Birth Control and Reformed Christian Ethics

The issue of birth control and the Christian is one that has become quite a debated topic in today’s evangelical circles. In one sense, that is a very good thing. It means that married believers (and those soon to be married) are willing to be confronted by the heart that God has for families, for marriages, and for sex. In a Reformed Christian context, this consideration takes into account a sovereignly good God, who from ages past, has laid out for himself a Church to be redeemed from every nation, tribe, and tongue — by means of the preaching of his blessed Gospel — for the glory of Jesus Christ. One thing that every Reformed Christian affirms is that God has a plan — and that plan, which is perfectly, gloriously good, includes every aspect of our lives — right down (if not especially) to procreation.

For hundreds of years, this understanding of God’s plan for families had been settled by the entirety of the Christian church. Not one orthodox Protestant theologian previous to the turn of the 19th century believed that what we have termed “family planning” was a Scriptural conception reflecting biblical principles for marriage and family. Not one. The context we find ourselves in today is quite different, though the issues have not changed much at all. While the means of contraception have advanced quite a bit, the heart-set and mind-set behind it have remained static throughout history. Therefore, to help the reader evaluate the ethical and theological nature of the practice I’ve linked to a few posts below (with excerpts) that I believe may be the most helpful in laying a thought-provoking foundation for the discussion. Above all, let us remember, you have been bought with a price brothers and sisters, “therefore, glorify God in your bodies” (1 Cor 6:20).

‘BH

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

…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..

Birth Control and the Magic Bullet: Why Negative Stewardship Is An Obvious Dud

…If this Master was upset at a servant who received a talent but did nothing with it, do we really want to know how he would respond if his servant refused to accept the stewardship at all?

And yet, when it comes to birth control, we do that very thing! And then have the bravado to claim we are doing it in “the name of stewardship”! Think for a moment about what stewardship really means. At its very foundation, as we saw in the parable above, it implies (and demands) acceptance of that which is to be stewarded. Webster’s defines it as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. A servant who refuses to accept the Master’s talent may be many things, but he is no steward – in fact, he is the negation of a steward – one who refuses to carefully and responsibly managing something entrusted to one’s care…

Where Do Babies Come From?: Why It’s Crucial That We View Children As Begotten, Not Made

…As Christians, we must reject this humanistic idea of children and procreation. We must live in practice, what we claim to believe in principle. Make no mistake, our testimony of ‘life’ is at stake. When the world looks at God’s Church, will it see a body of believers that values children as gifts begotten of God, or a people who view their offspring as self-determined accessories to marriage? Will we welcome children as Eve did, in crying “I have begotten a man from the LORD” (Gen. 4:2), or will we seek to be like Ephraim, whose “glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them?”…

Birth Control: The Burden of Proof & A Foundation To Build On

…As Christians, exalting and humbling ourselves before the Word of God, we should be the ones demanding proof that God has given us the right to “close the womb”. Birth control is a force that we are encountering that has come to use from outside of the biblical text, and therefore it is the one that must “prove” itself. We should be demanding that proponents of family planning prove without a shadow of a doubt how birth control is congruent with a biblical model of marriage and family, and not lay the sole burden of proof upon opponents of its use.

In issues such as this, we should demand with Martin Luther – “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason” that birth control is biblically permissible, then any thing that is so intrusive, impactful, and starkly incongruent with rest of God’s revelation of his heart toward marriage and family should be incessantly questioned at least, and zealously rejected at best….

Birth Control: When It’s Absolutely Sinful

…If you ever want to raise peoples’ blood pressure a few points, mention the words “birth control” and “sin” in the same sentence. Besides betraying their allegiances to this family planning technique, this apparent hostility shows a mindset that is quite prevalent among, not only unbelievers, but many Protestants as well. In their drive to oppose the belief that birth control is always sinful, they seem to forget that there are times when it is undeniably sinful…

Birth Control: In Light of Genetic Disease

…If we grant that birth control is a moral response to preventing the passage of genetic disease, then friends, I’ve got bad news for the whole human race. There is no disease more pervasive, no plague more deserving of keeping from our children, than the burden of a sinful nature — and yet, every child that was ever conceived (with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ) has inherited that very thing from their parents. But even in the midst of that sin, there has been cause for rejoicing for the redemption of Jesus Christ. Even in the midst of that suffering, there has been glad singing of the Mighty hand of our Healing Physician. In the midst of it all, God has received the greater glory. And what right have we to withhold it from Him?…

Birth Control: The Partly Natural Family, Children Aborted From The Mind

…“Even conservative Americans, religious and not, seem to understand marriage as secular Americans do, defining it as a contract based on affection and mutual satisfaction; believing that you may design your marriage in almost any way you like; assuming that sexual activity without consequences (that is, children) is a human right; thinking that they must as a matter of duty pursue an ideal of the good life that requires spending too much money to have more than one or two children; and feeling that they must create perfect children, which is a burden when you have one and very hard when you have many, especially when “perfect” is defined in worldly terms.”

