Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: @sun.acs.udel.edu:correll@sun.acs.udel.edu (correll) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Birth control Message-ID: Date: 18 Jan 90 04:21:40 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Delaware Lines: 121 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Hi, I am a relatively new netter and I've never written anything in here before, but I felt motivated to write something relating to the discussion on birth control that's come up, since this is an area that I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. I'm not sure I'll be saying anything new, but at least I'll be clarifying my own thoughts on the subject if nothing else. When I first heard the point of view expressed by Dave Mielke and Tom Albrecht, (several years ago now) I thought it was really radical and extreme, but the more I've been challenged to think about the Scriptural principles involved, the more my thinking has leaned in that direction. I haven't been totally convinced by the arguments about the purposes of sex; I think there are a number of different purposes for it, not all of which are present at any one time. In and of itself that doesn't seem adequate to totally ban contraception. Also the line of reasoning about God being sovereign over the creation of life seems a little fuzzy to me. Sure, God is sovereign, but that means He is also sovereign over whether I use practice contraception or not, or whether it is effective. If God is sovereign over life, He can always override my actions if He really wants to. So that does not seem like a clear- cut enough reason to ban contraception either. The one principle in the whole issue that seems really clear-cut to me is this: CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING FROM THE LORD Now we give lip service to this, but honestly I don't think the average person really sees children as a blessing, or at least not as much of a blessing as other things. People tend to see children as a lot of trouble, and having a large family smells a lot like a life of sacrifice and inconvenience for the sake of others, and that just doesn't sound too appealing to most people (including myself). You can see this is the reasons people give for not having children, like the following: 1) I just don't like children; I don't have a maternal/paternal instinct. This seems an outright denial of the teaching that children are a blessing, and it also implies that God would give you children without the capacity to care for them adequately. 2) We can't afford (more) children. Usually this really means one of the following: 2a) I don't want the pressure of having to provide for a large family. This denies the provision of God taught in Matt. 6:25-34. God promises to provide for our necessities of life. 2b) Sure, God will provide necessities of life, but I want more than that. I want to have some nice things, and with a large family we'd really have to scrimp. The Bible says to be content with food and clothing (I Tim 6:8). To prefer luxuries above children is an unbiblical value. 2c) I can do more materially for my children if I have just one or two. Who says that doing more materially for your children is better for them? Maybe they don't need those THINGS, maybe a little brother or sister would be a greater blessing. Heb. 13:5 and I Tim 6:8 apply here as well. 3) Children are SO much work--I need some time for myself. Now this issue really convicts me, because I am basically a lazy person and love my leisure time. But there doesn't seem to be a scriptural basis for this attitude. Both hard work and a large family are held in high esteem in the Bible. 4) I don't want to bring children into this terrible world. This is the worst argument of all. It totally denies the power and grace of God operating in the lives of the children and the parents. Now the thought occurred to me that perhaps some of the emphasis on children can be interpreted within the light of Hebrew culture. When God made His covenant with Abraham, His promise was to multiply Abraham's descendents and give them a land to inherit. So for a Hebrew, having a family was a way of participating in God's covenant and seeing His promises fulfilled. In other words, procreation was the principal way of extending God's Kingdom. Now under the new covenant, procreation is one way of extending God's Kingdom, but I don't think it is the principal way; the main way is through the preaching of the Gospel. So you could argue that in a sense, the "pressure is off" of Christians to have large families. Like I said, you could argue that way, but I wonder if it's sort of a cop out. The principle of children being a blessing from God is still valid, and certainly nothing in the New Testament contradicts it. Having said all that, my current position is that contraception in and of itself is not wrong, and there are some legitimate uses for it, but I would guess a large majority of Christians who practice birth control do so for unscriptural reasons. I think there are times when it is practical and wise to avoid or delay conception, for instance: * for medical reasons, where the woman's health would be endangered * if there is a strong likelihood of a serious genetic disease being passed along, adoption might be a good alternative * when faced with certain special circumstances (for instance, within the next year I will be going through several months of missionary "boot camp," which involves very primitive living. I would probably try not to get pregnant before or during that time.) * to serve others. This is often used as an excuse (as Tim Stafford of _Campus Life Magazine_ said, "Who can you serve better than you would your own children?"). But I think there might be people who have a special ministry to others that would be hampered by having a large family. If that's truly the motivation, I think it would be legitimate. Now I can't afford to be too dogmatic about all this, since it's still theory to me: I'm not married yet. But my boyfriend and I have discussed this quite a bit, and if/when we do get married, I want to have the most godly attitude possible and not just be swept along by popular opinion, which does not have a particularly good track record as far as being pleasing to God. -- ---\ Sharon Correll \--------------- ----\ University of Delaware \-------------- -----\ Academic Computing and Instructional Technology \------------- ------\ Research and Development \------------