Malachi 2:15 Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring.
Throughout the scriptures we see that God loves life! He loves to bless us with life and with offspring. In the book of Malachi we read that God desires Godly offspring that love Him and know Him and follow His plan for their lives and for the world. Put that with all the other verses in the scripture about children, particularly the famous “quiver full” verse, and I think it is pretty clear that God’s attitude towards pregnancy, childbirth and children is one of open generosity. It is more towards the Michelle Duggar side of the scale than Margaret Sanger. As married Christians look at their families and their situations and how they can follow the will of God in their lives I think they have to look at God’s attitude, through the Holy Scriptures and give them great weight.
I recently read a single-child manifesto defending permanent sterilization on a Christian blog that went along something like this.
I have faith to not have any more children. I did not have the same confidence to continue trying for more.
Having confidence is not necessarily indicative of following the will of God. Jonah immediately comes to mind as someone who did not have great confidence in what God had asked of him at all and tried to run from it. Jesus said to follow Him we have to pick up our crosses and many times those crosses seem to great to bear alone. But that is more indicative of our weaknesses than of God’s true plan for us. Confidence, while nice, isn’t necessary.
My faith is tested by not having another child. It is fear of not having another child and whether my faith is sufficient that God would allow me to be at peace with only having one.
This is know as the false dilemma. It is a line of false reasoning where options that could be false are presented as the only two likely options. I submit that this line of reasoning always exists for the Christian couple electing permanent sterilization.
To permanently alter God’s design for the body (a healthy functioning reproduction system)does not show faith but doubt. It says that there is no help or hope for the future. The situation, finances, health etc. will never improve and being open to new life will always be wrong. The dilmma suggests that the only options are to be totally open to new life or to block it permanently. But a third option exists and it is the one that church supports. Periodic continence can be practiced for grave and serious reasons with regular evaluations (in this case perhaps even with each cycle) of whether or not we are capable to the best of our ability to be open to the possibility of new life. It does not mean that another baby will be conceived, but it means that we are open to the possibility.
The Catholic Church does teach that for grave and serious reasons, couples can decide with regret to practice periodic continence to avoid or postpone a pregnancy. This is to be done with formed consciences that are always seeking the truth and wisdom. Since man is not infallible it then does not seem reasonable to make such a permanent decision on such an important part of married life. Rather constant re-evaluation and prayer on the matter for seeking the will of God on the matter is more appropriate for the Christian family.
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