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From: crf@tomato.princeton.edu (Charles Ferenbaugh)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Birth control
Message-ID: <Feb.5.03.52.24.1990.24660@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 90 08:52:26 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
Organization: Princeton University Mathematics Department
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu


The situation so far:  Sharon Correll (sp?) posted an article listing
possible reasons why a Christian couple might, after consideration and
prayer, decide to use birth control.  Dave Mielke responded saying no,
they shouldn't use birth control, but place their trust solely in God.
In between, I asked a crucial question which no one has answered yet,
so I will repeat it here, a bit more emphatically.

The major point of Dave's articles has been this:  we should place our
trust in God rather than in physical actions.  I agree completely.
But Dave seems to draw the conclusion that we should thus never perform
any physical actions at all, and ONLY trust in God; and this I disagree
with.

Consider the example of the farmer.  If he follows the line of reasoning
of the above paragraph, he will say something like:  I am supposed to
trust in God, therefore I will not do any actions to betray that trust,
such as planting seeds, watering crops, etc.  But we all know that it
doesn't work that way.  Instead, God's will is that the farmer do his
work planting the crops, trusting in God to provide the growth; to this
God (usually) responds by providing the harvest.

Here's another example, perhaps closer to the point:  suppose your child
was playing in the middle of the street, blissfully unaware of an
approaching car.  Suppose also that you were standing nearby, close
enough to run in, pick up the child and move out of the car's path.  Now
it's true that God is in control of the situation, and nothing we can do
will change that.  But what if God's will for that situation is for you
to be present and make the rescue?  In that case, the prayer, "God, your
will be done," would ring a bit hollow, since God's will would involve
you doing something which you in fact are not doing.  If I were the
parent in this situation, I would by all means attempt the rescue;
hopefully I would have the presence of mind to pray at the same time,
"God, if it's your will, please let this work..."

In summary:  we should always trust in God's will.  But sometimes God's
will is for us to take action.  The people who have written articles
supporting limited use of birth control in special circumstances, have
(as far as I can tell) used the following principle:  God has provided
us with the means to make a compassionate, prudent decision about
whether and/or when to have children; and sometimes, it may be God's
will for us to use this means.  Unless there is a Biblical precedent
saying, "it is never God's will for birth control to be used," (and
I haven't seen such a thing posted yet) this seems to be a legitimate
option for Christians.  Provided, of course, that this decision is
reached after much consideration and prayer, and that the restrictions
that others have mentioned (no selfish purposes, etc.) are taken into
account.

Grace and peace,

Charles Ferenbaugh