Doctrines of Salvation 2:87; “When a man and a woman are married and they agree, or covenant, to limit their offspring to two or three, and practice devices to accomplish this purpose, they are guilty of iniquity which eventually must be punished. Unfortunately this evil doctrine is being taught as a virtue by many people who consider themselves cultured and highly educated. It has even crept in among members of the Church and has been advocated in some of the classes within the Church.” – Joseph Fielding Smith
Colossians 3:17; “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
Why is this any of the Church’s business?
I know and understand this can be a hot topic within the body of Christ so what I publish here today is my opinion and not the opinions from the entire body of Christ. If you believe we shouldn’t take measures to prevent pregnancies then we’ll have to agree to disagree and I ask that you read the Bible in context!
I looked. I searched. I spent countless hours face down on the floor asking God to show me a verse, any verse, in His word that would tell my husband and me that we shouldn’t take measures to prevent more pregnancies. There aren’t any.
After months of prayer and discussion we decided to ‘get fixed’.
The reason for our conversation stemmed from the birth of our youngest daughter who was born with a cleft lip and palate. The cleft in and of itself wasn’t anything that couldn’t be taken care of, but what made our decision to do this was the news (or the lack thereof) we received from geneticists.
Our daughter’s cleft wasn’t hereditary, nor was it random as it can sometimes be in life. If there’s a family history of clefts then your chances of having a cleft child go up of course. If you’re cleft there’s a 1 in 10 chance you’ll have a child w/ a cleft. For the public at large it’s 1 in 700. If you’ve had a child with a cleft with no family history beforehand, then odds go from 1 in 700 to 1 in 400.
We thought and prayed about the odds and while special needs babies are expensive, that wasn’t really the reason we decided not to have more kids.
We discovered the cleft was more than likely caused from Kirk being overseas in the First Gulf War. After serving seven months in the Middle East he was given orders that he could finally return home. It was March 1991.
While on the tarmac waiting for his plane to open up so they could board, a SCUD missile exploded nearby causing everyone to run for cover. After the commotion was under control they got on their flight and eventually made it home to the States.
Fast forward a year or two and those who served in the First Gulf War came home and there was something of a small baby boom, along with a big problem. The problem wasn’t the economy, rather it was effect of those bombs.
Roughly 300,000 people were tested and of those 100,000 had babies born with severe craniofacial abnormalities. For military vets who served in that region and were exposed to any of the SCUD missiles, the odds went from 1 in 700 to 1 in 3.
The testing for a final analysis took years of going to the VA Hospital, but we didn’t wait that long. Our decision was made much earlier based on the evidence we saw and articles we read about other families and the babies that were born with severe defects who many times died. (FYI – some of the tests and final analysis are still going on today – August 2014.)
As I’ve said many times, we were fortunate! While our daughter’s surgeries were extensive and seemed to never end (she’ll be 22 in December and she still has one more to go), we were blessed that she survived.
For us bringing another baby into the world who could be born with serious problems was heartbreaking. While I always wanted more children, having more biological kids of our own just wasn’t a viable option for us – and neither was abortion.
The Bible does tell us to be fruitful and multiply yes, but it also tells us to be responsible with what we have. The closest passage in the Bible that refers to birth control is found in Genesis 38.
In Genesis 38 we find the story of Judah’s sons Er and Onan. Er married Tamar and God put him to death because he was wicked. Tamar was then given to Onan through the levirate marriage law (Deuteronomy 25:5-6), but Onan didn’t want to share his inheritance so he engaged in his own form of birth control; withdrawal – Genesis 38:9.
God saw Onan’s heart and declared it was wicked and put him to death as well – Genesis 38:10. While I’ve seen and heard that many Christians use this verse as proof that contraceptives are evil I encourage everyone to re-read that verse in context. God didn’t disapprove of contraceptives – he disapproved of Onan’s behavior.
This is much like when people say that money is the root of all evil. Money isn’t the problem dear ones! It’s the love of money! Again, Onan didn’t want to share his inheritance and that’s what got him into trouble with the Lord.
Having children is indeed a gift of the Lord, but using your brain to make wise decisions is beneficial to those precious gifts God gave you!
I agree with you with a caveat. What most people use to prevent pregnancy now – are abortifacients. They do not prevent conception – they prevent the new life from implanting in the womb. Specifically the most popular – The Pill, and the IUD. Theoretically – a woman could conceive every single month using these “methods.”