Is contraception against the will of God

[yvuj]

Please give me some reason why some christian says that contraceptive is against to the will of God.

[Saved_4ever]

I don't know of the scriptures some will use but some would say that it subverts the point and plan of God to do so.

Some will argue that its only purpose is to have wrongful sex (very strange idea from those I've heard use it, if you're married).

My Aunt feels this way and fully trusts that if the Lord wants you to have a child you will get pregnant and like wise vice versa.

Since being saved she and her husband have stuck by this belief and have only had one child since in 11 years.  It's enough to make me believe it to be true.

Most of the time contraception is used as a means to have premarital sex and believe that it's existance promotes such behavior.   To this I can sort of agree but I personally have no scripture to give for it and have not bothered to study it.  I'm not married so at the moment any sexual activity would be sinful and blatantly against the Word.

[Corpus]

There is nothing in the bible whatsoever about the use of contraceptives.

Explicitly? No, but implicitly, perhaps. Keep in the mind that there's nothing in scripture about bounding fragmentation mines, but placing one in my neighbor's yard could hardly be justified on that account.


Consider the following:

WHAT DOES the Bible say about contraception? "Nothing!" reply many today--including  many biblical scholars. Yet traditional manuals of moral theology cite Genesis 38:6-10 as an argument against contraception. Does this passage have anything to offer on the question? Let's look at the text:

"Judah got a wife named Tamar for his firstborn, Er. But Er, Judah's firstborn, greatly offended the Lord, so the Lord took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, 'Unite with your brother's widow, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother's line.'

"Onan, however, knew that the descendents would not be counted as his; so, whenever he had relations with his brother's widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother. What he did greatly offended the Lord, and the Lord took his life too."

Onan was supposed to marry his deceased brother's childless widow. This practice, known as the Levirate law (from the Latin levir, meaning "a husband's brother"), was required by the Law of Moses (Deut. 25:5-10) and was intended to insure an unmarried brother would "raise up seed for the deceased brother that his name be not blotted out of Israel."

The argument against contraception, specifically coitus interruptus, based on this passage used to be considered straightforward. In recent years, both Protestant and Catholic commentators have downplayed, if not outright rejected, the anti-contraception interpretation of this text. Their argument goes like this: Onan's sin consisted solely in his abandonment of his familial obligations to his dead brother. Onan performed the act which bears his name because the child which might have resulted would have been counted as his brother's, rather than his own--something Onan found intolerable.

The difficulty with this argument is that violation of the Levirate law was not a capital offense. If a man didn't fulfill his obligations to his deceased brother's wife, she was to take the matter to the elders, who would counsel him and try to persuade him to change his mind. If he persisted, the widow was to "go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, saying publicly, 'This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother's family!'" (Deut. 25:9).

While such a punishment might be embarrassing, it falls short of the death sentence Onan received for his act. This suggests he sinned not only by violating the Levirate law, but also by the way in which he did so. The kind of act he committed was so despicable that, in the Old Testament context, it was punishable by death.

John Kippley, in Covenant, Christ and Contraception (New York: Alba House, 1970, page 19), explains it this way:

"Onan went through the motions of the life-giving act but refused to accept the consequences. He withdrew in order that the act could carry no reproductive consequences . . . [H]e went through the motions of the Levirate covenant, but he denied the reality of that covenant."

By acting contraceptively, Onan robbed gotcha146 of its life-giving meaning and acted against the good of his potential offspring's life. Both his intent and his concrete actions were against life. As a result, Onan received the Old Testament penalty for his crime.

[Corpus]

What’s the reason to use them in a marriage?  Because sometimes it is outright stupid and foolish to have children,

Silver,

I think it would help if you gave some examples.

I also think it is important to notice how the Christian arguments in favor of birth control have proliferated at the same time as the abortion mentality has established its death grip on our culture. Culturally, the birth control mindset is the mother of abortion. Both celebrate choice; both view children as a burden; both ignore God’s plan for multiplying children as a vehicle for the spread of his kingdom. Christians have been immersed in the polluted well of humanist thought, and, though most may have rejected the overt philosophy of humanism, they have nonetheless conformed their practice to that which grows from the humanist worldview . . . the Christian who is challenged on the subject of birth control would do well to consider if his practice is the fruit of the Word or of the world

[Shammu]

Genesis 38:8-10 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.

