After talking to a few friends of mine about birth control the other night, I had a little ‘light bulb’ moment.
I’m not ready to elaborate extensively on this idea yet, but here’s what I started thinking…
It seems to me that many (if not all) Christians who support the use of birth control struggle with either one or both of these related ideas:
1) The Lordship of Jesus Christ
2) The Authority of Scripture
The “what if…” questions that are so often given in response to me are usually rooted in an at least partial denial (unintentional perhaps) of one of the above points. The Bible is crystal clear about God’s view of family, marriage, and children – and any rejection of that revelation would seem to stem from a failure to apply the fact that because Jesus is Lord, His Word has authority to rule our lives, our families, and more specifically our fertility. The idea that we have the right to rule the procreative process is an idea that is completely foreign to the Bible, and one that appears to challenge a basic view of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the ’sphere of sovereignty’ know as ‘the family’. It causes a couple to ask the question: Is Jesus Christ really the head of this body, or have we dethroned him in the ‘noble’ name of stewardship? Begging the next question: When did stewardship become deciding how many ‘talents’ to be given, rather than being given a ‘talent’ from the master, and then faithfully giving an account?
What do you think?…
‘BH
13 Comments
December 11, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I think that often is is simply a lack of faith. People may not recognize that truth, but that is at the root. They begin to think, “What if we have another child?” The bills, the time, etc. Some concerns are selfish, others seem rational, until we remember that only God can open the womb. We will not have a child unless He gives us a child. And if He is giving us a child why try and stop Him?
It is a lack of faith. We cannot trust God to provide for all that we need on top of the incredible blessing He gives us in every child.
And whatever is not of faith is sin…..
Is God sovereign or not?
Phillip
December 11, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I think you’re both right. And here’s what else I think, at no extra charge: If you use birth control, there’s no way you can call yourself a Calvinist. Following that, if you think those who use birth control are actually preventing pregnancy, you have the same problem.
December 11, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Pastor Way-
I agree that in essence it is a lack of faith. It seems to me however that the lack of faith is rooted either in a lack of faith in the Lordship (hence Sovereign rule) of Jesus Christ, or a lack of faith in the authority and application of the inspired Word. I guess the question to ask would be, what are they doubting? More often than not it is a doubt in God’s Providence. But sometimes it comes as a doubt that God would expect them not to use birth control. The latter one is quite intriguing to me…
David-
I have often thought about your Calvinism comments and the birth control question. And I’ve actually heard it turned around by pro-birth control people who say, “If you really believe God is sovereign, and he wants you to have a kid, then birth control won’t be able to stop it, etc.” But I would like to really sit down sometime and hammer out the relationship between the ‘Sovereign God of the family’ and ‘responsibility of the family’… Thanks for all the links btw.
December 11, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Have I said that here before? Sorry, I don’t mean to be a broken record.
I would say that the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man in reproduction (or anything else in which man has a part) is the same as that in salvation. Man is commanded to believe and repent, and held entirely responsible. Yet God sovereignly elects those who will, and no one foils his plan. I’ll leave that for you to explain. It gives me a headache.
December 12, 2007 at 12:28 am
The headache is mutual….lol
December 13, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I have had this discussion with lots and lots of people. Here are two comments:
1. The majority of the Christians I have talked to that espouse the view against ever taking any form of birth control are single. Of course that isn’t 100%, and I dont intend that to sound mean…just truthful. I am getting to be an old fart now, and the majority of my friends are married. Perhaps 30 to 40% of them in the past would have agreed with Hank’s post. Now, I would say less than 10%. You can take that two ways I realize. First, you could just say they have a lack of faith in God’s sovereignty, and that is possible. Perhaps too you could attribute it to gained wisdom.
2. (This is an old and seemingly worn out reason, but I have never gotten around it) If you say that not using any form of birth control is where true submission to Christ’s Lordship is found, then why dont you submit in other physical areas? For example, why do you take vaccines? Isnt Christ lord over future viruses? Why do you take aspirin when you get a headache? Isnt Christ lord over you feeling your headache 10 minutes from now? Now, the reply to this usually (I am not putting words in your mouth–if you wouldnt reply this way then just say so) that having children is a blessing whereas having a virus is not, but this is beginning to get on fuzzy ground. Who is man to say what is and is not a blessing from a SOVEREIGN God? I mean that last statement truthfully and not as a trite argument. Those of you who know my story know how acquainted I have become with sickness, pain, and death.
