Is Birth Control Biblical?

Q. I know this is a controversial issue, but what does the Bible say about birth control?  Is this an instance where we must listen to our God-given conscience because there is no direct instruction on the matter?
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We Are To Multiply

In order to gain a context for the answer to this somewhat controversial topic in question, we immediately need to be pushed back to Genesis 1:28 “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth…” So what is the obvious point that God is making in this verse?  We are to procreate as human beings, as creations of God.

There may be some random passages which speak about mismanaging a sanctioned opportunity to procreate like the strange account of Onan in Genesis 38:9-10, but that seems to be addressing a specific failure to continue a generational family line.

God Values Embryos As Life

Abortion as birth control is obviously forbidden, as well as something like the “morning after pill” because they both tamper with a developing child already conceived (see Exodus 21:22 “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely…”  Notice the woman is referred to as being with child).  Psalm 139:16 says “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed…” (my substance, being yet unformed is all one word in the Hebrew: golem – something rolled together, an embryo, a fetus. The interlinear actually reads: “My embryo saw your eyes”).  So we can see that God has great respect for the pre-born, biological development of a human being, which He calls a child.

Silence On The Subject

There doesn’t seem to be any specific, technical mention about birth control in the Bible. So, while avoiding the problems mentioned above, it seems that God leaves things up to the discretion of the couple. Medically speaking, when making the decision to decide on the right birth control pill, a married couple should do research to make sure that the pill chosen does not tamper in any way with an already conceived embryo. That would be the Biblical thing to do.

This is just one’s humble opinion. Do your own research, formulate your own conclusions, and pray that God will give you insight.

This entry was posted on July 26, 2010 at July 26, 2010 and is filed under Christian Living, Ethics, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.