Whenever I have a "birth-control conversation" I nearly always leave it rather disheartened. It seems that many feel I'm trying to tell them how I think they are wrong; while I guess there would be a small degree of truth to this, my intent would be better described as wanting people to understand why we believe as we do.
As a born-again Christian, my heart is broken for the lost--for those who do not know (or worse, refuse to know) Jesus as their Savior. Second to that, the Lord has broken my heart for those Christians who refuse to acknowledge God's sovereignty in their lives. The Bible says that "a man's life is not his own, it is not for man to direct his steps" (Jer 10:23), yet over and over again, I have people say to me "we decided we were done." (and so sterilized themselves).
MANY of our close friends have decided to be done having kids. Several of those have said that they prayed about it and felt that God was telling them to be done. Could I just speak very frankly here? The Bible I've read says OVER and OVER AGAIN that GOD is the one who opened or closed the womb of a woman. Since God doesn't change, I believe that He is STILL the one who opens or closes wombs. Still speaking frankly, I can't help but think when people tell me that God told them to have a vasectomy or tubal, "Right--so God said, 'Could you please have some surgery so I don't have to keep an eye on the two of you and your sex life? 'Cause this creation/miracle thing does get to be a bit much for me to keep a handle on some days...' "
I think not.
I don't believe that God needs our human attempts to restrain the number of children we have. I believe it is more accurately a reflection of the heart--whether someone is receptive to the gift of another child.
I believe that when we take/use birth-control, WE are trying to decide who should be born and who should not. I feel that that is GOD'S decision, not ours.
We know that our body has been bought with a price and is a temple. Vasectomies and tubals destroy the body--they disable a functioning part of the body for convenience and/or adherence to man's plans. Little attention is given to the hazards of messing with God's perfect design for both the male and female bodies. The rate of prostate cancer and penile cancer has risen exponentially since doctors have begun their hay-day with cutting off men's fertility. Since the tube is clipped, the sperm have nowhere to go (they can no longer be released by the body through ejaculation) and a man's body needs to absorb them. Man's body was not designed to absorb sperm. Destruction of the temple.
Similarly with women, when her tubes are "tied" shut, the pathway for her normal body processes is destroyed. Many women find that their menstrual bleeding, pain and discomfort increase after a tubal ligation.
Ovarian, cervical and breast cancers have decimated a generation of woman. Doctors don't tell you that the time of pregnancy and nursing is actually an hormonal break--a resting phase--for a woman's body. Menstruation causes hormone levels to spike dramatically; because woman are marrying later, messing with their fertility and taking contraceptive drugs, today's woman/young teen has SO MANY more cycles when compared to women 100 years ago who married earlier, had (most likely) several babies and nursed them until they weaned themselves.
Yet, women today are scared away from babies by their doctors who tell them they will literally fall apart if they have more babies.
Now--when people suggest that this idea of God being the one who controls fertility is one of "personal conviction", that bothers me. I have been convicted, but I don't call it our personal conviction. I don't believe God's sovereignty is a personal conviction--it's a fact.
God is the one who designed sex. He designed the act as a way for husbands and wives to enjoy one another AND as a way to make babies. He didn't design it as a way to enjoy one another OR as a way to make babies. Sex and procreation are inextricable--there is no way to separate the two, except by man's interference.
The Lord is totally sovereign and in control of the processes of life. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:16)
Regarding Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), neither is completely "natural." Because husbands and wives avoid relations during her fertile time, it denies the wife the intimacy she would naturally desire with her husband, as that is the time she has been created to especially desire her husband. Second, it is a deliberate attempt to thwart God's natural design for intimacy in which the potential for life and the act of love are mutually inextricable throughout the fertile season of a woman's life.
No one has been able to point me to chapter and verse to back up their claim that we are allowed to thwart God's method of procreation (a condom or diaphragm to prevent semen from entering the woman, for example).
However, God says over and over again how He feels:
The children of Israel continued to obey God's command to be fruitful and multiply even while they were enslaved in Egypt. "But the more they were crushed, the more they increased and spread..." Exodus 1:12 Our mentality is that if we are going through persecution, difficult times, or money is tight, that we cannot have children. The Israelites proved that God was able to keep them and provide for them, even in the most difficult times, times of "affliction" and "bitter with hard bondage."
Here is what God says about fruitfulness and multiplying: Genesis 1:28; 9:1,7; 16:10; 17:1-6; 22:16-17; 24:60; 26:3-4; 28:3; 30:43;35:11; 47:27; 49:22-26; Exodus 23:26; Leviticus 26:3,9; Deuteronomy 1:10-11; 6:3; 7:13-14; 8:1; 10:22; 13:17; 26:5; 28:4-11; 30:16; Job 5:25; Psalm 92:12-14; 112:1-2; 115:14; 128:3; Isaiah 54:1-2; Jeremiah 17:7-8; 23:3; 29:6; 30:19; 33:22; Ezekiel 36:10-11; John 15:16. I could go on but you get the idea.
He uses words like abundantly, exceedingly, mightily, greatly, plenteously, multitudinously.
Deut. 10:9; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 32:12; Proverbs 14:28; Ex. 1:7-22; 32:15; Ps. 104:24; Ps. 127:3-4; Ez. 16:7.
Consider why God blesses us with children.