December 13, 2007 at 4:00 pm
environmentalchristian,
Your first comment is worth noting. It certainly is easier to talk about trusting God when it’s only theoretical. All of us probably fail at some point, after having talked the talk, to follow through when theory becomes reality. Many of my friends have done the same in this case — I’ve struggled with it myself — and most of them would probably call it “gained wisdom”. But calling it that does not make it so. Here’s one who , after being given eight children, is glad he never gain that “wisdom”.
Your second comment is indeed “old and worn out.” Sicknesses and injuries can in no way be compared to pregnancy and childbirth. It isn’t just that children are blessings and viruses are not. Sickness is a defect, and a result of the fall. It is a sign that our bodies are not working according to design. Jesus healed these things, and we ought to do so, too. A working reproductive system is not a defect, but a design of the Creator. It does not need to be healed. On the contrary, infertility is a defect to be healed, if possible.
God certainly is sovereign over all these things, and uses them for his glory. But there is nothing fuzzy about which are intrinsically good or bad. Anything that works the way God created it to work is good, and needs no remedy.
December 13, 2007 at 5:40 pm
David,
Your point about the fall is an important point, and I think a good one. That is great that you have 8 kids. I hope you dont feel attacked or accused in any way by my comments. Personally I cant wait to have kids. I would say two things in response:
First, although sickness is a response to the fall and a horrible thing it is not correct to simply label physical infirmities as “bad” and then write them off. God causes some men to be born infertile and some men to be born fertile. In reference to this I would point to 2 Cor. 12. or John 9.
Second, I would say that you are ignoring the larger point made about sovereignty. In Hank’s article he argued that the reason many use birth control is because they struggle with either:
1) The Lordship of Jesus Christ or,
2) The Authority of Scripture
Specifically, he mentions struggling through the “what ifs”. Hank states, “Jesus is Lord, His Word has authority to rule our lives, our families, and more specifically our fertility.” I am totally on board with this although I am not sure which passage he is talking about specifically on fertility. As a Calvinist these words humm in my ears. However, in both cases of sickness and birthcontrol we are acting to control the circumstances. If someone is to argue that, “Bill takes birthcontrol because he really doesnt believe that God is in control of his having kids.” Then, the same argument can in fairness be sent right back if they are using other means to control their body.
Just as an aside by the way. I have heard some point to birth control pills as a form of abortion because the third method they work is through degrading the sticky membrane on the uterine wall. Thus, if the first two methods fail and the egg is fertilized it still wont stick to the wall and will be aborted. If anyone knows if this is true then please pass along links or articles.
December 13, 2007 at 8:08 pm
environmentalchristian,
thanks for the comments, you bring up some common questions.
I’d like you to realize the somewhat inconsistent way you are addressing this issue. In the comment above, you stated that “God causes some men to be born infertile and some men to be born fertile”. However, in your system, what God ’causes’ is always something that men have the right to overcome – much like sickness. But (and David’s point is important here) in Scripture, pregnancy is NEVER viewed as something to be overcome (enter stage 1 of family planning biblical principles). In fact, as you note, God ‘closed’ many wombs in Scripture, but each time it caused the affected party to erupt in ardent prayer for an ‘open’ womb (stage 2 biblical principles, if you will). But again, never do we see a case of a woman praying for the Lord to withhold children from her (which is just the application of what she does when she uses birth control). Biblically speaking, we see only the affirmative desire for children – both in fertile and infertile couples – and that desire is always pointed upward (though sometimes it is pointed inward, in cases such as Hagar, etc.)
But back to the issue at hand. Your system breaks down hard at this point: the extent of bodily dominion. It seems that you are assuming complete and total dominion over the human body – including the reproductive system; an assumption that is, again, found no where in Scripture – especially in terms of ‘begetting’ children. Man can not ‘will’ himself a child – but he can ‘beget’ one in procreation — hence human dominion is checked at this point. As true as anywhere, in procreation, the good Lord giveth, and the good Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Think for one moment on a procedure that I believe we both would reject as unbiblical: a sex change operation. If we were to apply your principles consistently at this point, we would have no grounds to argue against it – since we would merely be “controlling our body”. At some point you yourself would make a distinction in your system – but it just so happens that currently you are not willing to distinguish between sickness and pregnancy the same way you are to a sex change (the issue being of course that God created someone a man, so they should stay a man…right? – But didn’t God create a particular woman fertile, therefore expecting her to stay that way?)
