The Bible Is Against Contraception (RH)

The Bible Is Against Contraception (RH)
By Dennis Yu (dennisjyu@gmail.com)

I’m writing this article with the Bible-believers in mind. I still don’t know how some of them, I refer mainly to some Protestants groups, are able to justify contraception. The Bible speaks clearly against it.

Probably the most explicit Biblical passage against contraceptive practices can be found in Genesis 38:9-10. It says, “Whenever he had [sexual] relations… he wasted his semen on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring… What he did greatly offended the Lord.”

I can’t find any other way of interpreting this passage other than affirming that contraceptive practices offend God. Contraceptive practices include all types of contraceptions. God, in his wisdom, decided to need the collaboration of man in creating another human being.

God protects the creation of each human being through the institution of marriage. Jesus said: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (cf. Mt 19:6). Such is the protection that God put in place. Why? Because of man’s dignity. Man is created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:27). Even the Psalmist exclaimed that man was created a little less than a god (cf. Ps. 8). And when Jesus came, he made man his brother. That is to say, man is now a child of God (cf. Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6). Such is the dignity of man!

That is why man cannot use his procreative power in any way he wants it. It is such a precious gift. And Jesus went a long way to protect this procreative power. He warned that whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (cf. Mt 5:28). Adultery was both illegal and immoral in Israel, and Jesus now says that with a lustful look, one has already committed adultery.

That is because, if one indulges in lustful activities, one ends up committing many sexual deviations. St. Paul was explicit about these immoralities (cf. Rm 1:24-32). He even said that they not only do them but also approve those who practice them.

One thing is to have a human weakness. Another thing is to approve such weakness. Some would even call a human weakness a virtue and a human right! Jesus was very accommodating to repentant sinners. The woman caught in adultery, repentant of her sin, was pardoned easily (cf. Jn 8:3-12). He said “neither do I condemn you. Go, and do not sin again.” Jesus pardoned the woman because he was offended, otherwise there’s nothing to pardon. He also made clear that she shouldn’t sin again. We have to call sin a sin, vice a vice, and virtue a virtue.

I have been reading the Bible daily for the last 16 years. The Bible’s “sexual morality” is quite clear. I really cannot understand how a Bible-believer can justify contraception. (7-VIII-2012)