Ever since January 20, 2012 when the Obama administration
and The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
announced that they would enforce a rule mandating that all private health care
plans cover sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception, there
have been a multitude of articles and columns written arguing the politics
of the ruling known as the HHS
Mandate.
What everyone hears about the mandate is that The Catholic
Church is against contraception. What
most people don’t know is why. This is a good teaching moment not just for all
Catholics but for all Christians, women, men, all people. I will attempt to show that:
- The Bible teaches that contraception is sinful. It goes against God’s “natural law.”
- Contraceptives cause abortions. The “pill” is an abortifacient.
- Contraceptives are not health care. There are many side effects that cause other health problems.
- The increase in contraceptive use can be tied to the decline in our culture.
- There is a better way. It’s called NFP!
It is important to note that there are accepted uses of
contraceptives such as to decrease ovarian, cancer, some uterine cancers, and
for “hormone replacement therapy”.
These are accepted uses because they are not used to prevent conception,
but actually used to treat a disease or medical condition. The focus of this article is those
contraceptive uses are used prevent children from being conceived.
Contraception use dates back to as early as 1900BC when
ancient scrolls described methods of birth control such as balls of wool and
potions that were used to prevent conception.
Up until 1930, all religions taught that the use of
contraception was sinful. Then the
Anglican Church pressured for social reasons announced that contraception was
ok in some instances. Soon after, they
completely caved in, allowing contraceptive use across the board. By the 1960’s other Protestant churches
followed suite. Only the Catholic Church
has remained true to the original teachings.
What happened? Why did these other churches change their teachings? The Bible didn’t change. Jesus and the Apostles didn’t come back and say it was ok. God didn’t appear and hold a news conference on this. What authority did these religions have to change the teachings of the Bible?
These are teaching that have been taught for over 2,000 years. These interpretations are not open to public opinion.
Here’s what the Bible teaches.
1. Contraception is wrong because it goes against “natural law.” God created women for one purpose. Procreation! In fact His first command to humankind, He gave a blessing and said to be fruitful and multiply. (Genesis 1:27-28)
27 God created man in his image; in the divine image
he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.
This command is repeated in Genesis 9:1 and Genesis
35:11. It is obvious that birth control
involves disobedience to this command because it is an attempt to prevent being
fruitful and multiplying.
2.
Children are a Blessing from God while childlessness is a bad thing. Psalm 127 compares children to a warrior
whose quivers are full of arrows. I know
that if I were a warrior, I would want a lot of arrows. (Psalm 127:3-5)
3 Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a
reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one's
youth. 5 Blessed are they whose quivers are full. They will never be shamed
contending with foes at the gate.
In 1 Chronicles 25: 5 God gave Heman 14 sons and 3
daughters. In 1 Chronicles 26 4-5 Obed-edom
was blessed with 8 sons.
It is very obvious that birth control prevents children from
being conceived. It also prevents
children from being born and people from receiving the blessings from God. So you don’t want this blessing or don’t
think you need it. Think again. Esau in Genesis 25:29-34 sold his blessing
(birthright) for a bowl of stew. For
this in Hebrews 12:16, Easau was
called an immoral or profane person.
Childlessness is not a good thing. In fact, when God uses this as a punishment
to the nation of Israel
in Hosea 9:10-17, He prevents conception, pregnancy and childbirth and killed
those children who survived. God views
childlessness or fewer children as a negative thing. Check out how God rewards those who follow
his laws in Exodus 23:25-26 and Deuteronomy 7:13-14 with lots of children.
3. The Onan Incident. There was a Jewish law that when a mans brother passed away; it was his duty to go to his wife and perform for her and to raise up the offspring. (Genesis 38:8-10)
8 Then Judah said to Onan,
"Unite with your brother's widow, in fulfillment of your duty as
brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother's line." 9 Onan, however,
knew that the descendants would not be counted as his; so whenever he had
relations with his brother's widow, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid
contributing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did greatly offended the
LORD, and the LORD took his life too.