*As to your aside on abortifacient pills, what you heard is correct. “Some” pills do cause a very early abortion, and there is a common belief that any birth control pill has the possibility of doing the same thing. I don’t have any links or articles handy, but a quick google search should yield you plenty of info.
December 13, 2007 at 9:53 pm
I think Hank has answered pretty well. I just have a couple things to add.
First – “… in both cases of sickness and birthcontrol we are acting to control the circumstances.”
And I have no problem with that. I turn the heat on in Winter and the air conditioning in Summer to control my circumstances. I need to do that because the earth does not maintain a constant temperature as it did when created. The problem is not that we are controlling our circumstances, but that we are attempting to do so in a way that circumvents God’s design.
Second – “… it is not correct to simply label physical infirmities as ‘bad’ and then write them off.”
I would not then write them off, but say that “God works all things together for good …” God’s creation was, in his words, “good.” Illnesses were not a part of that. They are bad, though God sovereignly controls them and uses them for good.
December 14, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Hey Hank,
Thanks for answering. To be honest, I don’t totally understand your points. Maybe you can clarify them a little.
No, I would not say that we have dominion over our bodies. I do not assume that using a condom will prevent pregnancy. I also do not assume that having sex will get you pregnant. There are obvious causes and effects, however. In fact, I would take it farther. The sovereign God does as He wants; all the time. Taking a birth control pill is totally irrelevant compared to God’s plan for your future pregnancy.
What I would say though is that we draw the line somewhere…you and I both. I would say that it is ok for a married couple to have sex using a condom recognizing that in life there is an obvious connection between using a condom and not using a condom, and yet at the same time say, “God I am not scorning your gift, if we do get pregnant then that is your will, great!”
I would submit that changing your sex would constitute a clear sin. I recognize that you consider it a sin to use a condom. The distinction I would draw would be that taking an aspirin or not taking an aspirin is not a sin either way. However, clearly we would never see in scripture someone asking God to “give them a headache” this makes no sense. As well as this it makes no sense to even look for a place in scripture where a woman prays “Lord close my womb” this goes against an obvious nature of things.
Your argument in the beginning was that people use forms of birth control because they don’t really believe that God is sovereign. What I am asking is, “If you believe that God is sovereign then why do you take aspirin?” God also gave you the gift of a functioning brain. The answer is that you have drawn your line before this. We have the right, you said, to overcome sickness. That is fine. In fact, I agree with this to the extent that if God says no to your healing then you submit to His will. The point is that you are diverging from sovereignty. In taking aspirin you are assuming, “complete and total dominion over the human body.”
I do admit, by the way, that sometimes (or most of the time) using birth control options is simply people not trusting Christ. I think all of us here easily recognize this point. It does not seem to me necessarily so, however.
Thanks guys,
Clint
January 15, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hank,
What about this “what if” – an unexpected c-section for the first child and the subsequent c-sections on later children (which necessitates further c-sections if there are to be more children, as in this particular situation the lining of the uterus is an issue). The couple wants to submit to the lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture. However, doctors are urging caution (in fact, the practice that delivered the last one will not deliver more than three because of potential liability insurance costs for their practice, although the doctor says the couple is probably good for one more at least, and recommends somewhere like a university hospital which would have a higher ceiling on their insurance). It seems like a rock and a hard place. The husband and wife initially started wanting their children whenever they came, but they don’t want the wife to die because of recklessness given the situation they’re now in.
Just curious.
And I am referring to a specific, real-life situation that I know personally, because it’s my own.
January 15, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Brother Doug,
I appreciate the sincere question. There are no doubt couples all over the place that share in similar situations, and are asking the same questions.
The most important thing to discern in every situation such as this is: “Are there technologies available to me that are incongruent with God’s will for families?” If we come away from Scripture convinced by sound reason and the conviction of the Holy Spirit that birth control is rebellion against God’s will for our marriages, then we are left with only two options: obey or disobey. Before any other question or situation can be addressed, this one must be settled. And only then does the answer to “what do we do next” become crystal clear: we must faithfully obey.
If this is where you find yourself, be encouraged. God does not forsake his children for trusting his will for their lives. Of all things, He alone is worthy of our trust, and obedience (which has been, and is being, perfected in us through Christ). The Bible says that God gives grace to humble, and that he knows how to give good gifts to his children. God is not hiding his will for your family. If you seek it, I have no doubt that you will find it – and you will find the strength to walk in it as well.
‘BH