Thursday, October 02, 2008

What does the Bible say about contraceptives?

No, there is no mention of condoms and the IUD in the Bible.

There is, of course, the first ever command uttered by God to man to go forth and multiply, but arguably with more than 6 billion people in the world (spewing greenhouse gases and destroying the environment), that directive has already been accomplished. God killed Onan for coitus interruptus, but also arguably he probably was killed not for his pioneering the withdrawal method but because of his shirking of the responsibility under Levirate marriage to raise a child for his brother with his brother's widow.

Marriage, the Bible says, is for the raising of children but Proverbs 5:18-19 also instructs the couple to delight in each other without mentioning children (so probably it's okay for a married couple to have sex even if they don't plan a pregnancy anytime soon).

As in many other issues, the Bible is not really explicit in its condemnation of contraceptives and most Filipinos probably do not find the responsible use of contraceptives by a married couple morally reprehensible. They probably are railing against the RH bill not so much for the bill itself as for the suspicion that it might usher in down the road legalized abortion, which is universally detested in the country even by, surprisingly, the feminists. I once saw an interview of Cong. Liza Masa and she says she personally does not countenance abortion. This is, of course, quite surprising because you would expect a feminist to say it's all up for the individual woman to decide.

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