God was obviously displeased with Onan’s disobedience to the law. His punishment for refusing to perform for his brothers’ widow would have just been public humiliation. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)
5 "When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband's brother shall go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. 6 The first-born son she bears shall continue the line of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. 7 If, however, a man does not care to marry his brother's wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and declare, 'My brother-in-law does not intend to perform his duty toward me and refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel.' 8 Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon him and admonish him. If he persists in saying, 'I am not willing to marry her,' 9 his sister-in-law, in the presence of the elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, saying publicly, 'This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother's family!' 10 And his lineage shall be spoken of in Israel as 'the family of the man stripped of his sandal.'
But Onan went one step further by making himself infertile (Coitus interruptus). For that the
penalty was death.
4. This
interpretation is carried into the New Testament in Acts 5:1-11 when Ananias
and Sapphira were struck dead because they withheld part of a gift to God. Remember that fertility is gift from God and
cannot be withheld.
5. In Malachi 2:14-15
Marriage is looked at as a covenant not just with husband and wife but also
with God. And what does God require out
of that covenant. “Godly offspring”. Matthew 19:5-6 and Ephesians 5:31 also refer to the marital
covenant. It what God wants out of that
covenant is Godly offspring then it is apparent that contraception would
violate the covenant preventing God’s ability to bring the married couple
together.
6. In (1 Timothy 2:15)
St Paul teaches us that bearing
children/motherhood can be seen as a means of sanctification and salvation.
15 But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women
persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
7. In (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20) we are told that our
bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and we must give glory to God in our
bodies by being open to His will.
19 Do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you
have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been purchased at
a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.
8. In Galatians
5:19-26; Revelation 9:21 and Revelation 21:8 the word “sorcery” is
mentioned. The Greek translation for
this word is “pharmakeia”. It is
possible that this might refer to the birth control issue as “pharmakeia” in
general was the mixing of various potions for secret purposes, and it is known
that potions were mixed in the first century A.D. to prevent or stop a
pregnancy.”
Also, check out what the Church Fathers had to say about
this issue. The Church Fathers are those who came after the apostles. Why is that important? Remember, there was no official Bible until
the year A.D. 405. Some bishops had
inspired lists of books and there was the Old Testament, so a good place to go
would be the writings of the Church Fathers – those who came after the
apostles. For instance Clement of
Alexandria in A.D. said,
"Because of its divine institution for the propagation
of man, the seed is not to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted" (The
Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2).
Even the reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin taught
that contraception was evil.
Contraceptives cause abortions.
The Pill is known as an abortifacient, in other words it is
know to cause abortions. Here’s how. As all embryologists and medical textbooks
will tell you, each and every human life begins at conception
(fertilization). That’s when 23
chromosomes from the mother (the ovum or egg) come together with 23 chromosomes
from the father (the sperm) to create a new unique 46 chromosomed individual. Once the sperm penetrates the ovum, a new
human being has been created. At this
point this one cell has all of the information DNA
needed to develop in to a mature adult.
Many stages of development will begin.
In fact our human bodies develop into adulthood. During the first stage, that cell, now called
the embryo will begin its journey down through the mothers’ tube toward the
womb. During the first week it will
divide many times until it now has millions of cells. After a week, this new human or embryo will
implant within the lining of the mothers’ uterus.
Some contraceptives, the Pill, Plan B, The IUD, Nuva Ring,
Yaz and Yasmini, the mini pill, the patch, Depo-Provera, all contain hormones
that affect the endometrium, or lining of the womb making it more hostile to
implantation. When this happens, the
embryo is prevented from implanting. It
will not be able to attach to the uterine lining and dies. A very early ABORTION!
Check out these links for more about how the Pill as an
abortifacient:
Contraception use is not health care. What are the many side
effects?
Now pregnancy is being treated as a disease. Pregnancy is not a disease. The body is doing something that it was
designed to do. Contraception prevents
that pregnancy. Contraception is not
really health care. Health care is
supposed to take that body that is not doing something and that it’s supposed
to do and help it to do it. Contraception
does quite the opposite. It takes a
perfectly healthy body and renders it infertile. No medical association recommends the use of
hormonal contraceptives as routine preventive care for healthy women. They are
only used for the disruption of normal fertility. To put it simple, these are
purely elective treatments that prevent the natural and healthy consequences of
a certain lifestyle choice.