The truth of that statement is deep with a weight of reality that too many evangelicals have sought to lay aside. Not only have we convinced ourselves that the “partly natural family” is a “human right,” but many in our churches have convinced themselves that it is a Christian right, or even duty, to shun God’s plan for the Natural Family. And furthermore, we have turned a blind eye towards the inescapable similarities between the practical out-workings of our… theology, and the politics of the pro-abortion crowd…

Birth Control: In Light of Gospel Ministry

By the way some people talk about children and gospel ministry, you get the feeling that to do either one well, the other must suffer. Many times this will be the only reason that people give for an acceptable Christian use of birth control. And at first glance it seems like a powerful defense. I mean, who wants to argue against being as productive as we can for the Kingdom of Christ?…
…Children are a natural (and we can truthfully say, God given) result of the marital relationship. Unlike in singleness and marriage, where a man would be denying himself a ‘good’ relationship with a wife in order to better serve the Lord — when using birth control, he is instead altering his ‘good’ relationship towards procreation to fit his own design and apparent needs of the ministry – by denying its natural ‘fruits’…

Opposing Birth Control: Why This Should Radically Kill Your Pride

…The presence of pride over a doctrine means, at the very least, that your Cross-centered perspective has been lost. And once that happens, no matter how right you are, you are not right. There is no room for pride in biblical principles. We did not write them, we did not interpret them correctly apart from the regenerating, sanctifying, internally-testifying witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we wouldn’t even be talking about it, had not the Incarnate Word stepped down and change the course of human events forever. If Christ was not King, birth control would be the least of our concerns.

But Christ is King. And He has a will for our marriages and our children. As we seek to discern that will, we should never forget — It is His will. Any union we may have with it is a supreme blessing of an infinitely merciful God, that has been bought and applied to us by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary…

Waiting Until The Time Is Right, And Our Pockets Are Full: Why You Should Make Ben Franklin Sleep On The Couch

…If the issue is economical stability, perhaps the question should be — Should marriage wait until the couple is economical ready for the blessing of children? That seems to be a faith filled outlook, and one that is many times easier to reconcile with biblical and historical precedence. I think it is a crying shame the Ben Franklin has been gotten into our marriage beds when he doesn’t care one iota about you or your family. Think about it. Ben has no vested interest in your family. He’d be just as happy spending your money on a flat screen or a new car, rather than on baby #3 (or #1 for that matter). I think it’s time we told Mr. Franklin Lightnin’ Bolt to sleep his greedy little butt on the couch, and let us get our family wisdom from God…

Created Theology- “O’ Man, Look At Thyself”: Birth Control in Light of our Createdness

…To look closely at a man and women and not think “child” would be to look blindly, and in spite of the general revelation of God in Created Theology. Of course the Fall brings a curse. But upon what? “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”(Gen 3:16) Don’t miss this commentary. To seek and desire what God has created to be good in sex and marriage is not our natural post-curse reaction. Our hearts and minds (as well as wombs) must be rewired, or as the NT language puts it, we must “put off [our] old self, which belongs to [our] former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and [be] renewed in the spirit of [our] minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” When we really begin to grasp the fact that Jesus Christ’s atoning work on the cross sought to ‘reverse the curse’, then we can begin to see why it is so important that we seek to delight in God’s heart for families as he has testified in our Created Theology…

Childlessness and Chronological Snobbery in Christian Culture

…But in our own time, we have a culprit of our own to consider. As many children were wrongly valued for their “workability” in the pre-Industrialized age, so now, a great many children that are born today have been conceived out of an abiding notion of “self-actualization.” Couples that do weigh the positives and negatives of children (as if they were buying a new car) only decided to pursue children if they feel it is “the right time” in their pursuit of life. Ashamedly, the primary concern for a vast majority of couples considering either abortion or birth control is financially centered at worst, or highly financially influenced at best. Oh yes, in this understanding, children can still be valued – but only in so far as they score well enough on the couples’ “cost-benefit analysis”. Whatever complimentary blessing that once accompanied a child prior to our generation has been replaced with an apparent complimentary curse. Those still willing to call children a gift, lament that they are a costly one, and one that should be taken in prudent moderation – if taken at all…

Family Planning: Let’s Consider a Pre-emptive Strike

…“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” – (Pro 19:21) Scripture never talks about “planning” being a bad thing, in the generic sense. In fact, it gives an almost universal stamp of approval to it, even giving us guidelines for how to plan well ( “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” – Pro 11:14, “…for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” – Pro 24:6, “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” – Pro 16:3, etc.) But what does this mean for us in terms of family planning and birth control? If God likes planning, then he must be on board with birth control, right?