What does Scripture itself tell us? This objection is nice speculation, but Scripture only gives us that God kills him after he had sex with his new wife, and withdrew from her to avoid her having children: (birth control.)  He is specifically said to destroy the seed, not merely spill seed, as we have seen. It doesn't tell us he 'thought this, or thought that', but what he DID was wicked in the Lord's sight, so he put him to death. This willful destruction of seed is an awful deed.

It is true that God does not punish directly today and in the New Covenant, in the exact same way that he punished Onan in Genesis 38. We know that adultery in the OT is treated differently than adultery in the NT (at least in reference to temporal consequences, although eternal consequences would be the same). Jesus did not stone the woman for adultery. Likewise, we are not called to stone women for adultery. However, the principles of morality established are carried over as well into the New Testament, even if the consequences are different. God would also be just as opposed to contraception now, as he was then, even if he doesn't directly kill people now, just as he doesn't directly kill adulterers now. However, God is opposed to adultery back then, just as he is opposed to adultery now. In the same way, God opposed birth control back then (as evidenced by Genesis 38) as he opposes birth control now.

 Scripture tells us that sex in the marriage covenant is the renewal of a covenant. Likewise, in Acts 5:1-11, Ananias and Sapphira went through the motions of a covenantal act but defrauded it, and both were stricken dead when they each engaged in this deception. Onan's responsibility in Genesis 38 to Tamar was a covenenantal obligation; so was the obligation of Ananias and Sapphira to be honest with the apostles. The act of marital intercourse is also a covenantal act intended by the Creator to be a renewal of the faith and caring love pledged at marriage. The Onan account directly supports the Christian Tradition that we are obliged not to defraud this covenantal act by contraception, and the Ananias-Sapphira account shows how seriously God takes the defrauding of covenantal acts.

I pray this helps you out.
Bob

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

[Saved_4ever]

[quote author=Silver

God expects us to act responsibly, and sometimes this means not having too many children in a marriage.  Contraceptives are a RESPONSIBLE way to avoid the burden of too many children.  

There is nothing in the bible whatsoever about the use of contraceptives.

Many, many married couples use contraceptives (so no, most of the time its not for premarital sex, Saved_4ever).  What’s the reason to use them in a marriage?  Because sometimes it is outright stupid and foolish to have children, and God expects us to use our brains.

God bless,
Silver

I have no numbers in front of me but I would contest that the number of people using contraceptives (not that everyone would even admit to such) is MUCH higher among non married peoples.

To Corpus and Dreamweaver I'd have to say, those two similar if not the same, expositions seem a little off from the what the scripture is actually saying.  I have seen this same scripture used to say the er um "self pleasure" if you will is wrong and I can't see that at all from these verses.  I'm going to have to kindly disagree with the thought derived here.

At least though, it doesn't say that Ananias and Sapphira were killed for not giving money to the church hence proving that one should give EVERYTHING to the church.

[Hurting]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

[Bronzesnake]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

You're 100% correct. God gave us fre will. He also told us that those who exercised this free will to deny Him, would walk into an eternal Lake of Fire of their own free will.

Bronzesnake

[nChrist]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

Maybe because many people make a mess out of their lives.

[Tibby]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

You’re right, things like the bible, our Parents (as children), or pastor and other respectable men of God we know and trust. Yeah, if we CHOOSE to listen to them, it would go against our free will.

Ok, all sarcasm aside, that is dangerously close of Theological Anarchy. We have free-will, the have the choice to be a Christian or not, a choice to be a member of a particular group of the Church or not. You wouldn’t join the Army, and then refuse to wear the uniform or go to Basic Training because it “goes against your free-will” would you? You can’t have all the benefits of being a member of a group, and not follow the rules (unless you’re a Kennedy )!

[2nd Timothy]

Talk about a hot button issue!  


I don't believe the bible directly addresses this issue anywhere.   I have seen the Gen 38 argument about it before, but I tend to agree with s4e regarding it.   What was God really displeased about that Onan did?   Was it that he withdrew spilling his seed?  Or was it that He put His will ahead of his fathers request?    Since messiah was to come from Judah, He was also in a sense negating that too.    Also of interest in the passage, (to me anyways) is that Onan was aware of this technique in regards to contraception albeit not very effective.   Seems one could argue that passage all day though.

