“The Five Points Of Birth Control-ism,” And Why They’re A Hard Pill To Swallow

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Many of my thoughts on this discussion were prompted by the book by Christian ethicist, Paul Ramsey entitled, Fabricated Man.

• T – Total dominion. (Ps. 127:3-5, Gen. 29:31-30:6; 30:22, 33:5; 16:2; 20:18; Lev. 20:20-21; Job 42:12-13; Luke 1:58; 1 Sam. 1:10-11.) Many evangelicals today assume that they have total dominion over the procreative process. We don’t ask, “Has God given me the right to do this?” Rather, we assume that since we have the power to do so, then we have the moral prerogative to choose. To paraphrase the Christian ethicist Paul Ramsey, the presumption that man has total dominion over procreation is “enough to give unconditional baptism to any future medical or genetic technology, since from the means will come the goals they reach.” God himself reserves total dominion over procreation. That is not something that He has relinquished over to the hands of men. He shows this all over Scripture, in “procreation” being omitted from the Gen. 1:28 command of dominion, in both the curse of the woman and the offspring “from the Lord” in Gen. 3, and the trend continues through Psalm 139, all the way into the NT, where God again is the one who opens and closes the womb – not man.

• U – Unbridled Relational Primacy. (Heb. 13:4; 1 Thess. 4:4) In addition to man’s total dominion, many evangelicals assume that unbridled relational primacy in marriage is either a given, or implied by God’s observation that “it is not good that man should be alone.” Besides this idea being a relatively new addition to the Christian theology of the family, it fails to address the obvious fact that men and women are ‘wired’ to procreate – and it is only by a willful circumvention of that created state that a marital union would not reproduce (apart from medical infertility). You hear often that “I wanted to enjoy my wife and get to know her for a year before we had children.” Well, besides the fact that this mindset is mighty presumptuous to assume that child bearing is a switch that you can turn off and on at will; Paul Ramsey notes that, “To put radically asunder what nature and nature’s God joined together in parenthood when he made love procreative, and to disregard the foundation of the covenant of marriage and the covenant of parenthood in the reality that makes for a loving procreation, and to attempt to soar so high above an eminently human parenthood, is inevitably to fall far below – into a vast technological alienation of man.” Oliver O’Donovan reminds us that “the procreative and relational aspects of marriage strengthen one another, and each is threatened by the loss of the other. This is a knot tied by God, which men should not untie.”

• L – Lack of Wisdom. Many evangelicals assume that not using birth control to “plan your parenthood” (if you will) exhibits a lack of wisdom and discernment on the part of responsible families. After all, they say, I’m not making enough money right now to support a wife AND children. But all this is upside down. Who says you should get married if you can’t support a family? Since when were you forced to get married without the means to support what would naturally spring from such a relationship? Listen to what Martin Luther had to say about it: “Although it is very easy to marry a wife, it is very difficult to support her along with the children and the household. Accordingly, no one notices this faith of Jacob. Indeed, many hate fertility in a wife for the sole reason that the offspring must be supported and brought up. For this is what they commonly say: ‘Why should I marry a wife when I am a pauper and a beggar? I would rather bear the burden of poverty alone and not load myself with misery and want.’ But this blame is unjustly fastened on marriage and fruitfulness. Indeed, you are indicting your unbelief by distrusting God’s goodness, and you are bringing greater misery upon yourself by disparaging God’s blessing. For if you had trust in God’s grace and promises, you would undoubtedly be supported. But because you do not hope in the Lord, you will never prosper.”

• I -Independent Decision. (Gen. 1:28; 1 Tim. 5:14; 2:15; Gen. 38:9-10) Many evangelicals assume that the use of birth control is an independent decision to be made by each couple (which decision is encouraged by many pastors to be preceded by prayer and discernment). Sound’s good enough, right? Not quite. First, as has been alluded to above, the very idea of birth control is foreign to the Bible, and any decision to forbear from having children would have been seen as an affront to the Abrahamic covenant, which promised as many offspring as the stars . (Gen 38 is one instance of “birth control,” but it is put in a very negative light) Secondly, the individualistic idea of “family planning” is purely a product of Western democratic influence. Our culture is ingrained with the idea that everything can be put to a vote – even procreation itself. Thirdly, lest we forget, children are a blessing and reward (Psalm 127:3-5). God has ordered our bodies (and our marriages) to produce these blessings. To use a spiritual analogy, think about it this way: Have you ever prayed that no one would get saved (born again) at your Church? Why not? Because that’s in total opposition to the very idea of a Church. We understand that new believers are a blessing to a Church family, and a reward for faithful ministry. You don’t need prayer and discernment to tell you that. But why do we have a different rule for our families? We pray that God would withhold what His Word tells us is a blessing and a reward to a marriage. We claim to discern what God wants for ‘our’ marriage, when he has already spoken in both nature and revelation that the union of a man and a woman is inexorably linked to procreation.

• P – Presumption of Fertility. Finally, many evangelicals assume that they control their own fertility. With the latest data telling us that 1 in 6 couples today are diagnosed as infertile, those couples who chose to use birth control (often during the most fertile time of their lives – from about 18-25) often are under the presumption that fertility is under their control, and it is unaffected by time or the chemicals in birth control medication. Although this presumption is a natural one, it is one that should be had in the context of an openness to children, and not an aversion to them. When God cursed the woman and said “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children” in Genesis 3, what was the assumption? It was that women would be “childbearing” – not “birth controlling”.

Flower or no flower, we are called to form our view of marriage, procreation, and parenthood from the Bible – NOT from assumptions that we pick up from culture, even if that culture does claim to be evangelical. As Christopher Ash notes so eloquently, “It is true that God builds his new covenant people by placing his (spiritual) seed within men and women so that they are born into his family. But the people in whom he does this regenerative work are men and women who have already been born naturally.”

Keep it real, Flush the pill,

‘BH

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