One of the topics we covered in our three-part series on America’ s turn towards moral degeneracy was the acceptance of birth control, which rated highest on the list at 90%. That is a huge percentage of an American population that, by and large, rejects God and His Word. In order to understand why this is so popular and why it is an issue, it is most important to derive a theology of children from the Bible. We will start there, then discuss different types of birth control.
What do we know from the Bible about children? Consider Psalm 127:3-5
“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
Clearly, God views children as special and important. They are a reward from God, and a person with multiple children is considered “happy”, probably better thought of as “fortunate”. Many families in the past had lots of children. This was not considered a curse, but a blessing. Certainly part of that was the help that they could provide in household duties, and part of it was the high potential for a child to die in infancy, but part of it was people had a more Biblical understanding. They understood that children were not a hindrance to the parent’s plan, but a blessing from God to be cherished.
Of course, as our society slowly shifted from a Biblical ethos to a purely secular one, mostly guided by the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s (which has its origins in the church accepting evolution in the early 1900s), children began to be seen not as a blessing, but a curse. Instead of forming families, people began to focus solely on careers and viewed children as a nuisance. This led to the rise of abortions and contraceptives.
Contraceptives were hardly new. Margaret Sanger and what became Planned Parenthood had been pushing contraceptives for the poor, particularly minorities, for years. However, their widespread use and popularity took off with the sexual revolution. It was around this time that radical feminism took shape, which encouraged women to pursue careers and do everything men did. Since neither husband nor wife was often at home, families became less of a priority and the birth rate began to decline. The rise of abortion did nothing but make smaller families even more common as children were sacrificed on the altar of convenience.
Abortions have never been the goal. Margaret Sanger made it clear she wanted to promote, not abortion, which she referred to as murder (Yes she did, see note at the bottom of the article), but the use of contraceptives. She wanted to snuff out human lives before there was a need for abortion. In her wildest dreams, I doubt she ever foresaw the day when 90% of Americans would accept her agenda.
It is important to note that there are two broad types of contraceptives (other than abstinence). One type is murder, the other is not murder. It is important in any discussion of birth control or contraceptives to make distinctions between the two because one ends a human life, the other prevents it from starting. We will not be getting into what specific types of birth control do, that’s beyond the scope of what we do. Instead, we will just quickly overview the two major types so people can at minimum make informed decisions.
The first type of contraceptive is something that works post-fertilization. The popular “morning-after pill” would be a good example of this. These can work any number of ways but they all share one thing in common: they perform their effect after fertilization. This means that every time one of these methods is used, and is successful, human life ends. Now obviously not every time people have sex does the woman get pregnant, even without birth control. However, every time birth control pills or whatever else are successful in this way, human life is snuffed out. This method of contraceptive is murder and Christians should have nothing to do with it.
The second type of contraceptive works to prevent fertilization. This type is either external or a pill the prevents fertilization. This type is not murder. Since fertilization does not occur, by definition, no human life exists, therefore a murder cannot, by definition, be committed. That said, it would be wise to consider the implications of this form of birth control. Given that the Bible regards children as a blessing, it would behoove Christians to consider very carefully before employing one of these methods.
Birth control is a touchy topic, and understandably so. It is important to understand it from a Biblical perspective. From such a Biblical perspective, anything that works after fertilization is murder. It ends the developing life of a child. While that first method is obviously wrong, the second is more nuanced. I will not make a law where Scripture does not, but I think the principle of children being a blessing is pretty clear. There would need to be a pretty strong reason for me to reject the possibility of that blessing and even then I’m not sure I would. You make your own decision based on your understanding of Scripture and your situation. Just educate yourself on your method of choice to ensure your birth control is not a pseudonym for murder.
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End Note: Yes Margaret Sanger actually called abortion murder. See below with reference link:
“Birth Control will prevent abortion. It will do away with the practice of taking drugs and poisonous nostrums. It will put an end to the tens of thousands of illegal operations to which women resort in despair. Mothers will not submit to the murder of unborn children when they can control conception.”
In His Image 