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Christianity Today, December, 2008 |

Quotation Marks

Recent remarks on birth control, why you can't sue God, and other news developments.

Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 11/18/2008 09:16AM

"I was called to start a mission, not a church. … You don't try to preach … what is sin and what isn't sin. A mission is a place where you ask nonbelievers to come and find faith and hope ...

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K.	Posted: November 20, 2008 1:03 PM


So if some people don't use birth control but depend on God's timing for children, do they take medications for health problems or just depend on God to heal them or not?

Joe	Posted: November 19, 2008 1:02 PM


Since roughly 20% of all conceptions abort or fail to implant--does this make God the greatest provider of abortions?

melissa

Posted: November 18, 2008 10:17 PM

In response to another reader, oral contraceptives have assoiciated health risks including but not limited too elevated blood pressure, possible sterility after many years of use and not to meantion exposure to std's because confident that pregnancy is not an issue women make the naive assumption that the man they are sleeping with is disease free. Condoms have none of those risks and are just as effective and do not involve possible fertilised eggs.

dr. j. vickrey

Posted: November 18, 2008 7:51 PM


The Church's position on this is immoral and has been for as long as it has enslaved Western women, leaving them to the mercy of their husbands and the Church's all-male organizational chart. What would happen if the rules were reversed and all Church rules applied to men and male contraceptives, with men having the burden of carrying and birthing babies?

kathy

Posted: November 18, 2008 6:47 PM

As Catholics, we don't have to figure it out. It's taught that all artificial contraceptives are sinful. We didn't make it up; it's a teaching that has been taught since the early Church. In Ephesians 5, St. Paul compares the relationship of husband to Christ and the wife to the Church. Also when the Pharisees asked Jesus about the woman married to seven brothers, he told them that she is no one's wife in the Resurrection; there will be no marriage in heaven for we will be like the angels. Marriage is the visible sign pointing to us of what is to come: we will all be married to God for all eternity. Also, the marital act is a visible sign of worship (see Romans 12:1-2). The marital act has 2 aspects: the unitive and the procreative. If you interfere with the procreative act, you will also be interferring with the unitive aspect because the two were never meant to be separate. If pregnancy needs to be delayed, the couple can use Natural Family Planning.

Another reader

Posted: November 18, 2008 5:34 PM


Oral contraceptives do not expose women to serious health risks, women expose themselves to serious health risks by participating in casual sex. There are legitimate reasons for oral contraceptives.

tad	Posted: November 18, 2008 5:00 PM

Such a simple question...well, a few decades ago it was simple. It seems that very few modern protestants are aware that until the 1930's (when Margaret Sanger's "Planned UNParenthood" got started), ALL Christian denominations taught that all forms of artificial birth control were a grave evil. The reformers taught it as well. It's a 2,000 year-old teaching, that only recently has been re-examined. Since the '30's, we have been on a slippery slope down the path against life. Let us not forget that the very first commandment ("go forth, be fruitful and multiply") has never been rescinded. There are also many ramifications for how we view sex in general, the marriage covenant, and even life itself. Worthy of a CT article soon, eh?

A Reader

Posted: November 18, 2008 4:19 PM


Four choices for your survey on this huge issue are insufficient. I couldn't vote because none voiced my opinion. In general, I do not support use of Oral contraceptives for birth control because they expose women to serious health risks.

Scott

Posted: November 18, 2008 4:01 PM

There is no no credible evidence that shows oral contraceptives prevent fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus (See the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists document, Hormone Contraceptives Controversies and Clarifications http://www.aaplog.org/decook.htm). Dr White is not a medical expert and speaks on a subject he has no knowledge of. In so doing, he decreases the moral authority his own testimony and of other Christians who rightly oppose elective abortion.

alyson

Posted: November 18, 2008 2:17 PM

I do not think oral contraceptives is murder or anything like that. I work with kids and it is sad to see them in bad situations, uncared for, etc. People should adopt more and use contraceptives so kids can have a better quality of life, without oral contraceptives, situations like in Romania and other third world countries develop where children will starve, and they will because even our welfare system could not handle it. Sometimes, you should choose the lesser of two evils and oral contraceptives are, if not we would never have obtained the scientific knowledge to invent them. All truth is God's truth and we should choose wisdom and true discussion when making these decisions not just what appears to be the best way...

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