Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 6/18/2010

Question
Hi:) I love your website:) and just wanted to ask if there is anything wrong with contraception being used within the marriage to prevent an unwanted pregnancy?...
I'm asking becuse I am married but not yet ready to start a family due to being overweight, as well as having several physical health problems which are currently under specialist investigation (Hormonal problems, POCS andundiagnosed fluid retention/swelling)and which require me to be on several prescribed medications as ordered by my specialist doctors(Hormone Replacement Therapy -HRT and diuretics etc.)which could probably cause birth defects/potentially interfere with a healthy pregnancy, as well as being quite overweight and feeling unprepared mentally and emotionally (and yes, even unprepared financially as well
-my medication costs alot and is only available to buy via private prescription, which means the cost of it is not covered by the government/medicare)to handle the responsibility of caring for a (quite possibly unhealthy)child to begin with!...
I would not want to get pregnant and be told that I should have an abortion due to the risks of having an unhealthy pregnancy/newborn with birth defects, I don't believe in abortion and do not believe it is God's will for us to plan to have abortions to solve the dilemma of how to deal with any possible unwanted/unhealthy pregnancies, which will probably occur without using some form of birth control...
I have always thought that in my situation, I have good reason to believe that using birth control would be the right thing to do, but just recently I was reading about all contraception having been originally condemed by the church, even when in the context of using it within a christian marriage -saying that all contraception is in opposition of and rebels against God's will, and some people still have this view today -even using some use bible verses/passages (I'm not sure if there being interpreted correctly or if they're used out of context or not?)...
An example of exactly what I'm talking about can be found using the http I have provided below:
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/contraception.html
By the way, I'd just like to quickly point out that I am no longer a catholic, -I'm now a baptist believer after leaving the catholic church after years of wrongly beliving and personally feeling and suffering many years of such completely unnecessary self-condeming guilt and originally wrongly beliving that salvation was works-based, but I came across that article when I was doing a search on contraception methods and had a quick read of it and the part that worried me is that it states within that article the contraception was originally opposed by all of the christian church(including protestant churches to begin with) and it also quote biblical verses to definently imply to the reader that all contrception is biblically wrong -regardless of the reson it is being used!...
I really want to know the biblical truth (not just some bible verses or passages misinterpreted or taken completely out of context)as to whether or not contraception is permited or not, within the context of using it in agreement with my husband within our healthy marriage relationship?...
I love God and now know that I am saved by grace -not works, and through having a relationship through our Lord Jesus Christ, but I do want to honor God and do what is right and to live according to the will of God and in agreement to His word concerning all areas of my life out of a healthy reverence and love and respect for Him
-including honoring Him in the way I view or decide whether or not to use any contraception/HRT treatment (Some of my HRT treatment incldes a pill that treats my POCS as well as being contraceptive at the same time) at all?...
Please help!!!...
Any help with this would be really appreciated:) and I think it could help others out there who could also be confused about what the bible correctly teaches on this issue!...
Thankyou so much:) and I really look forward to reading your response soon:) -Keep up the great work!!!:)
~My Kindest Regards Always~
      Stephanie

Answer
Hi   Stephanie

Thank for for this great question.  I am very sorry for my late response.  The Bible does not give a specific prohibition against non lethal birth control.  There are a few principles to consider, but there are no hard and fast rules against birth control.

1.  Sex is God's wedding gift.  It is not just about procreation, it is about the pleasure of love shared between two married people.  In fact, we are not to abstain from sex as a married couple unless it is to pray and fast, but we must come together again.  Sex is not just for babies.

Hebrews 13:4
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5
3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. 5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  Having said that, Children are a blessing from the Lord.  God promises happiness to those who have a household full of kids.

Psalm 127:3-5
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.   

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

This is not a mandate to have kids, it is simply information telling us that kids are a blessing not a curse.... raising kids can be hard, sometimes we need to be reminded that they really are blessings from the Lord.

3.  There are some who would use the story about a man who did not allow his seed to be in his wife, and God killed him, as reason to believe God is against birth control.

Genesis 38:8-10
8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

A carful study of the culture shows that God was mad that Onan refused to provide an inheritance as required by law.  If a widow was without child, she could not own property or make money on her own.  This passage is not directly about birth control.

In conclusion, I believe that unless you are speaking of abortion ( murdering an unborn baby) or the morning after pill (which also murders the unborn) there is no Biblical prohibition to birth control.  I do believe that God is for large families in principle, but this is not mandated either. You are under grace.  You and your husband must seek God's will for your family.  God is a loving God, He will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

One other thing to consider... no birth control is 100% effective, God can always over ride your plans and give you a baby anyway if He so chooses.

I am very sorry for this late response..... I hope that this helps.

In Christ
Pastor Don