But it doesn’t stop there…. There’s more. Did you know that there are serious side
effects to contraceptives? Would you
expose your loved ones, daughters, granddaughters, or nieces to asbestos, second
hand smoke, mustard gas, ultraviolet radiation, formaldehyde, or radon
gas? Of course not! These are all classified by the World Health
Organization as Group 1 Carcinogens. That means that they cause cancer. The Pill is also classified as a Group 1
Carcinogen. Women who use the Pill have
an increased risk of breast cancer. Check out these links for how women who use the pill are more likely to get breast cancer.
Other side effects include high blood pressure, blood clots,
stroke, heart attack, depression, weight gain, and migraines.
Diabetics who take oral contraceptives may note increased
sugar levels. Some women who stop taking
the pill do not return to their fertility (menstrual cycles) for a year, or
longer.
The Pill does decrease ovarian cancer, and some uterine
cancers, it also increases liver and cervical cancer. And at least three studies have shown that
the AIDS virus is transmitted more easily to women who are taking the Pill if
their partners have the HIV virus.
Contraceptives and the decline in our culture.
Increased contraceptive use can be partially attributed to a
decline in our culture.
That’s because as Fr. Don Siciliano of Cinncinnati, Ohio says,
love, marriage, sex and procreation are all things that belong interconnected.
Each of these is a gift from our Creator and meant to be enjoyed only within the Sacrament of Marriage. Further, it is God’s will that each and every act of sexual intimacy contain two elements
- Must
be open to life.
- Must
involve the physical union of husband and wife.
Contraception violates that gift from God and says “no” to
the possibilities of new life.
When that
happens, the marriage institution breaks down, families break down, and the
culture breaks down.
For more on this
subject, check out Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae.
There is a better way!
It’s called NFP.
Does that mean that Catholics want women barefoot, pregnant
and in the kitchen. NO! There is another
way. It’s called Natural Family Planning
(NFP). NFP is not just for
Catholics. NFP is for any couple who
wants a positive, natural, healthy alternative to sexuality within their
marriage or relationship. This is also
known as “fertility awareness”. NFP combines the calendar/rhythm method, the
basal body temperature method, and the cervical mucus method. Women are taught to know when their bodies
are most fertile so they can abstain from intercourse during those times. NFP can also be used the opposite, to help
women get pregnant who are having difficultly doing so. It can also be used as a means of regulating
family size.
NFP is not considered contraception because it does nothing
to render the body infertile, withhold the gift of oneself to one’s spouse or
to block the procreative nature of intercourse. Bishop Chaput says that
“The marriage covenant requires that each act of intercourse
be fully an act of self-giving, and therefore open to the possibility of new
life. But when, for good reasons, a husband and wife limit their intercourse to
the wife's natural periods of infertility during a month, they are simply
observing a cycle which God Himself created in the woman. They are not
subverting it. And so they are living within the law of God's love. There are,
of course, many wonderful benefits to the practice of NFP. The wife preserves
herself from intrusive chemicals or devices and remains true to her natural
cycle. The husband shares in the planning and responsibility for NFP. Both
learn a greater degree of self-mastery and a deeper respect for each other.
It's true that NFP involves sacrifices and periodic abstinence from
intercourse. It can, at times, be a difficult road. But so can any serious
Christian life, whether ordained, consecrated, single or married. Moreover, the
experience of tens of thousands of couples has shown that, when lived
prayerfully and unselfishly, NFP deepens and enriches marriage and results in
greater intimacy -- and greater joy.”
The advantages are that its safe – No drugs that cause
breast cancer, increased blood pressure, blood clots, etc. It is effective – When done correctly it is 99-100%
effective. It is very inexpensive –
about $25 for a thermometer and charts, and the classes are free! And most important it works within God’s
‘natural law”.
Check out these other links for more information about NFP:
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/preventingpregnancy/fertilityawarenessNFP.html
http://www.popepaulvi.com/
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/contraception.html
