Throughout history Christians have avoided the practice of birth control for both biblical and social reasons. Families who had many children were highly regarded in Christian society as their large family was a sign of God’s abundant blessings and prosperity in their lives. But why should anyone think that so many children to take nurture and raise would be a blessing? Because God tells us so: Psalm 127:3-5 says, 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Jesus Himself came from a family with at least six children (Mark 6:3)? What a drastic comparison to today’s 1.8 children per family!

What has happened to the Church in such a short time frame that it has changed its views about families so drastically? I believe that Satan, The Deceiver, has crept in and taken control of Christian’s thinking and warped their mindset. We have forgotten that Satan’s main goals are to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). In today’s society, instead of being looked down upon for not having children, couples are being criticized and to some extent ostrasized for having more than that magical number of "2" children per household. The biggest tragedy is that even the Christian church is alienating themselves from fathers and mothers who choose to let God bless them with a quiver full of children. It is not uncommon for the mother with many young children to hear negative comments from her fellow churchgoers and friends alike. Comments such as "Don’t you know what causes that?", "Why in the world would you want to have so many children?", "Its too hard on your body/finances/husband to continue breeding like a rabbit" or "When are you going to stop having kids?" And when the outward comments aren’t made, the attitude that comes with these questions is often very apparent.

Satan has caused us to subscribe to a number of lies about birth control and large families. Some of the myths that Satan has implanted in our minds are: 1) God gave us the technology to make and use birth control, therefore birth control must be a good idea and we must take advantage of it, 2) It is financially irresponsible to have more than 1 or 2 children, 3) If you have a lot of children you will never have a ministry for the Lord, and 4) Too many children cause stress in a marriage.
All of these myths can easily be refuted with Scripture.

Myth #1- The myth that God gave us the technology to make birth control and therefore we must take advantage of it is a fallacy. If we use that reasoning, we have to use it with other forms of technology as well. God also gave man the knowledge to perform abortions and perform cloning experiments on humans as well as make weapons of destruction and many other things that most would reject out of hand. So we can see that this logic is flawed. Just because man has this knowledge doesn’t mean that it comes from God or is approved by Him.

In the beginning of the 20th century, birth control was forbidden or highly condemned by every church worldwide. Remember the root of the birth control movement? It started with Margaret Sanger. Her views on life were astounding. She advocated every form of birth control, mainly abortions, eugenics, and infanticide. Her ideas were so radical that they didn’t catch on right away. Margret Sangner was a racist who advocated birth control mainly for the black people and the poor in an attempt to improve society.

Then along came a woman’s ‘health’ group known as Planned Parenthood. At first Planned Parenthood was against abortion and only provided women with basic medical exams, but this led to the beginning of our modern-day birth control movement, kindly termed ‘family planning'. Planned Parenthood was a very unpopular organization among Bible-believing Christians and it became even more so when they started condoning and performing abortions. Churches were outraged at this shift in the lowering of human life. These same Christians who protested against Planned Parenthood were unaware, however, that their views of life before conception had been implanted in their own heads. The birth control movement had secretly crept in to today’s Christian family and now there’s no turning back.

Today every church, has forgotten its stance on family planning and birth control. Although some churches do pay lip service to being against birth control, any look at the sheer amount of sterilized couples show this to be just that, lip service. Any form of birth control- tubal ligation, vasectomy, birth control pills, anything that the individual couple deems suitable for them- is now approved of and for the most part, used by the general church population. Even though it is a proven fact that a certain percentage of birth control pills and IUD’s will act as an abortifacent ( they will cause an abortion in the early stages of a pregnancy), churches will not speak up about this issue as well. They know that if they do, millions of people will be angered because its members have become reliant on them.

Because of the church’s silence on this issue, they will also refuse to take a moral stand against abortion in the near future as well. Some Christians are even standing by scientists in the debate over fetal tissue research to ‘save the life of another human being’.

The value of life has quickly sunk to all-time low, not only amongst pro-feminist groups like Planned Parenthood, and scientists who advocate human cloning and fetal tissue research, but also with our own Christian brothers and sisters. Satan truly has succeeded in stealing, killing, and destroying. He has stolen a very precious gift from God- our fertility. He has shown the way for us to accept our fertility as something that is base and now devalued. He has killed our passion to fight back against the birth control industry, and he has destroyed our stand on the value of life.

