Title: Is There Anything Wrong With Using Birth Control?
Text: Romans 14:1, 5; Genesis 38:8-10
Time: February 12th, 2012
A couple of stories in the news lately deal with the issue of birth control. The first is that President Obama recently enacted a policy that would force religious institutions to provide birth control coverage even if these religious institutions oppose it on moral grounds. Because of the hue and cry Obama reversed himself, although not completely. Now he says the religious institutions that oppose birth control don’t have to provide health coverage for it, but their insurance companies must provide it free of cost to anyone seeking it. The obvious problem is that this still doesn’t solve the problem, because the insurance companies will probably pass the cost of the birth control coverage back to the religious institution through higher costs. So the solution may not really be a true solution. We’ll have to see. Also, another news story related to birth control is that presidential candidate Rick Santorum is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, which is strongly against birth control. How would this affect his policy-making if he’s elected president? So we see the issue of birth control is once again the topic of discussion among Americans today. This raises a more general question for Christians living in the modern world – is there anything wrong with using birth control? But really, for committed Christians, the question is more specific – is there anything wrong with married couples using birth control? That question is more relevant for serious Christians, rather than the more general question of birth control use, because there are instances where birth control is clearly wrong to use. For example, for singles participating in pre-marital sex, it is a sin, it’s wrong. The Bible is clear about that. So then, using birth control to prevent pregnancy while engaging in premarital sex would be wrong. There should be no need for singles to use birth control, because there should be no pre-marital sex taking place, because it’s sin. By providing birth control to singles you’re encouraging them to have sex, something that is sinful. So for Christians, we should never be tempting singles – usually teenagers and young adults – to sin by making birth control available to them. Like Jesus said, “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!” Matthew 18:6-7. Also, for Christians, any form of birth control that uses abortion as a means is clearly wrong and sinful. “Thou shall not murder,” says the sixth of Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:13. And that command against murder applies also to children, even the smallest, preborns. So abortion as a form of birth control is wrong. But what about the typical and most common form of birth control, the pill; is that wrong? Let’s examine this question from a biblical standpoint. (more…)