Fertility and Dominion

What is the scriptural teaching on birth control?

The question needs to be narrowed down a bit. The raw reality of birth control could refer to anything from a man deciding not to marry, which results in certain children not being born, the use of artificial means to prevent pregnancy, which results in the same thing, and resorting to abortion in order to kill an inconvenient product of conception.

So let’s narrow this down. What are the options for a married Christian couple who have questions about their fertility? As in, some particular thing they could do.

The first thing is to get the theological framework correct. Too many couples bypass this question and go straight to the lawfulness (or not) of particular birth control methods. But to do this without understanding the theological background first can distort the whole picture. And usually does distort the whole picture.

So what is that theological framework?

The place to start is with the doctrine of creation. If we understand how God created the world, and if we believe what He said in the creation mandate (Gen. 1:26), we begin with the understanding that fertility is a good thing, and a great blessing. A key aspect of taking dominion is found two verses later, when God told our first parents to multiply (Gen. 1:28). So fertility is not part of the curse. We should not think that the Bible is filled with instructions about birth control, because it isn’t. And we must also remember that Scripture is crammed with passages about the blessing of children.

So are you saying that every couple should have as many children as they can, as fast as they can?

No. This is not how we take the responsibility of dominion in any other area. If we see fertility as part of the dominion mandate, we will take stewardship into account. When a man is told to replenish the earth (Gen. 1:28), why on earth would he not want to replenish his wife? Do fruit farmers plant their trees three feet apart in order to get more apples? I can assure you that if they did, they wouldn’t.

Isn’t there a story where God strikes down a man for using coitus interruptus to prevent a pregnancy?

Yes and no. You are referring to the story where Judah’s son, Onan, had a legal obligation to make a good faith effort to beget a child by Tamar, on behalf of his deceased brother. What he did do was take the privilege of having sex with Tamar while rebelliously rejecting the assigned legal responsibility that went with it. The law of Levirate marriage was not about being lonesome and having a good time in bed, but rather about fertility, about begetting a child to perpetuate a name. So Onan was struck down for his fraud, and not for “using birth control” (Gen. 38:9). The problem was that he used birth control as the instrument of his fraud. So this episode tells us nothing one way or the other about birth control if used for honorable purposes—for purposes of stewardship and dominion.

How on earth could birth control be used for honorable purposes?

Let me set this up for you first. If you were to visit our church, and after one of the services, you were to get down on one knee to look across the sanctuary, you would see a completely different population down there. Around forty percent of our congregation is age 14 and under. You might think you were looking at the result of teaching on birth control, but you would actually be looking at the result of teaching on children.

But how does this relate an honorable use of birth control?

A comparable exercise could occur when you are looking at a wise and healthy family with 8 kids, and everybody is thriving. You think you are just looking at a passel of kids, but what you are actually doing looking at is an honorable and intelligent use of birth control.

But how?

Whatever particular method is being used by those parents, it is being used to space the kids, and to maximize the number of kids they were given . . . which is a blessing. Remember that children are a blessing.

So can we talk about particular methods now?

Yes. I think we can do that safely now. And as we proceed, here is some more background material on it.

Are there not some methods of family planning that are unlawful for Christians?

Yes, but not because they are “birth control.” Rather it is because they are something else that is unlawful. Abortion is straight up murder. And using abortifacients, like a morning after pill, is reckless endangerment or manslaughter. You don’t know that a child is there, but if there is, the intention is to kill the child. Methods like the Pill are in a similar category because there are some studies that indicate that at least part of its efficacy depends on preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine wall. This would be a refusal to be hospitable in what should be the most hospitable place on earth.

Are there methods that are lawful, but might not be all that wise?

If a product promises something that people really want, as the Pill did, it is easy for people to kid themselves and not look too closely at possible side effects. So even if the Pill wound up not being an abortifacient at all, it is still something that messes with a woman’s entire hormonal system, and Christians should be a lot more wary than we have been to date. There are legitimate cancer concerns, for example. And some women have discovered that going off the Pill and getting pregnant immediately are not synonyms.

What about a barrier method, such as condoms?

That would be a matter of convenience and/or inconvenience. To quote my father on the subject, compare it to “taking a shower in a raincoat.” But the method itself would be lawful, meaning that the legitimacy would be a matter of intention and purpose. An unmarried couple using condoms would be sinning, with the sin being an attempt to evade the consequences of their fornication. A married couple trying to avoid children entirely would also be sinning. But there is no sin in the use of a condom. And so on.

What about natural family planning?

Back in the day, when we were grappling with these questions, there was a joke that went: “What is the name for people who use natural planning methods? The answer was parents. But since that time the technology for determining when a woman is ovulating has gotten a lot more sophisticated, and the joke is not a joke anymore.

So that is the way to go then? Is that what you would recommend?

Yes, but. Some methods of birth control are off the table, all the time, no exceptions. All the other methods, natural family planning included, are a question of whether the couple is walking with God, willing to receive His blessing as blessing, and seeking to exercise wise dominion. If a couple used natural family planning methods to reject the possibility of any children, that is messed up, even if they didn’t do anything artificial to prevent pregnancy.

Suppose the technology got to the point where natural family planning was foolproof, and a couple used it in order to embrace barrenness, and they did this successfully. Their use of this particular method (as opposed to something artificial, like condoms) would not justify anything.

So what do you mean by exercising dominion?

Say that a couple wanted to have seven children. That is how many they thought they could house, feed, clothe, and educate. They clearly have a positive attitude toward children, and so all is good. Their attitude toward “family” is clearly biblical at the starting line.

But then let’s say that the first four come right away, one right after another, and so they find themselves with four children, four and under. Mom and dad are both cross-eyed, and the prospect of three more starts to seem to them both like a lunatic move. So in the pressure of the moment, he winds up getting a vasectomy, and they both breathe a sigh of relief. But then, when their two oldest are in school, and the two youngest are potty-trained and no longer behaving like antinomian criminals, the parents start to have second thoughts about their earlier second thoughts.

If they had thought more in terms of dominion, and less about sheer quantity, they would have been able to do more (long term) in terms of quantity. Why would God create a world in which those who till the ground were required to let the land lie fallow periodically, giving the land a sabbath rest, and not want couples to do something comparable. Husbands, your wives are part of the earth that needs replenishing.

One last question. This is all very well, but I wish you had written this ten years ago. But a van-load of kids are here now, and we do feel consistently overwhelmed by it all. What now?

God takes you from where you are, not from where you should have been. So check out some resources on natural family planning, which are readily available. For example, you could start both here and here. And as far as your current crop of kids is concerned, hang on tight. They do grow and mature, and the way it all feels right this minute is not going to be the same in five years.

And take heart. You are not contributing to the demographic death spiral that the entire Western world has for some reason decided to pursue.

Comments are open. As always, behave. And if there are particular questions you would like to see addressed in the future, please raise them.