Is it a sin to use contraception?

[Jane_Doe22]

You mean, "The Rhythm Method?" ..or calendar watching?

Essentially yes. "Natural Family Planning" is what I've seen it most commonly referred to in Catholic circles.
Obviously I do have my own thoughts on the matter.

 

[Stan B]

Hello Sir, nice to meet u, I hope your doing well.
Can you please elaborate on your position on abortion

Not much to elaborate on. Nowhere in the Bible is abortion forbidden, and that’s the law I go by.

I find this illogical and unscientific.

What is this "miscellaneous unformed fetal tissue"? If it's not "a living being", is it therefore inanimate or dead? When does it suddenly morph into a living human baby? 10 seconds before birth? 1 week before birth? 3 months? 6 months? If it's born very prematurely (say at 25 weeks gestation), how do you make a distinction between that and a full-term baby?

I suggest you study some embryology. In reality, no fetal tissue is "unformed" - already by the time of implantation it has structure. Within a few weeks it has a human shape and a detectable heartbeat, so by no stretch of the imagination can it be described as "inanimate".

Adam did not become a living being until God breathed into the nostrils the breath of life. “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Adam did not become a living being until then. God breathed into the nostrils of man his spirit, which who a person really is. The body dies and returns to dust, while the spirit lives on forever. "Man's body returns to the dust from whence it came; and the spirit returns to God who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7

"For the body apart from the spirit is dead" James 2:26 )

So until God has breathed into the fetus the breath/spirit of life, God says it is dead!

 

[Stan B]

Essentially yes. "Natural Family Planning" is what I've seen it most commonly referred to in Catholic circles. Obviously I do have my own thoughts on the matter.

I had a Catholic co-worker who had 9 kids. I asked him "How did that happen??" He responded, "Rythm method!" <giggle>

 

[farouk]

If a normally fertile couple have sex frequently without contraception (so woman is ovulating and nothing prevents sperm from meeting egg), their "chance" of the woman conceiving each month (i.e. embryo getting as far as implantation, which occurs just before missed period) is 1 in 3.

So what happens the other 2 out of 3 times? We don't know for certain, but we do know that embryos created through IVF very often fail to implant when placed in the womb. So it's not unreasonable to suspect that an awful lot of normally fertilised ova (one estimate is 50%) fail to implant for one reason or another.

@Deborah_ Good point; this is what I was thinking about. So it's hard to define any failure to become implanted in the placenta as an abortion.

 

[farouk]

Under Roman Catholic law if you had a brother and he died do you have to go into his widow?

Dispensationally and theologically very odd now...

 

[BreadOfLife]

No! Abortion is not murder of babies. Abortion is merely discarding miscellaneous unformed fetal tissue, which having never been a living being, of course cannot be murdered.

Here we go again with your moronic, Scripturally-bankrupt position that abortion is NOT murder because an unborn child is not a human.
This is patently false, of course, as we read GOD'S interpretation:

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Jer. 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Job 31:15
Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

Psalm 22:10
From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Yeah, God gave us intelligence. When your quiver is full, time to make intelligent decisions.

It is GOD who is the Author of life and the one who decides when your quiver if full - not YOU.

As usual - your lack of faith is appalling . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

Im surprised this topic didn't draw much interest so i'll give my opinion and hopefully it provides some food for thought...

So, is it a sin to use contraception. I think it is. I refer to this bible passage...

"Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”
But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also" Genesis 38:6-10

What was Onan's sin? What exactly was wicked in the Lord's sight that cause Him to take Onan's life?

In the Leviticus laws, when a man dies and leaves a widow his brother is obliged to take her under his wing and raise offspring
So, some people argue that the Lord killed Onan for not fulfilling his duty as commanded by the law of Leviticus

But there is a problem with that. The breaking of Leviticus laws are not punishable by death

I think the Lord killed Onan because he intentionally spilled his seed. U mite be wondering if this counts as contraception
Definition the deliberate use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a consequence of sexual intercourse

I think its a sin, If you look at it from a natural point of view, there is nothing natural about contraception.

If u want to make love to your partners without the little cuddly surprise after 9 months then its a good idea to track her/your menstrual cycle so u know when shes/you're most fertile and least fertile...

Contraception IS sinful because it seeks to place a barrier between you and God.
You are, in effect, daring God to try to make you pregnant now that you've place this "wall" in front of Him.

It's interesting to note that virtually EVERY Protestant denomination on earth was against artificial contraception until the Anglican Church held its Lambeth Conference in 1930, where it decided to accept contraception.

After that conference - the Protestant denominations fell like dominoes over the decades until virtually ALL of them accepted this once-rejected practice. In recent years, SOME denominations have had a change of heart and are once again rejecting this practice as either "sinful" or "not in line" with God's plan.

People should ask themselves - WHY did ALL Protestants reject contraception, once upon a time?
And, WHY are so many returning to this belief?

 

[Stan B]

Here we go again with your moronic, Scripturally-bankrupt position that abortion is NOT murder because an unborn child is not a human.
This is patently false, of course, as we read GOD'S interpretation:

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Jer. 1:5
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Job 31:15
Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

Psalm 22:10
From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

It is GOD who is the Author of life and the one who decides when your quiver if full - not YOU.

