Man was given authority by God to
“be fruitful and multiply on the face of the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Marriage was established by God as a permanent environment in which to produce and nurture children. Unfortunately, children today are often considered a waste or a burden. They come in the ways of people’s progress and achievement of goals and socially encapsulate our “way of life”. Often, this type of self-interest underlies the use of contraceptives.
Contrary to the self-centered interest in the use of some contraceptives, the Bible presents children as a gift from God (Genesis 4:1; Genesis 33:5). A child is a portion given by the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5). Children are a blessing from God (Luke 1:42). Children are the adornment of old men (Proverbs 17:6). God blesses the barren with children (Psalm 113:9; Genesis 21:1-3; 25:21-22; 30:1-2; 1 Samuel 1:6-8; Luke 1:7, 24-25). God creates children in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16). God knows children before they are born (Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15).
The closest scriptural reference to specifically condemning the use of contraceptives is found in Genesis chapter 38, where we read the account of Judah’s sons Er and Onan. Er had married a woman named Tamar, but she was wicked and God killed her, leaving Tamar without a husband and without children. According to Leviticus marriage laws according to Deuteronomy 25:5-6, Onan did not want to share his inheritance with any other sons. There was no one to produce in place of his brother, so he used the oldest method of birth control, i.e. destroying semen on the ground. Genesis 38:10 says, “The Lord was angry about this. So the Lord killed Onan also.” Onan’s motives were selfish: he used Tamar for his own pleasure, But the one who produced an heir for his dead brother denied the usurper his legal inheritance. This reference is often used as proof that God does not allow birth control. But clearly it was the act of contraception that caused God to kill Onan; Onan had a selfish motive behind this act.
It is so important to see children the way God sees them, not the way the world tells us to see them. After all, the Bible does not forbid birth control. Contraception, by its very definition, is the opposite of procreation. It is not the action of the contraceptive itself that determines whether it is wrong or right. As we learn from the story of Onan, it is the purpose of birth control that determines whether it is wrong or right. If a married couple is using contraception only for their own pleasure, then it is wrong. If a couple is using contraception to temporarily put off having a child until they are mature and more financially and emotionally ready, then it may be acceptable to use contraception for a while. Again, everything is determined on purpose.
The Bible always presents children as good objects. The Bible “expects” that a husband and wife should have children together. The inability to have children is presented in the scriptures as a bad thing. Nowhere in the Bible can we find that anyone expresses a desire to have no children. At the same time, the Bible nowhere makes the argument that the use of contraceptives for a limited period of time is clearly wrong. However, married couples should seek God’s will regarding when they should try to have children and how many children they should have.