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Birth Control Attitudes
The comments in the Burton Coffman commentary on Matthew 1 regarding birth control miss an extremely important point. When birth control pills are used, they can and do sometimes cause the early abortion of a baby. Some other methods of birth control also function to cause an abortion by preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the womb. But, in addition to these hidden abortions there is the attitude behind the desire to control the appearance of babies in a family. Why is it felt necessary in the last one hundred years to more carefully control the number or even the gender of the babies that are acceptable to a family? The mere availability of a technology does not imply that it is right or moral to use it.
The basic attitudes behind birth control frequently revolve around Self -- the big I. "I can't handle more children.", "I have my hands full with two.", "I can't afford more children.", "I find children inconvenient.", "I want to travel and children would interfere with my desired lifestyle.", "I have a career and don't want children now.", "I can't afford to educate more children and have the retirement I desire.", "I want to control my life."
These attitudes are very similar to those of women or couples who actively seek an abortion and are in sharp contrast to God's attitude about children. What is God's attitude toward children? Malachi 2 says that God desires children, "He was seeking godly offspring." What goals take priority over having as great a godly heritage as possible? Scripture presents children as a blessing and not a curse. At what point do children become a curse to be avoided like the plague? On what basis can we oppose abortion when we are guilty of the same attitudes and may even unknowingly engage in abortion as part of our birth control methodology? It seems unlikely that abortion will again be illegal as long as those who are called by the name of Christ have not repented of their attitudes toward children.
---- Excerpt from the commentary ----------------
Onan, not wishing to give his brother credit for paternity under the
system of Jewish law, "spilled" his seed on the ground, whereupon "God slew
him also." If this story has any moral, it is that all men who refuse to
marry their brothers' widows should be killed. Indeed, that was the moral of
the original story, since the Levirate law laid down the rule for the Jews
that a man inheriting his brother's cattle and lands should also cohabit
with his deceased brother's wife or wives and raise a direct heir for his
brother's property. Onan's primary sin was the defiance of a property law of
ancient Jews, a law that was abandoned at least 2,000 years ago! ...
Catholic theologians, lacking any Scriptural authority for their extreme
position on birth control, have taken this ancient story of Onan, distorted
its meaning by declaring that Jehovah slew Onan for his "coitus
interruptus," and inflated this "interpretation" into a whole system of
social hygiene for the 20th Century.
I think you have missed the point. Birth control acts before conception therefore it is not abortion. The research shows that conception is prevented and does not happen. Trying to impose your personal beliefs on others by using scriptures that do not apply is also questionable. Everyone has a different relationship with God. Saying that people who use birth control are the same as those who have abortions is wrong. It is not comparable in anyway, abortion is murder and birth control is preventing conception. This is like saying people who practice abstinence are having abortions.
ReplyDeleteIt is okay to have the opinion that birth control might be wrong for you in God's eyes, although this is not Biblically supported. Where you state "Malachi 2 says that God desires children, 'He was seeking godly offspring,'" this could just as easily be interpreted that for the children that you have, they should be seeking God - a very interpretable verse if you are looking at it by itself. If you read the surrounding passages, it actually has more to do with a husband and wife becoming one in the Lord through a covenant to have godly offspring (Judah had cheated on his wife) and about not divorcing.
ReplyDeleteBut it is not right to say that birth control is abortion, since that is not medically founded and incorrect. Birth control prevents a life from ever happening which is not killing it. That is like owning a gun and being called a murderer. Abortion will not ever be illegal if Americans believe that birth control is a form of abortion, which is incorrect. It is difficult enough to convince liberals in the country that murdering a new life in the womb is wrong. Pushing the incorrect idea that birth control is equivalent to murder, when it actually prevents a life from forming and not taking it away, makes the task of convincing liberals what is right and wrong even more insurmountable.
It has been known for a long time that birth control pills prevent emplantation of the fertilized egg into the lining of the womb. If life begins at conception, then that egg is actually a little person that is being prevented from getting to a food supply. Here is one news article on the subject - Pill propelled into abortion debate at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3652462.stm.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) has information about birth control pills where it is explicitly stated that implantation of a fertilized egg is prevented. Some doctors define pregnancy as beginning at implantation, but the fact is that a person is defined when the egg is fertilized by a sperm. Preventing that egg from getting nourishment is an abortion. Here are a couple of entries from the PDR. You might want to check the PDR at your doctor's office.
This is the PDR's product information for Ortho-Cept, as listed by Ortho, one of the largest manufacturers of the Pill:
Combination oral contraceptives act by suppression of gonadotropins. Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus, which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus, and changes in the endometrium which reduce the likelihood of implantation.[5]
The FDA-required research information on the birth control pills Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen also state that they cause "changes in...the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation)."[6]
The early birth control pills used higher dosages of estrogen to more effectively prevent ovulation. But, those higher dosages had dangerous side effects on the health of women. Modern birth control pills use much lower dosages of estrogen and so there is more dependence on the prevention of implantation of fertilized eggs. So there are actually three mechanisms that birth control pills utilize in preventing pregnancy:
*inhibiting ovulation
*thickening the cervical mucus to prevent sperm migration
*thinning and shriveling of the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation of the new little person
Statistics show that 3 percent of pill-takers unexpectedly get pregnant each year. In those cases, all the prevention mechanisms failed. This means that the third mechanism sometimes fails but every time it succeeds there is an abortion.
It interesting that secular physicians appear to be more honest about the abortion effects of birth control pills than Christian doctors. This is the observation of Dr Walter L. Larimore who gives talks to doctors about the abortion effect of birth control pills.
I am quoting from only a small amount of the information that is available on the internet. If you would like links to additional information, please let me know.
Scripture seems clear, to me at least, that God considers children a blessing and the withholding of children to be a curse. If you see contrary evidence, I would be interested in the Scriptures you are considering.
ReplyDeleteGod desires godly offspring. How many does He want? What's wrong with letting Him decide?
The statement by Anonymous that, "Pushing the incorrect idea that birth control is equivalent to murder, when it actually prevents a life from forming and not taking it away, makes the task of convincing liberals what is right and wrong even more insurmountable." is going beyond what I said or meant. Birth control may be unwise and it may be cutting off God's blessing and it may be a manifestation of wrong attitudes. But, I would not call it murder. Birth control pills do cause some abortions (assuming life starts at conception) but the nature of the problem is on a different scale than someone walking into an abortion clinic. Even there I would not call the woman involved a murderer. The "doctor" involved in the abortion is, however, someone who is engaging in a serious level of Evil. Murder is an emotionally loaded word that should probably be left out of the discussion. Many parents accidently, in ignorance or through mistakes cause the death of their children even after birth. Such deaths are not treated as murder even though they could have been avoided. But, what the article is addressing is the question of the attitudes behind birth control. Christians should examine themselves in this matter. Many Christians do not know that birth control pills occasionally cause abortions in a similiar way to IUD's by affecting the lining of the womb. Many Christian doctors should be ashamed of themselves for not more carefully investigating this and being more honest with their patients.
ReplyDelete