As usual - your lack of faith is appalling . . .

All the verses you quote have nothing to do with abortion. They merely have to do with God's foreknowledge.

No big deal! He knew us all, those whom "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . ." Ephesians 1:4

Simply, He knew everything that would happen before the foundation of the world. He knew who would be born and who wouldn't. He knew who would be aborted by God Himself and others. God facilitates abortions, called spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages. God wouldn't do something sinful would He??

Anyway, God is very specific as to when a fetus becomes a living being: “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Adam did not become a living being until then. God breathed into the nostrils of man his spirit, which who a person really is. The body dies and returns to dust, while the spirit lives on forever.

The body is really unimportant. Flesh and blood do not inherit the Kingdom of God, it is just a housing unit to temporarily carry our spirit while we are here on earth. "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven" 2 Corinthians 5:1-2

 

[farouk]

Typo- I meant NFP, Natural Family Planning.

Sometimes abbreviations can be hard to remember; and abbreviations can also be a bit euphemistic. But useful, of course.

 

[Helen]

In the Leviticus laws, when a man dies and leaves a widow his brother is obliged to take her under his wing and raise offspring
So, some people argue that the Lord killed Onan for not fulfilling his duty as commanded by the law of Leviticus

But there is a problem with that. The breaking of Leviticus laws are not punishable by death

I think the Lord killed Onan because he intentionally spilled his seed. U mite be wondering if this counts as contraception

The Levitical law has nothing to do with with us. ✟

 

[farouk]

The Levitical law has nothing to do with with us. ✟

It's hard to go to the Old Testament alone for trying to find arguments against subjects such as condoms, frankly.

 

[Deborah_]

I had a Catholic co-worker who had 9 kids. I asked him "How did that happen??" He responded, "Rythm method!" <giggle>

A Catholic once told me this joke:

"What do you call couples who use natural family planning?"

"Parents."

 

[farouk]

I'm totally cool with birth control in marriage, and anti-elective abortions.

By anti-elective abortions do you refer to when the mother's life is in danger or some other aspect?

 

[Waiting on him]

A Catholic once told me this joke:

"What do you call couples who use natural family planning?"

"Parents."

I like the one where the Indian cheif explains how native Americans get their names.

 

[farouk]

A Catholic once told me this joke:

"What do you call couples who use natural family planning?"

"Parents."

Anyway, a lot of Protestants wouldn't disagree with contraception, e.g., condoms, between married couples.

 

[Waiting on him]

 

[BreadOfLife]

All the verses you quote have nothing to do with abortion. They merely have to do with God's foreknowledge.
No big deal! He knew us all, those whom "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . ." Ephesians 1:4

Simply, He knew everything that would happen before the foundation of the world. He knew who would be born and who wouldn't. He knew who would be aborted by God Himself and others. God facilitates abortions, called spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages. God wouldn't do something sinful would He??

Anyway, God is very specific as to when a fetus becomes a living being: “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Adam did not become a living being until then. God breathed into the nostrils of man his spirit, which who a person really is. The body dies and returns to dust, while the spirit lives on forever.

The body is really unimportant. Flesh and blood do not inherit the Kingdom of God, it is just a housing unit to temporarily carry our spirit while we are here on earth. "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven" 2 Corinthians 5:1-2

"No big deal"??

The fact that He "knew" us in the womb proves our PERSONHOOD in the womb.
Those verses speak about God knowing the PERSON - not simply recognizing a blob of "miscellaneous unformed fetal tissue", as YOU ignorantly put it.

As to the bible being "specific" about when life enters a person - you foolishly quote Gen. 2:7 as "proof". This was the case for ADAM - and nobody else. Adam was the only person who was made of clay. The rest of us came from the SEED of Adam.

Finally - as to your asinine claim that the body is "unimportant" - the Bible says differently. We are flesh/spirit beings - NOT just spirit. It is IN and through our bodies that we struggle with sin and must surrender to God.
Paul writes that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19).

It's really unbelievable that a person your age can be as Scripturally-bankrupt as you are . . .

 

[Jane_Doe22]

By anti-elective abortions do you refer to when the mother's life is in danger or some other aspect?

Elective abortion: the 99.9% of cases wherein people voluntarily have sex and didn't use proper birth control.

Non-elective: mom's life is in grave danger, or rape. This cases abortion could be considered, but things still should be a matter of intense prayer and thoroughly checking for other options too.

 

[farouk]

Elective abortion: the 99.9% of cases wherein people voluntarily have sex and didn't use proper birth control.

Non-elective: mom's life is in grave danger, or rape. This cases abortion could be considered, but things still should be a matter of intense prayer and thoroughly checking for other options too.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[farouk]

I'm totally cool with birth control in marriage

Most Protestants would in one way or another agree with what you say, mainly.

In any case, it would be very out of place for a local church to try to enforce something supposedly called "policy" about condom use among married couples; using them or not is a personal matter for the couple to take responsibility for, not the local church.