This same basic stance was reiterated and reinforced by the Medieval monks and theologians. The Early Church fathers condemned the use of contraception, leaning heavily on the negative example of Onan in Genesis 38 as evidence for their position and arguing that procreation was the primary purpose of sexual intimacy. The majority report in Christian history has been overwhelmingly vocal in its opposition to birth control. While Christians take a variety of stances on contraception today, this diversity of opinion and practice is a relatively recent historical development.

Before this view is defended, however, it is important to first survey the various views of contraception which are current in our culture today. It will be argued in this paper that the Christian use of contraception is only permissible when biblical principles of human flourishing are applied within the context of the biblical paradigm of marital fruitfulness.

Should concerns about population growth compel the church to rethink the “cultural mandate”? Can personal preferences decide whether or not a Christian couple chooses to use contraception? Is contraception permissible for the believer? If contraception is permissible, does that mean that all forms of contraception are equally acceptable? What attitude should Christians have towards contraception? As will become clear shortly, contemporary Christians answer these questions in a range of different ways. Īll of this raises serious questions for the Christian. Alongside of a desire to promote public health, many have encouraged the use of contraception as a means of enabling and maximizing personal choice. For the majority of modern Westerners, contraception has been touted as one important tool in addressing the public health “problem” of population growth. The vast majority of this growth has taken place in the last two centuries alone, a fact which has caused many to call for more aggressive forms of population control to limit the exponential growth of recent history. Genesis 1:28 records God’s first command to the first human couple, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Since God first gave this command (sometimes called the “cultural mandate” by theologians) the earth’s population has blossomed from one couple to billions of people around the globe.

Contraception by John T. Noonan Jr.