When it comes to issues such as birth control and abortion, we have to weigh the moral ramifications and significance of such technology before hopping on the bandwagon, no matter how popular the idea may seem. Christians must remember that the world only knows about God and His Word from what they see in our lives. If we are so quickly swept away by the same worldly trends (birth control) as non-Christians, why should the world think that there is any difference between them and us? If we lower God’s standards to that of the world’s, then we are no different than the non-believers. Romans 12:2 tells us, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" Christians should be influencing the world, but as we can see by the examples of Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood, the world is influencing us. Christian’s views about birth control may have changed, but God’s surely have not.

Myth #2- Some people say that God wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us and that is why it is necessary to have only one or two children. What do these people mean by ‘good stewards’? Do they mean that it becomes too difficult for a husband and wife to provide for a large family? Or do they mean that we are being irresponsible in having many children because it causes strain on the earth and its resources? Doesn’t God teach in His Word that He will take care of His children and provide for all of their needs? I would like to know where in the Bible does God give instructions to married couples to limit their family size for the sake of being ‘good stewards’?

In the parable of the talents, the Master allotted the amount of talents that each servant was given. Not the servant choosing how many talents he could handle. So when Christians choose to be a good steward by limiting their family size they are in effect elevating themselves to the Masters position. Do we believe that God will decrease our prosperity and His provisions when our family size increases? If that is what we believe, the Bible teaches differently. Phillipians 4:19 tells us, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Deuteronomy 7:13-14 says, "And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle"
And in Deuteronomy 30:8-9, "thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. 9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: "
And finally Deuteronomy 28:2-4 says, "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep." Clearly in these verses, God shows us that if we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us. God not only blessed His people with the fruit of the womb (His greatest blessing) but to go along with their increasing numbers, He also increased their favor, their crops, their herds and flocks, and their health.

The word ‘blessings’ is just another name for gifts. Most people welcome gifts from other people and surely people pray for blessings from God. It would be considered very rude to reject a gift given to you by a dear friend. Our God, who we should consider a very dear friend, would love to bless more Christians with the gift of children, but you would be surprised and saddened to know how many times people reject God’s gift of children because they have permanently closed that route. They are more than willing to accept financial gifts and blessings of health, but refuse blessings of children. I can think of no other blessing as rejected as the fruit of the womb.

Psalm 37:25 says, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." "But", you may say, "I have seen many large families who are dirt poor." We must remember that God has a different viewpoint on wealth. Some consider themselves wealthy by having material possessions, a large house, and 2 cars. Others consider themselves wealthy by being rich in family, rich in faith, and rich in deed. Philippians 4:11 tells us, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." . James 2:5 says, " Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6 But ye have despised the poor." If we choose to limit our family size because we believe we are being good stewards, then we are doing so out of selfish reasons, not Biblical instruction.

Myth #3- "If you have too many children you will never have a ministry for the Lord". We are told in the Bible, although Christians today like to completely ignore this fact, that a woman’s main role in life was to bear children (1 Timothy 2:15). Times have changed now-days, but has the Bible? Some may be ashamed to think that a woman’s role in life is to bear children, but the Bible tells us not to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16). Could it possibly be that God wanted women to have this role in life to bless her and to protect her? Our value of life has diminished so much that women no longer see the importance of nurturing unborn life in their womb. They now see pregnancy as a disease or a medical condition. God viewed pregnancy, or the creating and bringing forth of a new life, as a complete honor. And to think that He chose women to be the bearers of His creation! Remember that Jesus came from a family of at least 6 siblings? Jesus’s mother was the most highly esteemed woman of the Bible. God chose her to bear many children not because it was something dishonorable or something to be embarrassed about, but because God approved of Mary and her faithfulness. God knew, and so did Mary, that the best way He could bless her would be to bless her womb and that is exactly what He did!
God also created women to bear children to protect their health. Study after study has shown that women who bear many children are much less likely to suffer from female cancers such as ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer. And women who have had one or more abortions or who have never breastfed are much more likely to get breast cancer.
Our culture has done an excellent job in brainwashing women to ignore those natural maternal desires and tendencies. The farther away a woman can go from God’s natural design, the easier it will be to forget what her purpose in life is. Isaiah 49:15 tells us, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" Too often in today's world we have seen that a mother can forget the babe at her breast, and she has shown no compassion on the child she has borne. She has distanced herself from the honor of motherhood and the natural relationship that would normally bond her, both physically and emotionally to her children. The Greek root word of female literally means, ‘to nurse or to give suck’. The women of the Bible nursed their children until the child naturally weaned which was anywhere from two to five years, and this is still the acceptable norm in most countries of the world. Samuel was nursed at the breast by Hannah until the age of 3 when he was brought to the temple of the Lord to live. Isaac was nursed by Sarah for 3 years, and Moses was probably even longer than that. Modern career mothers have found that artificial formula and bottles are more convenient than being tied down with the burden of breastfeeding. Or if they do breastfeed they do so begrudgingly and wean as soon as they can.
Being a mother to many children is not considered a burden to the mother whose heart is in the right place. 1 Thessalonians 2:6-7 says, "Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children" If only today’s woman would accept with delight her children, nurse them tenderly, be gentle with them, and not consider them a burden! Women have forgotten that to nurse their babies and to raise their children is the greatest responsibility that the Lord has bestowed upon her. It never was and never should be considered an embarrassment or a nuisance.

