Is Permanent Birth Control a Sin?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Lately we are working our way through some frank questions
00:00:08.640 | from married couples.
00:00:10.240 | And we have an email from a husband today.
00:00:12.480 | "Pastor John, my wife and I are happy
00:00:14.480 | "and thank God a healthy couple.
00:00:16.480 | "We live in Mexico City and we are in our late 30s.
00:00:19.880 | "We have been Christians since our adolescence.
00:00:22.520 | "We have two kids and one more coming in the next month,
00:00:25.080 | "a great blessing for us.
00:00:27.240 | "We would like to know what the Bible teaches
00:00:29.120 | "about birth control, especially permanent surgeries
00:00:32.000 | "like a vasectomy or other options out there for men.
00:00:35.320 | "Are permanent birth control decisions
00:00:37.600 | "aligned with God's will?"
00:00:39.820 | - Let me talk through, walk through principles
00:00:46.720 | that have guided me in this.
00:00:49.520 | Been married for 46 years.
00:00:51.160 | We have used various methods of,
00:00:55.600 | I like the term conception control now
00:00:58.800 | and it'll be clear why before we're done.
00:01:01.500 | Abortion is birth control and I don't like that.
00:01:06.160 | I don't claim infallibility here, of course,
00:01:11.560 | and we have to talk so carefully
00:01:14.680 | when there are no very direct instructions in scripture.
00:01:19.680 | In Genesis 2.18, so I'm gonna go back now.
00:01:22.920 | This may not make sense at first,
00:01:24.640 | but it'll start making sense in about two minutes.
00:01:28.080 | In Genesis 2.18, it says,
00:01:30.400 | "The Lord said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.'"
00:01:34.840 | Now that makes marriage normal and good.
00:01:39.180 | And then if you add Genesis 1.28,
00:01:41.960 | be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.
00:01:46.560 | Now the normal good reality of marriage
00:01:49.660 | is strengthened with the normal rightness
00:01:52.920 | and corporate obligation on humanity
00:01:55.840 | to have babies and fill the earth with faithful image bearers.
00:02:00.160 | Then comes the fall.
00:02:02.000 | So you see, you've got marriage and baby having
00:02:05.360 | as virtually normative before the fall.
00:02:09.280 | Then comes the fall of man into sin
00:02:12.680 | and what was normal and good and to be expected
00:02:16.720 | and a corporate obligation on humanity, what becomes of it?
00:02:20.060 | Well, astonishingly, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.19,
00:02:25.060 | 1 Corinthians 7, that he loves his singleness
00:02:29.700 | and he wishes everybody could be in his condition.
00:02:32.580 | He says in 1 Corinthians 7.7,
00:02:35.540 | "I wish that all were as I myself am."
00:02:39.320 | But he knows that's not gonna happen
00:02:42.500 | and it's not God's will.
00:02:44.480 | Each one has his own gift from God,
00:02:48.060 | one of one kind and one of another,
00:02:50.660 | as though singleness might be a gift from God.
00:02:54.940 | I mean, he's like, "Whoa, whatever happened to Genesis 2.18?
00:02:58.900 | It's not good for man to be alone."
00:03:01.820 | And then he explains why in chapter seven,
00:03:04.940 | verses 32 to 34 of 1 Corinthians,
00:03:07.960 | "I want you to be free from anxieties.
00:03:11.300 | The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord,
00:03:15.240 | how he can please the Lord.
00:03:17.220 | But the married man is anxious about worldly things,
00:03:19.700 | how he can please his wife and his interests are divided.
00:03:23.300 | And the unmarried or betrothed woman
00:03:25.540 | is anxious about the things of the Lord,
00:03:27.340 | how to be holy in body and spirit.
00:03:29.700 | But the married woman is anxious about worldly things,
00:03:32.000 | how to please her husband."
00:03:33.980 | That's amazing.
