Does the Bible Prohibit Birth Control?

In my recent post on abortion, someone shot me a message on the blog and asked, and i quote:

"But let's say Those ladies who are raped are taken to the hospital and when you are in the hospital firstly they have to give you the medication because they are not sure if the raper was sick somewhere. So you find those pills will also terminate the sperm cells. So is that also abortion?"

Unfortunately they didn't leave their email address, so I couldn't respond to them directly. However, since this is a question that others may also have, I thought it would be helpful to answer it here. As Christians, we believe life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5).

Abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy after conception has taken place.

In the situation the person described, if the medication prevents fertilization and no conception has occurred, then it would not be considered an abortion because there is no pregnancy to end.

This would still be true even if the medication is taken deliberately to prevent pregnancy from occurring in the first place, especially given the circumstances.

There are also rare cases where medical complications threaten the mother's life and doctors have to make difficult decisions to save her. These cases are very different from deliberately ending a pregnancy simply because it's unwanted or seen as an inconvenience.

The question, however, raises a broader issue:

"What does the Bible say about birth control?"

Now, the Bible does not explicitly command or prohibit birth control.

Onan's story in Genesis 38 is often cited as evidence that God does not approve of birth control. However, it was not the act of spilling his seed on the ground that the Lord took issue with and for which He put Onan to death, but the selfish motives behind it.

You see, Onan had no issue using Tamar for his own sexual pleasure, but he was unwilling to fulfill his legal duty to provide an heir for his deceased brother, as required under the levirate marriage custom.

The passage therefore addresses Onan's disobedient heart and selfish motives rather than the act itself.

That said, the Bible presents children as a gift and blessing from God (Psalm 127:3-5), but at the same time, it calls us to exercise wisdom and faithful stewardship in every area of life.

Jesus said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost..." (Luke 14:28).

Likewise, Paul wrote, "But if anyone does not provide for his own... he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8).

The command to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Genesis 1:28) should therefore not be understood as a call to have children without regard for our God-given responsibilities, but rather as a call to embrace the blessing of children while also exercising wisdom, responsibility, and faithful stewardship in caring for and providing for them.

Although the Bible neither commands nor forbids the use of contraception, it repeatedly calls us to examine our hearts, check our motives, and exercise faithful stewardship.

Ultimately, the decision to use contraception is one that Christian married couples should make prayerfully, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in submission to Scripture.

God bless you.