Myth #4- Too many children in a family causes unbearable stress on the marriage relationship. The couple who hinders the birth of more children so that they can save their relationship may think that that is their best option. After all, many so-called 'family' groups tell us that the less time a husband and wife have together to nurture their own relationship, the more likely they will become distanced from each other. The mother is constantly overworked with the tending to of children and household tasks while the husband is feverishly working away from home to make enough money to put food on the table. By the time they get to bed at night, they have no time for themselves because of the pure state of exhaustion that they are in. Their children have become a downright hindrance to their romantic life. Over time they have found that they have nothing in common anymore and they forget why they got married for in the first place. Sounds like something to be concerned about, right? With this type of thinking, we must also put things into their proper perspective and look at the issue through Biblical reasoning.

Children were always the center of family life up until the ‘60’s or ‘70’s when psychologists came up with the term ‘child-centered’ parenting. All of a sudden, parents became obsessed with whether they were being too child-centered and ignoring their spouse.

The term child-centeredness can put even the best of Christians into a state of panic about the health of their marriage. Do we honestly believe with our whole hearts that Noah, Abraham, David, and Joseph were worried about the size of their family causing a strain on their marriage? I don’t believe they were concerned. I believe they were more than willing to accept as many children that the Lord would give to them because they knew that children would bind them closer to their wives, not tear them apart. Please read this quote by Dr. H Barinck about family life and children: "Children are the luxury of marital life, the treasure of the parents, the wealth of the family life. Their presence develops a great number of virtues in the parents, the father and mother: love, devotion and self-sacrifice, the care for the future, interest in the community, the art of education. Children check selfishness in parents, reconcile the contrasts, soften the differences, bring the hearts of the parents ever closer to each other, give them a common interest that lives outside themselves, and open their eyes and hearts to their surrounds and posterity." In other words, children don’t break marriages up; they bind husbands and wives together.

Our society has seen a sharp increase in divorce rates since the 1960’s when women became ‘enlightened’ and ‘liberated’ in their lives. Sadly the divorce rate is currently above 50% in America, and it’s slightly higher than that for the Christian couples. Obviously family size has decreased dramatically during this time, so the blame can’t be pointed at the innocent children for causing those divorces. The blame must be pointed at a culture that has turned astray from the whole purpose of marriage: God created man and woman to become one and to be fruitful (Genesis 1:28). God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and you can bet that God hates divorce even more when children are made as an excuse to get a divorce. The Lord made a promise to Jacob’s descendants in Jeremiah 30:19, a promise of prosperity and blessings to His people: "And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small." The Lord was bringing His people honor by increasing their numbers, not decreasing them. The Lord wants us to react the same way that Jacob’s descendants did when they were given increasing number to their marriages: sing songs of thanksgiving and rejoice in Him!

The term ‘birth control’ sounds empowering to those who are trying themselves to gain control of their lives. But what do those two words- birth and control- really mean? As we have read from the previous Bible verses, birth is the start of a new human life. This is something always worth celebrating in the Bible. Then along comes the word ‘control’. Who is in control? The Bible tells us that God is, but to those who want to control the process of birth, things are being taken out of God’s hands and put into the hands of individuals. That is where we get the word ‘birth control’. Individuals who want control themselves of when and if a new life will be given birth. To have control of our own bodies is going against God’s Word. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Just because a person can control his or her own body and control the process of birth doesn’t mean we should. Leaving God out of the decision as to when and if a child is to be conceived is something God should be in control of, not a man-made pill or procedure.

