Birth Control

The Bible very emphatically does not sanction movements of this kind. One of the objects of marriage is the procreation of children, and this cannot be set aside by whim or selfishness. Christians must become more and more conscious of the grandeur and prerogative of marriage and of offspring in marriage.

1927 The Concordia Cyclopedia

The following entry is from The Concordia Cyclopedia, edited by L. Fuerbringer, Th. Engelder, and P. E. Kretzmann, and published by Concordia Publishing House in 1927, page 84.

Birth Control. A movement to limit the number of offspring by preventing conception or by legalizing abortion, chiefly by the use of artificial means, by medicines, and by unnatural practises. In modern times this movement goes back to Thomas Robert Malthus, an English political economist, whose Essay on the Principles of Population, 1798, was founded on the hypothesis that population increases in a geometrical, while provisions increase only in an arithmetical ratio. Although this theory is not borne out by the facts of history, the idea was accepted with alacrity, and the Malthusian League has been very active since 1877. The movement has now embodied certain practical features and is known as Neo-Malthusianism, with many adherents in the various civilized countries. In America the propaganda has been carried on with such energy that the Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference was held in New York, with social workers, medical men, and political economists from America, England, Austria, India, China, and a dozen other countries in attendance. The president of the American Birth Control League is Mrs. Margaret Sanger, and she and several of her associates also edit a periodical in the interest of their theories. — The Bible very emphatically does not sanction movements of this kind. Ps. 127, 3—5; Ps. 128, 3; 1 Tim. 2, 15; 5, 14, and other passages are in force to-day as they ever were. One of the objects of marriage is the procreation of children, and this cannot be set aside by the whim or by the selfishness of men. In a Christian home, husband and wife will live together according to knowledge, 1 Pet. 3, 7, and each one will possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, 1 Thess. 4, 4. In the case of illness and by the advice of a competent physician, total continence may be practised, but beyond this Christians may not go, especially in advocating the murder of unborn children, for that is what abortion amounts to. Christians must consistently oppose the sinful and destructive character of the modern theory and become more and more conscious of the grandeur and prerogative of marriage and of offspring in marriage. See also Sexual Life.