Response to "Birth Control for Christians?"

       This blog covers a topic that is important to me because it was the issue that initially motivated me to study the topic of gender roles and "traditional" ideas such as Lori holds. And I believe it is one of the most weakly supported and poorly argued of all their points. This post is guest written by Nancy Campbell from the blog "Above Rubies."

The Lord, in His holy Scriptures, calls children blessings. He calls them a reward.

Why would we not want a reward from the Lord? Would we refuse any other reward from Him? A bigger house? A newer car?

Nancy, children are not new cars or bigger houses; they are people. People like this think they are the ones who value children, and yet the fact that they speak about them this way is very telling. They see children not as individuals but as numbers. 13 children is objectively better than 12 to them. Furthermore, underlying this view is a very self-centered idea. They push couples to have more children because of the personal blessing it will supposedly bring them. 

       Before moving on, I would also add that their logic does not follow. They take a verse from the Psalms (poetry, not commands) that describes children as blessings, and want to turn it into a command to have more children. This is a blatant addition of their own ideas into the Bible. Nowhere does the Bible say that we should always strive to have more children. To go from "children are blessings" to "you are required to have more, because who wouldn't want more blessings" is a major (and unjustified) leap. 

There are no Scriptures supporting the use of birth control.

Brilliant. There is also nothing in Scripture supporting the use of the internet, the writing of blogs, or, for that matter, flushing toilets. These people seem to have forgotten that the Bible was written a little while ago and doesn't include mention of modern technology because it didn't exist. How does this even need to be explained? If the absence of mention of birth control in the Bible somehow means the Bible forbids it, Nancy and Lori need to delete their blogs and start digging holes in the ground to go to the bathroom. 

The only mention of any sort of birth control (deliberately preventing a child from being conceived), follows with the Lord killing the man who committed the act.

Even if Nancy were telling us the whole story here, it would merely be a story and not a command for all time. However, she craftily hides key details. She is referring to Onan in Genesis 38, who "spilled his seed" on the ground to avoid impregnating Tamar. The reason for God's anger, however, had nothing to do with birth control. Tamar was Onan's widowed sister-in-law, and the laws of the Hebrews required a man to marry his deceased brother's widow in order to provide children for her, who then would legally be heirs of the deceased brother. Onan didn't like the idea of fathering children who would not be his own heirs. These are important details, Nancy, and your intent to deceive us is clear from your omission of them! 

We see many Scriptures that describe how the Lord opens and closes the womb. He is in control. If we claim to believe in the sovereignty of God, how can we deny His sovereignty in the the life He creates in the womb?

This is the typical argument made on this point, and it seems convincing to the impressionable. However, they apply the principle rather sparingly. Why do these people buy groceries if God is sovereign and able to take care of them? Why do they own insurance if God is sovereign and able to take care of them? For that matter, why do they look both ways when they cross the street if God is able to protect them and won't allow any harm to come to them until their "appointed time"? The fact that they apply this principle only when it comes to children reveals that they don't truly believe it. They simply want to convince people to have more babies at any cost, so they can increase the number of those with these wacky beliefs. 

When we have the attitude of not wanting another baby because “circumstances aren’t right,” “finances are tight,” or “it’s just too hard,” we are having the same attitude of people who kill their children in the womb.

What a sinister idea. These people compare the choice to not have children to actually killing children! As if un-conceived children somehow already exist and are being denied the right to life by not being conceived. It's utterly absurd, and the logical conclusions are disturbing (enforced procreation, or prosecution for failing to have children?). 

       Furthermore, I would argue that people who delay or prevent children actually love their children more, since they are thinking not just about having as many as they can so they themselves can be blessed, but are carefully weighing their ability to give their kids the best life possible. They are also more likely to value each individual because they see him/her as just that, an individual, not just a number. 

Up until the early 20th century, the Protestant church was completely opposed to couples using birth control and considered it sin.

Okay? So what? The church used to be okay with slavery too. We don't determine our moral choices based on what the church believed centuries ago. 

Why has this changed?...I believe birth control became more readily accepted so women could go out to work outside the home–something else that is not Scriptural. With couples being able to “choose” when and how many babies to have, it freed up women to go out into the workforce, therefore weakening the family with mothers away from home.

Ah, here it is. The truth. Nancy, Lori, and others like them don't care about children. As we saw above, they view them as a commodity, a way of keeping score and impressing God, and a way of pushing their ideas on others by increasing their percentage of the population. But here is perhaps the #1 reason they push women to have as many children as possible: it keeps them from doing everything else. It's about control, in the end. They want women kept out of the workforce, higher education, and anywhere else where they might become empowered. 

       Nancy and Lori, PLEASE read the Bible you pretend to honor so much. It never tells women they must stay home and never work, and it never tells couples to have as many children as they can. You blaspheme the word of God by adding your own opinions to it. 

Link to the original blog: https://thetransformedwife.com/birth-control-for-christians/