This is a continuation of my previous Apologetic Dialogue “ on the intercession of the saints” it Follows the same Characters Tom, a Catholic, and Jason a Protestant.
Jason: Since we’re talking about catholic stuff can you explain what y’all’s deal with Contraception is?
Tom: sure. Well, the argument I like to use is one of teleology and that’s just the study of things' final ends or purpose, the purpose of the sexual act is procreation so you should be open to any gift God wants to give you. So things like condoms, birth control, and “pulling out” are corrupting the sexual act by denying its proper end.
Jason: ok sure but that’s a philosophical argument, not a theological one.
Tom: Well it’s based on an understanding of the physical world, you bring your understanding of language and the physical world to the Bible all the time, if you didn’t you wouldn’t know what a miracle is.
Jason: yeah but you’re using philosophy to say what is and isn’t a sin, God’s word should tell us what is and isn’t a sin.
Tom: There are biblical arguments I can make to add to the teleological argument but before we get to that, I’d like to ask you what you think sin is?
Jason: I’d say sin is that which is counter to God’s will or plan.
Tom: I agree so we could say sin is disorder and following God’s will is order right?
Jason: I don’t see any issue with that
Tom: Great, then contraception interferes with the natural order of sex. So we could say contraception is disordering the purpose of the sexual act and is counter to what God ordered the sexual embrace for.
Jason: but this is All still philosophy, I’d like to hear those bible verses you mentioned
Tom: Sure, I’ll be a little crass here but it’s just to illustrate the point, the Bible says men and women should be joined together in one flesh. Well, a condom is preventing that “one flesh” part you aren’t really joining your wife you have placed a barrier between your 2 fleshes.
Jason: so maybe that shows condoms are bad that doesn’t show things like birth control Pulling out or surgeries that prevent one from getting pregnant or getting another pregnant are sinful
Tom: I would point to Onan in Genesis, he was told to continue the family line with his dead brother's wife as was the law back then, and instead of finishing he’d pull out and “waste his seed” using her as a masturbatory tool. And “What he did was displeasing in the sight of the lord and he put him to death” Genesis 38 verse 10. On birth control and surgeries the church would say it defiles the body and is an active will to prevent the gift of life as God wills it, it cheapens sex into just a fun activity. Saint Paul says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church” Ephesians 5:25 Marriage and sex are meant to show Christ’s love to the church. It’s a spiritual act just as much as it is a physical one. Sex should reveal Christ’s love to the church, let me give you an example: baptism is done with water because water represents a cleansing, if you baptized someone with mud then you’ve changed the act that baptism represents. Mud doesn’t cleanse you, it makes you dirty. So changing the nature of the sexual embrace changes the spiritual act of sex, contraceptives have shown earlier to interfere with the natural end of sex it prevents it from its natural conclusion by placing a man-made thing in between the final end of the sexual embrace if we are to be loving one another as Christ loves the church then we shouldn’t allow anything to hinder that expression because Christ doesn’t hinder in his love to us
Jason: That sounds nice and all but the human body already places a hindrance on the sexual act, menopause in women. Should a husband and wife stop having sex just because the wife has gone through menopause?
Tom: Menopause is God’s act, it's part of the natural order of the body, contraception is the act and will of man that interferes with the natural order. I don’t see how that relates to the conversation
Jason: Well I’m still not convinced. The way I see it you have a few lose scriptural references and then apply all this other stuff on top of it, the text doesn’t really say if it’s right or wrong
Tom: I don’t see it that way but let’s take that as true. If the Bible really doesn’t say anything either way on the issue then we should take the principles the Bible gives and apply them, I think the verses I’ve referenced and the teleology of sex show that even if what you say is true and it doesn’t strictly say it’s a sin or not then we can still use the biblical principles and reason to claim Contraceptives are counter to the will of God.
Jason: I guess that could be true, but I still don’t think contraceptives interfere with the whole love each other as Christ loves the church, just because a couple may use contraceptives from time to time doesn’t mean they aren’t open to having kids, they can just choose when to use and when not to use contraceptives, like what if they can’t afford another kid or might not be able to care for it because they already have so many kids l.