00:03:35.660 | And here's what I infer from it,
00:03:38.600 | that there are realities that came into the world
00:03:43.340 | after the fall that make life more complicated
00:03:48.340 | than it was before the fall
00:03:51.380 | in regard to marriage and having children.
00:03:54.300 | If there were no sin,
00:03:56.660 | if there were no need for a world mission
00:04:00.100 | of sacrifice and martyrdom and suffering,
00:04:03.700 | then everybody marrying and everybody having children
00:04:06.900 | would be virtually an absolute.
00:04:08.980 | In other words, if we live before the fall.
00:04:12.140 | But we don't live in that world,
00:04:15.220 | and other factors determine how we live.
00:04:18.600 | So Paul is not driven by Genesis 2.18,
00:04:21.880 | "It is good for men, not good for men to be alone."
00:04:24.640 | He's driven, he's not even driven by Genesis 1.28,
00:04:28.040 | "Be fruitful and fill the earth," by having babies.
00:04:31.920 | He's driven by reach all the nations,
00:04:36.760 | pour out your energies to present them obedient
00:04:39.800 | and mature in Christ.
00:04:41.240 | Be ready to go to prison in every city you visit.
00:04:45.080 | Be ready to be in danger on every road,
00:04:47.800 | in every river, in every city.
00:04:49.960 | Be ready to die at any moment, Paul.
00:04:52.360 | That's what's driving Paul.
00:04:54.080 | That call of God on his life in a fallen age
00:04:57.000 | to be a unique instrument to spread the gospel.
00:05:00.440 | For him, that meant singleness,
00:05:04.520 | which is a very effective birth control if you're chaste.
00:05:09.520 | So I infer from this pattern
00:05:14.100 | that the post-fall order of redemption
00:05:17.600 | qualifies the pre-fall order of creation
00:05:22.280 | that applies to both marriage and having children.
00:05:27.280 | Having them, I would say,
00:05:30.680 | is not an absolute command anymore.
00:05:33.440 | What principles then should guide a couple?
00:05:36.420 | That's what they really asked, I think,
00:05:38.280 | and here are five principles
00:05:41.540 | that I draw out of that reflection.
00:05:44.640 | Number one, sex is not just for procreation,
00:05:49.440 | but for Christ-exalting delight, Song of Solomon,
00:05:53.480 | and for protection against sexual temptation,
00:05:55.880 | 1 Corinthians 7, 5.
00:05:57.800 | So I don't think a Christian couple is obliged
00:06:01.640 | to aim at procreation each time they have sexual relations.
00:06:06.640 | That's principle number one.
00:06:08.820 | Number two, not killing a conceived child
00:06:12.960 | is a top-level Christian commitment,
00:06:16.680 | which means not getting an abortion
00:06:19.800 | and not using a contraceptive
00:06:23.400 | that works as an abortifacient.
00:06:25.760 | And from that, I mean, from the little reading
00:06:29.120 | that I have done,
00:06:31.880 | I think most of the pills
00:06:36.060 | do run the risk of functioning as an abortifacient.
00:06:39.880 | I'm no authority there, I can't say that.
00:06:42.600 | I just know reading Randy Alcorn on this
00:06:45.680 | has given me much pause,
00:06:48.560 | because Randy's very vigilant on this,
00:06:50.720 | and I respect that a lot.
00:06:53.080 | I think, I mean, one of the things I tremble most about
00:06:56.360 | from 45 years ago is whether Noelle and I
00:06:59.400 | may have inadvertently aborted a baby
00:07:03.880 | because of pills that I wasn't even thinking in those terms,
00:07:08.000 | that some of these pills work that way.
00:07:11.800 | So that's principle number two.
00:07:14.560 | Whatever method of guarding against conception that you use,
00:07:19.560 | don't go the route of aborting fertilized eggs,
00:07:25.940 | which have become human beings.
00:07:28.500 | Number three, don't make long-term commitments to sterility
00:07:33.500 | when you don't have sufficient information
00:07:36.500 | to know if it's wise.
