I got into an interesting discussion on another board regarding birth control. The general consensus was that the pill was bad because it causes abortions...it got extremely heated, and I finally just withdrew from the conversation - all I wanted was Scripture (other than the story of Onan, which, to me, is about disobedience - not BC!) that supported the "anti" position. No one could provide it to me, and I was ranted at for not having values, and not being truly pro-life, because I supported the use of abortifacients, yada, yada, yada...
I personally don't use BC pills anymore, because I didn't like how they made me feel - just very sluggish and emotionally "out of it," so DH and I use other forms now. But the doctor who prescribed them to me said that their function is to block ovulation, not "zap" the fertilized eggs.
Now, I am extremely pro-life - I believe that abortion is dead wrong! What do you all think about the opinion that BC pills are abortifacients and should not be used? What about other forms? This was on a board of fundamentalists, and I naively thought that because they believe that the Bible is THE source of absolute truth, that they would not argue so vehemently regarding a position unless they could clearly cite the authority of Scripture!! I never thought that this was such a "hot button" topic...
Well, I stumbled inot a conversation like that right after I had my second duaghter and had not yet been for my six weeks check up. So when I did go, I asked my ObGyn who is a lady, about all the stuff I had been told. She assured me that the bc pills that did work as abortifacients were strongly used in the 70's and very few exist today and the ones that do she doesnt prescribe becuase she takes a prolife stance. She said you can rest at ease that the pill works by preventing ovulation and that if you had a formed egg you would not lose it because of your pill. She actually told me that the same hormone that prevents ovulation, should you get pregnant from missing a pill or something, is primed and even more ready to receive that egg. So she really encouraged me about it. I cant imagine how bad my endometreosis would be without them too. So thats another reason I use them. As a mother who nursed my children until toddler hood I can tell you that WAS Gods method of BC because if you read the law they were only permitted to do it on certain days and certain days after they were unclean and it spaced everything to 4 or 5 years between kids if all went well. They nursed their kids until 4. I think God designed a system in there. He isnt expecting it to be a thing over our head and having kids should never be compulsory. That is legalism. And the one I dealt with made it into a self righteous thing and I felt like a rank sinner when I was done. But my ObGyn set me straight. So I dont worry about it anymore. And I agree with you that was an obedience issue in that passage of scripture.
I totally agree with Cassandra. For various reasons of my background (too long to go into here especially when I'm checking mail at 2:10 am...) I am COMPLETELY anti-abortion. However, I am totally pro birth control! I don't think you can have a great sex life without it, (if you don't want to have kids) and I believe God is okay with all forms of it. (And I do not feel, as some misguided people believe, that abortion is a form of birth control.)
I believe whatever works for you -- use it. I used the pill for a while - a few years. I don't like the way it makes me feel either, so I stopped using it. I have used just about everything out there. Finally last year, dh got fixed (halleluiah!) and shortly thereafter I had an operation called an ablation that basically means now I can't have kids either. (so funny that right after dh had that...then here I go getting this other operation...) Now we say we are double fixed...no more in our quiver here, ptl.
I say use whatever works for you. I believe God has worked through scientists and doctors to come up with all of these choices for us and it's MARVELOUS!
Yup. I agree with both of you - I have had conversations with people of the "quiver-full" mindset who believe that we should let God decide how many kids we have and not try to control it. But I believe that God is bigger than a little pill, or a condom, or whatever, and that if He is determined that we will get pregnant despite the precautions we take, then it'll happen - and that, in that case, He has a plan and wants that baby to be born!
Has anyone followed the story of the Duggar family in Arkansas (she won "Young Mother of the Year" in 2004)? 15 kids and another one on the way!!! YIKES!! I guess if someone like that came to my church, it'd be a great way to get my attendance numbers up, but wow...more power to her, I guess - I could never do it!
Well, this is on the really personal side here, but there are no names mentioned so I just wanted to say how miserable it is when people do not want kids, and they do not use real birth control.
There is a woman I ministered to whose husband does not believe in birth control. (she does, he doesn't) Basically she is scared to death for him to touch her all the time. (Scared to death she'll get pregnant.) Can you say, "no fun"??? Can you imagine? This is why I think it's so important to get on the same page with all this kind of stuff before you get married.
There are many other couples we've encountered in our ministry who use the rhythm method or, the just "pull out" all the time. My husband says, "what do you call people who use the rhythm method? Parents! Seriously, most people I know who use that (or NFP as they sometimes call it) have kids they did not plan. And, there are several times during the month when they cannot have sex. They just have to do without. (I personally don't see how God can be in that...I mean, I just don't think it's right for married people to desire sex but not be able to have it. I don't think he intended for a married couple to walk around going, "we wish we could do it, but right now we can't...)
Then there are just as many couples we've talked to in the course of our ministry who just go so far and do the "pull out" method, if you want to call it a method. I literally know women who do not have kids (as of yet, by some miracle...) AND...in all the time they have been married, they have never "completed" intercourse with their husband. CAN YOU IMAGINE? This has to be the most dismal sex life I can possibly imagine but I know several couples that live this way.
I just have to ask one big fat, 'WHY???????????????????"
I asked one woman and she said, "we don't want to do anything unnatural. I say, okay, and how is a little piece of rubber really going to hurt you THAT much? I really don't understand that whole mentality but more people have it than you would imagine.
Okay, enough of this, I'm moving on to the next thread..........
I look at it like this. If it is really wrong to prevent it, its wrong no matter the method wether that rythem method, pulling out, rubbers, whatever. If its wrong its always wrong. You start getting sacriligious if you say well this is wrong but not this. If its wrong to prevent it its wrong to prevent it in any was shape form or fashion. Thats how people get caugth in so much legalism. I say that aimed at the mentality that preventing thru hormonal methods are evil compared to measuring body temperature. If you are supposed to embrace having as many children as God would want you to and youa re using the rythym method, are you not STILL trying to prevent what God would want? (I am being sarcastic) So the question is, is it wrong? I say no because God answered that by building in "preventive" things (breastfeeding and unclean period of times ect..) The Bible does say the married should have children but does not directly address the issue therefore that (# of children) must not be the main issue, it must be a personal issue). I say if you dont believe its wrong to prevent the conception of children, then pop a pill that is prolife friendly (we've already covered that) and have some fun. lol Sex was not meant to be that way. How important is truly is to know where you stand before marriage! That is sad.
I am COMPLETELY anti-abortion. However, I am totally pro birth control! I don't think you can have a great sex life without it, (if you don't want to have kids) and I believe God is okay with all forms of it. (And I do not feel, as some misguided people believe, that abortion is a form of birth control.)
