Christians Using Contraceptives

A conflict among various denominations and the Catholic Church involves Christians using contraceptives. The objection to contraceptives is that by preventing a child from being born, humans are playing God. We are not talking about abortion, in which the embryo has its own DNA and is not an extension of the mother’s body. The root of the pro-abortion/pro-life debate is the question of what a human embryo is. In the question of birth control, we are dealing with what we can do with our own bodies. So, what does the Bible teach about conception?

There is no Bible passage condemning contraception. Some have referred to Genesis 38:8-10 in which a man named Onan “spilled it on the ground.” If you read the context of that incident, it was not because he was practicing contraception, but because he was refusing to do what the Levitical rules required to continue his dead brother’s legacy.

In Luke 14:28-32, Jesus makes it clear that God intends for Christians to consider the cost of their actions. Counting the cost of having a child should certainly be essential. In 1969, Elvis Presley recorded a song titled “In the Ghetto,” written by Mac Davis. The song was a major hit for Presley and begins with a classic demonstration of the problem:

As the snow flies

On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’

A poor little baby child is born

In the ghetto

(In the ghetto)

And his mama cries

’Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need

It is another hungry mouth to feed

In the ghetto

(In the ghetto)

Those of us involved with the education of the general population must not give bad information or withhold information about contraception. Having a baby should not be an accident but a conscious thought and decision of a married husband and wife. Where the Bible is silent, we should be silent, and an area where the Bible is silent is Christians using contraceptives.

— John N. Clayton © 2025