Christians, Contraceptives and Children

I recently came across an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on evangelicals and contraception (HT: Sharper Iron Filings). Let me provide some excerpt and then pose some questions.

A Harris Poll conducted online in September 2005 shows that evangelicals overwhelmingly support birth control (88%).

A recent New York Times article on the subject, it is true, quoted Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, saying that the separation between sex and procreation caused by contraceptives is “ominous.” But he also went on to say that “evangelical couples may, at times, choose to use contraceptives in order to plan their families and enjoy the pleasures of the marital bed.”…

Protestants’ acceptance of contraception has a relatively short history. The 1930 Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops was the first Christian church body to authorize the use of contraceptives within marriage, even as it condemned certain motives for using it, like “selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience.” The introduction of the birth control pill in the 1950s and 1960s offered “free love” to society at large; married evangelicals embraced its convenience and effectiveness. …

A minority movement within evangelical circles… oppose(s) contraception not merely on pro-life grounds but also on the grounds that artificial contraception inhibits the possibility of children, in effect, offering a “thanks, but no thanks” (or at least “not right now”) response to God’s blessing to “be fruitful and multiply.”…For those who marry, the “my body, my choice” attitude contributes to a contraception culture that places fulfillment of personal desires ahead of God’s desires.

Some evangelicals charge that the Pill has contributed to the moral breakdown of society; perhaps, but evangelicals’ embrace of the contraception culture has not helped. It may have made Christianity sexier to potential adherents but diminished a public understanding of marriage in the process. For evangelicals, this may be a bitter pill to swallow.

Why do you use contraceptives?

Is convenience or lifestyle motivating your decisions? Do you view children as a hassle rather than a blessing? Are you trying to avoid the responsibility and difficulty of raising a family for God? Have you thought through your decision from a Biblical perspective, or are you just going with the flow?

Are you using birth control to best provide for the largest family possible, or are you merely trying to stick to a self-determined number of children. Are you intending to have a large family since God explicitly teaches that a large family is a blessing from God?

Do you know what Scripture teaches about children?

Have you studied all that Scripture teaches about children? Do you know that the Bible abundantly proclaims that a large family is a blessing from God? Do you wonder why women today choose to be barren whereas women in the Bible viewed barrenness as a curse and sought help from God when barren? Have you considered that God wants to redeem a people (not individuals) to Himself: that His covenant extends “to you and your children”?

Rebecca received this blessing from her family before leaving to become Isaac’s wife: “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate…” . Does this surprise or shock you? Why would such a blessing be so unpopular today? Do you look down on people with large families, as if they are just lazy or stupid or something?

What about the pill?

Are you aware that the pill is sometimes an abortifacient: that it often (once a year or more, even) does not prevent ovulation but rather prevents a fertilized egg from impanting into the uterus. Do you know that the scientific community has radically redefined the term conception?

Finally, will you purpose to consider this issue from a Biblical perspective?

Will you be willing to follow the leading of God and His Word despite how it may affect you personally? Will you be willing to respect children more and view large families in a positive light? Will you seek to appropriate God’s blessing of children in more intentional ways (perhaps even through adoption)?

For Further Study

Note: The following articles take different positons on this issue. Yet each takes a high view of Scripture. I think there is freedom to disagree on the issue, but not freedom to think secularly on the issue. Whatever we decide let us make the decision as a Christian and in accord with Scripture. To that end, the following articles may prove useful.

• Excerpts from the foreward for Nancy Campbell’s book Be Fruitful and Multiply—by Douglas Phillips (purchase the book here)
• Being Fruitful: A Biblical View of Birth Control
• Is Birth Control Morally Permissible?
• Is Birth Control Biblical–by Tony Warren
• Does the Bible Permit Birth Control?–by the Desiring God staff
• Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?–by Randy Alcorn

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7