My family made a trek to Houston this past week. We enjoy visiting friends there, but I also enjoy the drive to and from. We are a family who have spent much time in a vehicle over the years, and it has become a special time for me. I truly believe that my family, only by God’s grace, is very different from the “average” family in the U.S. My children love one another and love Stacy and I and they love the Lord Jesus. Early on, I realized that car-travel was a great opportunity for teaching – through conversations, and carefully chosen audio material(audio books, sermons, interviews, etc.) So when we were going to be in the car for 5hours I carefully chose the material we would listen to.
One thing I have learned over the years is that we do need some variety in what we listen to. A comedy relief is greatly appreciated from time to time, and in view of the fact that it was Sunday – which meant we’d already heard a long sermon – we needed something as a break. I chose NPR Car-Talk. We have listened to this program before, and really enjoy the automotive information mixed with the antics and humor of “Click and Clack, the tappet brothers”. So I downloaded a couple of these episodes to my player so that we could play it in the car.
Also in light of already having heard a sermon and that I have been encouraged and strengthened through it, I downloaded a few episodes of Dr. Albert Mohler’s radio program. I handpicked discussions on feminism, men’s and women’s issues, and parenting. I think these types of discussions are important right now in my family. I have a young man and young woman living here who are being shaped in how they will relate to a spouse and children and how they will make decisions about who to marry, submission, leadership, and the when/how related to children. They are already active in reading and forming their own opinions in these matters. They ask my input regularly, and I do my best to help them have a biblical view of the world with Christ as the center.
Moving toward the thing that I learned that changed my mind, I’ll give you a hint – Alissa and I had talked a couple of times in the past about birth control. She was reading a book that talked about it, and we had discussed the morality questions/concerns of it. Until the past few years, my view has been the same as that of the world around me. I never thought of birth control as having a moral or biblical answer – If God has given us this technology, then we can use it…like open-heart surgery or chemotherapy. I do see now that the same logic could be applied to creating children to be used as parts for others or to abortion for convenience sake. I guess I never really thought through the topic – maybe afraid of what I would come to believe.
When I mentioned to the family that we would listen to a program that discussed birth control, Alissa said, “Birth control is a form of abortion and I’m against it.” Now if you don’t know Alissa, let me tell you that she is very “opinionated” and as she has grown up I’ve tried to help her make sure that her stronger opinions be based on fact and truth, and preferably biblical/Theological issues. I try to steer toward holding opinions loosely when possible – so as to not alienate others. (If you know me, you know that I’m not very good at this myself. If I truly believe something, I think you should believe it too – even if it is the Ford/Chevy debate – Chevy’s better.)
I told Alissa that the “Morning-After-Pills” were definitely abortion and hence sin, but other methods were not abortion. I went into detail about the barrier methods and how they could not be considered abortion. We believe that life begins at conception, and we weaken our arguments based on that belief if we call barrier methods “abortion and murder” because they prevent conception from taking place. That is the definition of Contraception – preventing conception. We also talked about Judah’s sons and daughter-in-law and how Onan “wasted his seed on the ground” and God was “displeased”. This was a good discussion, but came before we heard from Dr. Mohler.
We listened to The Albert Mohler Program “The Changing Minds on Contraception” (available for free download). The program was addressed to how the Christian’s mind has changed on the subject – but particularly focused on the birth-control pill. Dr. Mohler pointed out that many adopt the view of the culture, but some are now re-evaluating the issue with new facts. He likened the issue to a thick legal document that you may agree to without actually reading the details (like the software license agreement that you see when installing computer programs). He said that many Christians agreed to the pill without actually knowing what it was and how it worked. Now, many are learning those details and are changing their mind on this method of preventing birth.
One man called in to disagree. I think his argument was one that some of you may have, so I want to address it here. He argued that God has given us the wisdom to know when we should (and should not) bring a baby into the world, and there is nothing wrong in using that wisdom to make the best decision for our lives. He agreed that “abortion is wrong…once the egg and the semen interact it is a person”, and I think the guy was confused about the specifics that were being talked about – I think if it were explained in more plain terms that he would agree with the statements made by Dr. Mohler. Dr. Mohler stated that once the sperm and egg unite, they cease to become 2 and are now human life – then anything that would stop that life is not “contraception”(preventing conception) but is an early abortion. I want to say that in my terms so that it is clear. Contraception prevents sperm and egg from uniting, and that is the definition of the word contra- caption. Once the sperm and egg have joined, we call that conception – the fertilization of a human ovum by a sperm – and Christians call that human life created by God and the intentional ending of that life is murder (abortion is just a “nice” term for murder).