Gen. 32:12; Deut. 6:3; 7:13; 13:17; 28:11, 63; 30:5, 9, 15-16; Psalm 115:12-15; Luke 1:13-17; Psalm 127:5 Hosea 9:16.
Consider what the Bible says about control of the womb and children.
Gen.4:1; 21:1; 33:5; 48:9; Josh 24:3; 1 Sam. 2:20-21; 1 Chron.28:5; 25:4-6; Ruth 4:13; Is. 8:18;
I don't believe that God needs our human attempts to restrain the number of children we have. I believe it is more accurately a reflection of the heart--whether someone is receptive to the gift of another child.
I believe that when we take/use birth-control, WE are trying to decide who should be born and who should not. I feel that that is GOD'S decision, not ours.
We know that our body has been bought with a price and is a temple. Vasectomies and tubals destroy the body--they disable a functioning part of the body for convenience and/or adherence to man's plans. Little attention is given to the hazards of messing with God's perfect design for both the male and female bodies. The rate of prostate cancer and penile cancer has risen exponentially since doctors have begun their hay-day with cutting off men's fertility. Since the tube is clipped, the sperm have nowhere to go (they can no longer be released by the body through ejaculation) and a man's body needs to absorb them. Man's body was not designed to absorb sperm. Destruction of the temple.
Similarly with women, when her tubes are "tied" shut, the pathway for her normal body processes is destroyed. Many women find that their menstrual bleeding, pain and discomfort increase after a tubal ligation.
Ovarian, cervical and breast cancers have decimated a generation of woman. Doctors don't tell you that the time of pregnancy and nursing is actually an hormonal break--a resting phase--for a woman's body. Menstruation causes hormone levels to spike dramatically; because woman are marrying later, messing with their fertility and taking contraceptive drugs, today's woman/young teen has SO MANY more cycles when compared to women 100 years ago who married earlier, had (most likely) several babies and nursed them until they weaned themselves.
Yet, women today are scared away from babies by their doctors who tell them they will literally fall apart if they have more babies.
Now--when people suggest that this idea of God being the one who controls fertility is one of "personal conviction", that bothers me. I have been convicted, but I don't call it our personal conviction. I don't believe God's sovereignty is a personal conviction--it's a fact.
God is the one who designed sex. He designed the act as a way for husbands and wives to enjoy one another AND as a way to make babies. He didn't design it as a way to enjoy one another OR as a way to make babies. Sex and procreation are inextricable--there is no way to separate the two, except by man's interference.
The Lord is totally sovereign and in control of the processes of life. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:16)
Regarding Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), neither is completely "natural." Because husbands and wives avoid relations during her fertile time, it denies the wife the intimacy she would naturally desire with her husband, as that is the time she has been created to especially desire her husband. Second, it is a deliberate attempt to thwart God's natural design for intimacy in which the potential for life and the act of love are mutually inextricable throughout the fertile season of a woman's life.
No one has been able to point me to chapter and verse to back up their claim that we are allowed to thwart God's method of procreation (a condom or diaphragm to prevent semen from entering the woman, for example).
However, God says over and over again how He feels:
The children of Israel continued to obey God's command to be fruitful and multiply even while they were enslaved in Egypt. "But the more they were crushed, the more they increased and spread..." Exodus 1:12 Our mentality is that if we are going through persecution, difficult times, or money is tight, that we cannot have children. The Israelites proved that God was able to keep them and provide for them, even in the most difficult times, times of "affliction" and "bitter with hard bondage."
Here is what God says about fruitfulness and multiplying: Genesis 1:28; 9:1,7; 16:10; 17:1-6; 22:16-17; 24:60; 26:3-4; 28:3; 30:43;35:11; 47:27; 49:22-26; Exodus 23:26; Leviticus 26:3,9; Deuteronomy 1:10-11; 6:3; 7:13-14; 8:1; 10:22; 13:17; 26:5; 28:4-11; 30:16; Job 5:25; Psalm 92:12-14; 112:1-2; 115:14; 128:3; Isaiah 54:1-2; Jeremiah 17:7-8; 23:3; 29:6; 30:19; 33:22; Ezekiel 36:10-11; John 15:16. I could go on but you get the idea.
He uses words like abundantly, exceedingly, mightily, greatly, plenteously, multitudinously.
Deut. 10:9; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 32:12; Proverbs 14:28; Ex. 1:7-22; 32:15; Ps. 104:24; Ps. 127:3-4; Ez. 16:7.
Consider why God blesses us with children.
Gen. 32:12; Deut. 6:3; 7:13; 13:17; 28:11, 63; 30:5, 9, 15-16; Psalm 115:12-15; Luke 1:13-17; Psalm 127:5 Hosea 9:16.
Consider what the Bible says about control of the womb and children.
Gen.4:1; 21:1; 33:5; 48:9; Josh 24:3; 1 Sam. 2:20-21; 1 Chron.28:5; 25:4-6; Ruth 4:13; Is. 8:18;
If we believe that God is truly in control of procreation and that He creates each and every child, and if we believe His Word when He says that children and fruitfulness are a blessing, why would a Christian use birth control?
We sing the hymn "I Surrender All", but for too many Christians, what they really mean is "I Surrender *Almost* All--Certainly Not My Fertility, Lord!"
We sing the hymn "I Surrender All", but for too many Christians, what they really mean is "I Surrender *Almost* All--Certainly Not My Fertility, Lord!"
