2;5-6).

More Resources on the Topic of Intentional/Inherent Fruitlessness

Satan’s 100–120-year plan to destroy the Church

Born With Same-sex Attraction, Does That Mean God Wills It?

Links to Parts 1-3:

The Trinity — Our Biblical and True God;

Satan Presents to His Followers a Straw God. One whose Essence is a Lie;

Some Lies That Flow from the Straw/False God;

Why We Can Never Tolerate Same-Sex Behaviors, and;

How Does God View Same-Sex Behaviors?

Resources Revealing the Scientific Truth About Transgenderism

Transgender individuals who undergo gender-affirming medical or surgical therapies are at risk for infertility. Suppression of puberty with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist analogs (GnRHa) in the pediatric transgender patient can pause the maturation of germ cells, and thus, affect fertility potential. Testosterone therapy in transgender men can suppress ovulation and alter ovarian histology, while estrogen therapy in transgender women can lead to impaired spermatogenesis and testicular atrophy. The effect of hormone therapy on fertility is potentially reversible, but the extent is unclear. Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) that includes hysterectomy and oophorectomy in transmen or orchiectomy in transwomen results in permanent sterility.[26]

ENDNOTES:

Cited by Giles: Bonaventure, 1 Sent. D. 7, a.1, q. 2, concl.,;d. 27, 1, a. 1,q. 2, ad 3 (Opera Omnia, vol. 1, 139, 470).

Cited by Giles: Bonaventure, 1 Sent. d. 2, a. 1, q. 2, fund. 4 (Opera Omnia, vol. 1, 53).

Cited by Mainwaring (Study #1): Christopher H. Rosik, Ph.D., G. Tyler Lefevor, Ph.D., & A. Lee Beckstead, Ph.D., “Sexual Minorities who Reject an LGB Identity: Who Are They and Why Does It Matter?” Issues in Law & Medicine, Spring 2021, Volume 36, Issue 1, Article 2.

Cited by Mainwaring (as a Summary of Study #1): Andrè Van Mol, MD, “New Study Addresses Sexual Minorities Who Reject LGB Identity,” Christian Medical & Dental Associations, https://cmda.org/new-study-addresses-sexual-minorities-who-reject-lgb-identity/, April 22, 2021 (accessed 08/23/2023).

Cited by Mainwaring (Study #2): Sullins DP, Rosik CH and Santero P. Efficacy and risk of sexual orientation change efforts: a retrospective analysis of 125 exposed men [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2021, 10:222 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.51209.2).