Dr. Mohler distinguished the difference in the words “contraception” and “birth control”. We must realize that these words are used interchangeably by some, but the details may have a great effect on how you view one form or another from a biblical perspective. Abortion is in fact “birth control” – it prevents the birth of a living person. Abstinence is also “birth control” – preventing the birth by preventing the conception. Abortion is clearly wrong according to scripture and should be practiced by no Christian, and Abstinence is clearly useful according to scripture and should be practiced by all Christians at different points in their life and always by some. Now for the thing that I learned – it changed my mind about birth control pills.
I learned that certain forms of birth control (IUD, Norplant, and oral contraception/pill) can cause the destruction of fertilized ovum (human life) either as their primary means or as a secondary (backup) means of preventing birth. I learned that there is a chance that a couple who use these methods will actually be causing miscarriage – and since that is an intentional function of these methods, it is actually early abortion. Studies reveal that early abortions are the method of birth control from the pill 4-15% of the time.
I had to tell Alissa that I was incorrect in assuming that "the pill" was not a form of abortion. Apparently she had already read of the data contained in this radio program - that I was hearing for the first time. We had to have more discussion about this subject.
I was devastated by the chance that early in our marriage we used some of these forms of birth control – thinking they were contraception. I have had to go to God in repentance for this specifically. (I have also changed my mind about all contraception as my world-view has become more biblical/Christian, but the prospect that we may have caused the death of a child must be dealt with.) I would challenge you to look up the facts on this issue for yourself. I will provide some links to resources that will help in your study. Then I would ask you, What is the acceptable percentage for a chance that you would destroy a person’s life? If it’s only 4% chance is it worth taking? Is there a tolerance level that you can live with when it comes to human life? These things weigh heavily on my heart – I hope they do with you as well.
Links:
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2009-08-14
http://www.prolife.com/BIRTHCNT.html
http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/prolife_birth_control_pill/A_Longer_Condensation_of_Does_The_Birth_Control_Pill_Cause_Abortions.shtml
http://www.abortionfacts.com/learn/birth_control.asp
Pastor
One thing I have learned over the years is that we do need some variety in what we listen to. A comedy relief is greatly appreciated from time to time, and in view of the fact that it was Sunday – which meant we’d already heard a long sermon – we needed something as a break. I chose NPR Car-Talk. We have listened to this program before, and really enjoy the automotive information mixed with the antics and humor of “Click and Clack, the tappet brothers”. So I downloaded a couple of these episodes to my player so that we could play it in the car.
Also in light of already having heard a sermon and that I have been encouraged and strengthened through it, I downloaded a few episodes of Dr. Albert Mohler’s radio program. I handpicked discussions on feminism, men’s and women’s issues, and parenting. I think these types of discussions are important right now in my family. I have a young man and young woman living here who are being shaped in how they will relate to a spouse and children and how they will make decisions about who to marry, submission, leadership, and the when/how related to children. They are already active in reading and forming their own opinions in these matters. They ask my input regularly, and I do my best to help them have a biblical view of the world with Christ as the center.
Moving toward the thing that I learned that changed my mind, I’ll give you a hint – Alissa and I had talked a couple of times in the past about birth control. She was reading a book that talked about it, and we had discussed the morality questions/concerns of it. Until the past few years, my view has been the same as that of the world around me. I never thought of birth control as having a moral or biblical answer – If God has given us this technology, then we can use it…like open-heart surgery or chemotherapy. I do see now that the same logic could be applied to creating children to be used as parts for others or to abortion for convenience sake. I guess I never really thought through the topic – maybe afraid of what I would come to believe.
When I mentioned to the family that we would listen to a program that discussed birth control, Alissa said, “Birth control is a form of abortion and I’m against it.” Now if you don’t know Alissa, let me tell you that she is very “opinionated” and as she has grown up I’ve tried to help her make sure that her stronger opinions be based on fact and truth, and preferably biblical/Theological issues. I try to steer toward holding opinions loosely when possible – so as to not alienate others. (If you know me, you know that I’m not very good at this myself. If I truly believe something, I think you should believe it too – even if it is the Ford/Chevy debate – Chevy’s better.)