Tom: children are a gift from God and using contraceptives like you say would be telling God we don’t want your gift. We want to decide when we have kids, also you can just not have sex or track her cycle, to have sex on her less fertile days. I’m not saying you need to be having sex every night and hoping you don’t have kids anymore. You can practice natural family planning taking advantage of the natural order of the women’s body as made by God.
Jason: What's natural family planning?
Tom: It's when you keep track of the women's cycle. Think of it as the same thing some couples do to try and get pregnant but in reverse.
Jason: how is that not the same thing as “rejecting God’s gift of children”? You’re choosing when to and when not to have sex based around wanting or not wanting kids.
Tom: It's similar to the menopause thing we talked about earlier, it’s using our reason, something God gave us, and taking advantage of the natural order of the women’s body that God gave her.
Jason: I guess under the principles you laid out it’s consistent. But all of this still feels like extra-biblical arguments.
Tom: I don’t know if you noticed but this entire time I’ve been making a positive case that contraceptives are a sin, but historically speaking every Protestant denomination, the Catholic Church and the early Christian church and even the Jews of the Old Testament held that contraceptives were a sin till the 1930s that’s when the Anglican Church said it was permissible, even Martin Luther was against contraception, here I saved the quote to my phone, here it is he said
“Onan must have been a malicious and incorrigible scoundrel. This is a most disgraceful sin. It is far more atrocious than incest and adultery. We call it unchastity, yes, a Sodomitic sin. For Onan goes in to her; that is, he lies with her and copulates, and when it comes to the point of insemination, spills the semen, lest the woman conceive. Surely at such a time the order of nature established by God in procreation should be followed. Accordingly, it was a most disgraceful crime to produce semen and excite the woman, and to frustrate her at that very moment. He was inflamed with the basest spite and hatred. Therefore he did not allow himself to be compelled to bear that intolerable slavery. Consequently, he deserved to be killed by God. He committed an evil deed. Therefore God punished him.”
John Calvin said something similar here I have that quote saved to my phone too
“I will contend myself with briefly mentioning this, as far as the sense of shame allows to discuss it. It is a horrible thing to pour out seed besides the intercourse of man and woman. Deliberately avoiding the intercourse, so that the seed drops on the ground, is doubly horrible. For this means that one quenches the hope of his family, and kills the son, which could be expected, before he is born. This wickedness is now as severely as is possible condemned by the Spirit, through Moses, that Onan, as it were, through a violent and untimely birth, tore away the seed of his brother out the womb, and as cruel as shamefully has thrown on the earth. Moreover he thus has, as much as was in his power, tried to destroy a part of the human race. When a woman in some way drives away the seed out the womb, through aids, then this is rightly seen as an unforgivable crime. Onan was guilty of a similar crime, by defiling the earth with his seed, so that Tamar would not receive a future inheritor.”
Jason: You just keep those saved to your phone? No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend that’s mad autistic
Tom: You’re one to talk, we're both here on a Friday night talking theology face it you’re as autistic as me. Anyway as I was saying If anything you should be making the argument that they were all wrong and that the Bible permits contraceptives.
Jason: Well I’d have to think about that and get back to you on an argument that the Bible permits contraception. But what does the early church really have to say about contraception it’s not like they had condoms
Tom: Good luck I’ve looked for Protestant arguments in favor of contraception but the best I could find was an argument from silence saying “well the Bible doesn’t say it’s bad or good so it’s a non issue” On your second point, they did, the earliest account was back in Mesopotamia around 1850s BC women would use Honey, acacia leaves, and lint as a cervical cap to prevent the “seed” from planting in the “garden” to use some flowery language. So that’s just one super early account of contraception. There were other kinds during the Roman Empire and in the Middle Ages. The technology of contraception has improved but the essential act of contraception hasn’t changed so the truth of contraception being a sin hasn’t changed either.
Jason: lint? That’s disgusting, I’ll have to get back to you on contraceptives but I understand where you guys are coming from on it.