I don't see where it would go against God to raise a family wisely.   Would having more children than you could properly support or raise be a wise thing to do?   Before someone says that "God says not to fret for tomorrow or what you will eat", would it be prudent to not go out and seek work whereby you could afford to eat, but instead wait for manna to fall out of the sky?   God has entrusted us with properly raising our families and put US in charge of that.   We don't sit around waiting for God to raise our children, WE must do it as we are entrusted with that.   What about people that never marry?   Are they sinning because God said be fruitful and multiply?   No!

You could probably pose the same argument about modern medicine as well.    Is it wrong to take medication that would alter the natural course of ones death?   I would say no!

No where does Gods word say its a sin to use controception (that I can see), but I would certainly spend some time praying about what God says to you concerning it.

I would add that I definitely think it would be wrong to use controception that causes the death of the fetus.   This would indeed be immoral.   Which raises even more questions about which type of controception would be acceptable.

I know there are probably many opinions about this, but Gods is the only one that matters.  Ask Him what He would have you do.  

Grace and Peace!

[M]

There is really a broad range of belief among Christians about contraception.  There are the "quiverful" conservatives who believe they should have as many "little blessings" as nature and God allows in their marriage.  There WERE the Shakers who had men and women living in separate dormitories and shared a communal lifestyle.  They didn't believe in marriage or having their own children (they were celibate).  They were only allowed to increase their numbers through adoption of orphaned children and by conversions.  The Shaker sect died out, conservative Christians are still around, in large numbers.

There must have been some reason for Genesis 1:28  "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number, full the earth, and subdue it."    After all the Creator of the earth and all things gave humans and all living things the ability to reproduce.  Possibly because creating is a good thing.  So particularly for humans, sex isn't just for recreation, it's for procreation or why would God have given us the ability to sexually reproduce?  Some Christians do believe that God will limit the size of their families just as God limits our lifespan.  Although that is no comfort at all the Christians who have no children due to infertility problems.

I have no problem with good Christian parents having 10 or 12 children.  It is just that most North Americans and Europeans see having many children as a problem.  They feel there are limiting factors to their family size.  North Americans tend to limit their family numbers to what they can fit in a minivan.  Their complaint is that it is irresponsible to have more children than they can afford to educate, pay for medical insurance and drive around.  In countries where there is free education and medical care, some people still only have two children or less because of other limiting factors:  home size (Sweden), government policy (China).  

In ideal situations, why don't Chrisitians have more children?   It is their unGodly attitude that doesn't allow them to put God in control of their lives and see children as a blessing.

Contraception is nothing new.  Various crude methods and herbs were used by the ancient Romans.  Many ancient cultures had herbs they used to either help get pregnant, stop pregnancies or prevent them.  More often, unwanted children (with bad parents) would just leave their newborns outside to die.  If adoption was acceptable then, it would have been practiced.  Adoption and saving of orphans is a Christian idea.  Adoption is being attacked and destroyed now along with abortion being promoted.

Some methods of contraception such as abortion and IUD's are objectionable to Christians.  Some Christians believe that the baby's life starts at conception.  Some Christians don't believe in using any form of artificial means of contraception and will obstain from sex during the fertile part of a woman's cycle.  Others still will only have sex when the woman is most fertile.  

As for what I believe,  I really wish I knew why I don't have any children.  I am willing to believe God knows what is best for me.  Not all Christians should have 20 children nor is that God's will for them.  Jesus did not have any children while he lived on this earth among us.  Paul the Apostle didn't have any children and preferred to remain celibate.  Good Christian parents should be encouraged to have more children.

[Rock77]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

You're 100% correct. God gave us fre will. He also told us that those who exercised this free will to deny Him, would walk into an eternal Lake of Fire of their own free will.

Bronzesnake

what does this have to do with contraception???

[Bronzesnake]

Not at all.
Ever heard of Free Will?
Why should we follow something/someone who tell us how to live our life?

You're 100% correct. God gave us fre will. He also told us that those who exercised this free will to deny Him, would walk into an eternal Lake of Fire of their own free will.

Bronzesnake

what does this have to do with contraception???

She brought up free will.

Are you sad today my friend? Is life getting you down? You seem like you've lost all hope. I'll keep praying for you my friend. Hey, if you need to talk I'm here for you my brother/sister.

Bronzesnake

[2nd Timothy]

I think one has to be careful about making a doctrine that is not clearly outlined in scripture.   Is there such a doctrine in scripture about controception?   Not that I can see.   We are free in Christ when we are not going directly against what His word teaches.   I think this might be a good place to mention the verse about working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.   Strong emphasis on fear and trembling.    

Grace and Peace!