I told Alissa that the “Morning-After-Pills” were definitely abortion and hence sin, but other methods were not abortion. I went into detail about the barrier methods and how they could not be considered abortion. We believe that life begins at conception, and we weaken our arguments based on that belief if we call barrier methods “abortion and murder” because they prevent conception from taking place. That is the definition of Contraception – preventing conception. We also talked about Judah’s sons and daughter-in-law and how Onan “wasted his seed on the ground” and God was “displeased”. This was a good discussion, but came before we heard from Dr. Mohler.
We listened to The Albert Mohler Program “The Changing Minds on Contraception” (available for free download). The program was addressed to how the Christian’s mind has changed on the subject – but particularly focused on the birth-control pill. Dr. Mohler pointed out that many adopt the view of the culture, but some are now re-evaluating the issue with new facts. He likened the issue to a thick legal document that you may agree to without actually reading the details (like the software license agreement that you see when installing computer programs). He said that many Christians agreed to the pill without actually knowing what it was and how it worked. Now, many are learning those details and are changing their mind on this method of preventing birth.
One man called in to disagree. I think his argument was one that some of you may have, so I want to address it here. He argued that God has given us the wisdom to know when we should (and should not) bring a baby into the world, and there is nothing wrong in using that wisdom to make the best decision for our lives. He agreed that “abortion is wrong…once the egg and the semen interact it is a person”, and I think the guy was confused about the specifics that were being talked about – I think if it were explained in more plain terms that he would agree with the statements made by Dr. Mohler. Dr. Mohler stated that once the sperm and egg unite, they cease to become 2 and are now human life – then anything that would stop that life is not “contraception”(preventing conception) but is an early abortion. I want to say that in my terms so that it is clear. Contraception prevents sperm and egg from uniting, and that is the definition of the word contra- caption. Once the sperm and egg have joined, we call that conception – the fertilization of a human ovum by a sperm – and Christians call that human life created by God and the intentional ending of that life is murder (abortion is just a “nice” term for murder).
Dr. Mohler distinguished the difference in the words “contraception” and “birth control”. We must realize that these words are used interchangeably by some, but the details may have a great effect on how you view one form or another from a biblical perspective. Abortion is in fact “birth control” – it prevents the birth of a living person. Abstinence is also “birth control” – preventing the birth by preventing the conception. Abortion is clearly wrong according to scripture and should be practiced by no Christian, and Abstinence is clearly useful according to scripture and should be practiced by all Christians at different points in their life and always by some. Now for the thing that I learned – it changed my mind about birth control pills.
I learned that certain forms of birth control (IUD, Norplant, and oral contraception/pill) can cause the destruction of fertilized ovum (human life) either as their primary means or as a secondary (backup) means of preventing birth. I learned that there is a chance that a couple who use these methods will actually be causing miscarriage – and since that is an intentional function of these methods, it is actually early abortion. Studies reveal that early abortions are the method of birth control from the pill 4-15% of the time.
I had to tell Alissa that I was incorrect in assuming that "the pill" was not a form of abortion. Apparently she had already read of the data contained in this radio program - that I was hearing for the first time. We had to have more discussion about this subject.
I was devastated by the chance that early in our marriage we used some of these forms of birth control – thinking they were contraception. I have had to go to God in repentance for this specifically. (I have also changed my mind about all contraception as my world-view has become more biblical/Christian, but the prospect that we may have caused the death of a child must be dealt with.) I would challenge you to look up the facts on this issue for yourself. I will provide some links to resources that will help in your study. Then I would ask you, What is the acceptable percentage for a chance that you would destroy a person’s life? If it’s only 4% chance is it worth taking? Is there a tolerance level that you can live with when it comes to human life? These things weigh heavily on my heart – I hope they do with you as well.
Links:
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2009-08-14
http://www.prolife.com/BIRTHCNT.html
http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/prolife_birth_control_pill/A_Longer_Condensation_of_Does_The_Birth_Control_Pill_Cause_Abortions.shtml
http://www.abortionfacts.com/learn/birth_control.asp
Pastor
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