Well, hold your pills there pilgrim… There are a few more things that need to be considered before we run down to the neighborhood pharmacy. We must consider the timing, the purpose, and the right of our planning…

Reproductive Self-Determination and the Bondage of the Pill: Preaching like Calvinists and Procreating like Arminians

…Friends, far too many of us are preaching like Calvinists and yet procreating like Arminians. We trust God for all things, but those things we think we can control for ourselves. We love to talk about God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in theory, but we treat it quite different in real life. God’s sovereignty is not a back-up plan if our “family planning” responsibilities fail to produce the desired results. We must recognize that we do not effect the new birth in any human being, nor must we presume that we ultimately effect the natural one. Children are a gift, not a biological side effect. Likewise, converts are a fruit of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, not ultimately a result of our effectiveness in presentation or planning (and even then, our planning would be in favor of, and not counter to, new converts). As Calvin writes, “Adam did not take a wife to himself at his own will, but received her as offered and appropriated to him by God.” Adam had no more ability to “plan” for a wife than we do to “plan” for a child. The Originator and Preempter of them both is God. Kathryn Blanchard puts it bluntly, “The honor God gives in allowing humans to be parents is not something to be controlled, regretted, or gloated over, but to be humbly received. It is after God’s image – not individual humans’ own – that these children are formed”…

Unless I Am Convinced By Sound Reason: Has Our Pragmatic Defense Of Birth Control Undermined Our Understanding Of Biblical Ethics?

…In the realm of biblical ethics, particularly the medical ethics side, there are many questions that come into view without any explicit accompanying prohibition from Scripture. The fact is, the Bible never says “NO” to them. The most obvious example for our recent discussion is the fact that the Bible never says, “Thou shall not use birth control.” Sounds powerful enough, but there’s more. Birth control is only one of many issues in biblical ethics that must be considered in lieu of a negative command. Since the Bible never prohibits in-vitro fertilization, does that mean that the practice is a marriage, sex, children, and ultimately, God honoring procedure? Since the Bible nowhere prohibits artificial insemination by donor, does that mean that God then smiles on the practice, or has left it up to a matter of conscience and Christian liberty? Since there is no command in the Bible prohibiting human cloning, does that mean that we should then do so for the glory of God? And the list goes on and on. Cryopreservation, genetic modification, in-utero gene therapy, etc, etc. If it were that easy, then we’d put all those Christian ethicists out of a job…

A Package Deal: Pondering Birth Control in Light of Joshua Harris’ “Boy Meets Girl”

…Many Protestants have bought the lie that sexual intimacy is a buffet of blessings, providing them with as much of what they’d like to enjoy at the time – and none of what they’d rather save for another trip. To compare it to Old Testament worship, we light the fire and leave the sacrifice at home. Did we come to worship? “Oh yes”, we readily affirm. But we came on our own terms, holding back what we’d rather not “burden” ourselves with. That my friends is not biblical worship. And I’d like you to prayerfully consider that, as Oliver O’Donovan notes, “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”…

Birth Control in light of Redemptive Theology

…Where so many Protestants go wrong in deliberating the morality of contraception is their failure to distinguish between creation and nature. As Brent Waters comments in his work, Reproductive Technology:Towards a Theology of Procreative Stewardship, “Although creation is good because of the imprint it bears of its creator, and its created order has been vindicated by Christ’s resurrection, its perfection will be accomplished only in Christ in the fullness of time.” Therefore, when we view our fertility as merely a natural (read, unCreated) function to be altered at whim, we are thereby rejecting it’s innate Createdness, and any intention of both the Creator and Redeemer for the ends of our fertility. Naturalism brings with it no intentionality on the part of nature, no plan as how best to steward it. Creationism on the other hand, is rich with an understanding of not only the original created order, but also the teleos (or ends) to which it has been, and is being vindicated and redeemed in Christ…