00:07:37.920 | So that's good at getting at their vasectomy
00:07:40.600 | and tube tying question.
00:07:42.360 | Unless you know that these operations
00:07:45.720 | are affordably reversible,
00:07:48.320 | tying the tubes, getting a vasectomy,
00:07:51.060 | may be presumptuous in the mind of God,
00:07:55.240 | not pleasing to God.
00:07:56.880 | I have told couples many times over the years,
00:07:59.680 | premarital counseling and after,
00:08:01.840 | what if your spouse dies?
00:08:04.180 | So say you're 30 years old.
00:08:06.160 | What if your spouse dies?
00:08:08.600 | And two years later, healed in measure,
00:08:12.680 | you remarry a woman or a man
00:08:16.160 | who really wants to have children with you.
00:08:20.280 | And you've already made that impossible.
00:08:23.360 | Those are the kinds of circumstances I mean,
00:08:26.320 | when I say you may not have information
00:08:29.820 | to tell you that it's wise to do this now.
00:08:34.080 | And there are other situations
00:08:35.840 | that I could think of as well.
00:08:37.520 | So I would just caution
00:08:39.760 | that kind of permanent sterilization.
00:08:43.520 | Number four, principle number four to guide us.
00:08:46.740 | Avoiding conception may or may not
00:08:50.840 | intrude upon the rights of God
00:08:53.800 | to decide the number of your children.
00:08:55.700 | A lot of people are concerned like,
00:08:57.160 | do I have any right to do anything here?
00:09:00.040 | Isn't that God's prerogative?
00:09:02.120 | It would intrude, I think,
00:09:04.640 | if you pursue contraception
00:09:07.760 | for your own selfish ends
00:09:10.800 | and not his priorities.
00:09:13.440 | But I don't think it would intrude
00:09:15.440 | on his rights and priorities
00:09:17.760 | if you humbly submit to biblical principles
00:09:20.960 | and guidelines like these
00:09:23.080 | that I'm trying to develop here.
00:09:25.160 | Then you become, I think,
00:09:26.360 | an instrument of God's sovereignty,
00:09:29.200 | not an intrusion.
00:09:30.840 | And the last one,
00:09:32.160 | the last principle to guide us.
00:09:35.160 | Don't decide against children
00:09:37.760 | because they're a burden
00:09:39.720 | to your lifestyle of travel
00:09:42.440 | and free evenings.
00:09:44.800 | In other words,
00:09:46.020 | everything I have been saying
00:09:48.520 | assumes a radical commitment
00:09:51.120 | to kingdom purposes,
00:09:53.440 | not worldly conveniences.
00:09:56.940 | If we decide to have children
00:09:59.240 | or not to have children,
00:10:01.160 | let it be worshipfully
00:10:04.360 | because we have said yes
00:10:07.080 | to God's radical call on our lives,
00:10:11.360 | not selfishly,
00:10:13.200 | because it spares us some discomfort.
00:10:16.360 | - Excellent counsel, Pastor John, thank you.
00:10:19.800 | And this is one of many questions
00:10:21.600 | from married couples we have received on sex,
00:10:24.040 | which we have addressed
00:10:25.000 | and which you can find in our new landing page.
00:10:27.520 | Go to DesiringGod.org.
00:10:29.920 | At the top of the page, click on the tab that says More,
00:10:31.960 | and then click on Ask Pastor John.
00:10:34.160 | And there you can search hundreds of past episodes,
00:10:36.880 | get the free apps,
00:10:38.240 | ask John Piper a baffling question
00:10:40.220 | or a follow-up question, all that.
00:10:42.560 | And it's all made possible
00:10:44.160 | because of our generous financial donors
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00:10:51.200 | So thank you to all of the donors out there listening.
00:10:54.400 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:10:55.800 | I'll see you on Monday.
00:10:56.960 | (upbeat music)
00:10:59.540 | (upbeat music)
00:11:02.120 | [BLANK_AUDIO]