Dear ______,

I will gladly share with you my beliefs and convictions.  I am often asked these questions.  To be honest, in most cases the way they are asked is often in a negative tone and I try to answer them positively.  I will share with you where I am at concerning these issues and my scriptural support.  

 

I am curious if you perceive having a large family as your personal calling or a larger calling to all Christian people. Do you consider the use of birth control a sin?  Would this include attempts to manipulate family size through methods such as natural family planning?

 

My beliefs really do not focus around a number or a particular size.  There are many who hold the same doctrines concerning “family planning” or lack thereof and do not have large families.  I know several of these people.  It is not the size or number but it is about submitting to the Sovereign Lord in this area of our lives. 

 

I will say that these are difficult questions to answer simply because many get offended when people attempt to answer these questions.  I will answer by stating that I believe the Bible teaches against using birth control.  Not explicitly though, in other words, there is no place that we are told out right not to do so.

But I believe there is an implicit teaching (combining the whole of Scripture on the matter).  

Those things being:  

1. We are told to be fruitful and multiply.  This is the first commandment ever given and it has never been rescinded but instead reiterated. Gen 1:28, Gen. 9:1, Gen. 35:11
2. Children are a gift and a heritage unto the Lord.  Psalm 127: 1, 3-5, Psalm 128:3
3. God knows us before we are even formed. Psalm 139:16, Jeremiah 1:5, Hebrews 7:9-10
4. Onan was killed for being disobedient in fathering a child and spilling his seed rather than instead passing his kinsman duties on to another. Genesis 38:8-10, Ruth 4:5-7
5. God desires a godly seed and that the design for marriage is to bring forth that Godly seed.   Malachi 2:15, 1 Corin. 7:2-5
6. God is the one who is sovereign over the womb, He opens and closes the womb.  Gen 29:31, Gen. 30:22, 1 Samuel 1:19-20
7. We are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1-2

This is a just a brief summary.  It is not that we are not capable of making these decisions, it is a question of if it is indeed a decision that was meant for us to make.  It is a question of do I see God’s blessing as working in spite of my actions or in response of my submission to his sovereignty.