The term ‘family planning’ sounds very responsible in itself, but is it really? Planning one’s own family may seem wise in our own eyes, but what does the Bible say about man's plans? Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. " And Proverbs 21:30 tells us that "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD." If we are planning our own family without the insight from the Lord, we are being disobedient. Who should plan our families then? Remember the wonderful Bible verse Psalm 127 that tells a man that he is blessed to have a quiver full of children? The very first words spoken in Psalm 127 tell us, "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:" There is our answer as to who should plan, or build, our families- not the workers, but the Lord! Today many of the workers are giving orders to the boss as to how the house should be built. They are saying to the Lord, "We're done building!" No wonder the Bible tells us that those workers labor in vain. They could have been much more content and fulfilled if they would have let the Lord finish his work. They have chosen to live in a small tent when the Lord really had plans to build them a mansion!
Do we, as Christians, believe that our God is the same God who created the Heavens and Earth, the same God of the Bible? If you answered yes, then we must also ask these questions: Does God still consider the man that has a quiver full of children to be blessed? Or has God changed his mind, and does He now consider the man with many children cursed or abandoned by Him? Can God be trusted in all areas of our life, even the area of family planning? Another question to ask is: Has God forgotten how the reproductive organs work? Instead of believing that God is the one who opens and shuts the womb, we have bought into Satan’s lie that we need to practice birth control methods because God isn’t or shouldn’t be involved in these types of decisions. By permanently closing our wombs or altering a male’s reproductive organs so as not to create more children, we are telling God that He is no longer in control of the personal decision-making of our lives. We are saying to Him, "I believe you will be faulty in managing our family’s size, so we will fall back on something more trustworthy, more convenient, more reliable- birth control."
God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-mighty, but does He make mistakes when it comes to the bringing forth a new life? Did He make a mistake when He created our bodies and our reproductive systems? If God doesn’t make mistakes, then why do people today change God’s original workmanship? Do we believe that children in abundance are no longer a blessing but a burden, an inconvenience, an embarrassment to a husband and wife? If many children bring burdens to the marriage, such as financial stress and discontent between a husband and wife, then a smaller amount of children must bring only a small amount of financial stress and marital discontent, right? Wouldn’t it be better for couples to have no children, then therefore they will have absolutely no financial stress and have complete marital bliss? We know that this scenario is faulty because the Bible tells us repeatedly that children ARE blessings and to have blessings in abundance from God is to have all the riches in the world. Why would we not want to be blessed?
God is the author and creator of life. God loves life and He wants us to have it abundantly. God wants us to tell of His love and His gift of life to everyone! It is getting harder and harder for Christians to tell others to value life, even unborn life, when we try our hardest to prevent it from even existing. Does life begin at conception? I believe it does. But more interesting than that is the Greek translation of the word sperm which, in the Bible, means either ‘life’ or 'child'. Read that part over again if it didn't kick in: Sperm literally means life or child! That is why God told Jeremiah (verse 1:5) :Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." God doesn't say, "While I was forming you in the womb I knew you". No, he made it clear that He knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb. Jeremiah wasn't even conceived, yet he was a life, a seed, God's chosen offspring. Who are we to decide when life will begin? Why have we decided to ‘play God’? Are the children born to us hand-chosen by God just for us, or are they simply by-products of a sexual act between a man and a woman?
God must be angered to know that so many Christians are forgetting one of the main purposes of marriage. Malachi 2:14-15 says, "Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue F8 of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.." Why was it so important for God to bring forth godly offspring? Why does He constantly refer to populating the earth and blessing Him with children that will glorify His name? Because God is preparing us for a spiritual battle in the final days, a spiritual battle between Christians and Satan. Satan, of course, is smart and he knows that the more children to be given a chance at life and to fight him in the final days, the easier it will be to wipe him out. Satan would like to limit the size of God’s offspring by any means possible, so he plants lies in their heads about birth control and fear in their hearts about their inadequacy to raise a large family. And the Christian family has bought his lies and didn't even put up much of a fight. We bought his lies hook, line, and sinker.
The Bible tells us that Satan will attack the righteous and the faithful in the last days. He will test them and discourage them by any means possible, even by using fellow Christians who are not like-minded to say hurtful words, demeaning comments, and outright criticism aimed at the man and wife with a large family. Satan is well aware that children bring life; anything he can do to stop that process from taking place will be done! Deuteronomy 30:19 says, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live"If we believe that offspring and the fruit of the womb brings life, and that children are God’s greatest blessings, then what shall we choose? We must choose life! And we must choose it abundantly!