Hi everyone,
Interesting responses. I believe that there is never a reason that I would ever avoid having children, and I believe that Scripture teaches this to me...directly, and in pattern. I think God should do the planning. Our children are spaced well, because of nursing. If a woman nurses a child, then she and the child are more healthy, and there is usually a natural spacing.
Fnerb, I think that you really should study all forms of birth control if you decide to use them, because the pill, and the morning after pill, can actually cause someone to terminate a fertile egg. I would also do a search on Margaret Sanger...the founder of planned parenthood.
Free, I completely understand your point of view. I don't know what I would do in your situation, but I think it would be very difficult. The question boils down to either protecting your wife's health, or having as many children as you are able...that is difficult, and I think it must be up to the two of you to be led by the Holy Spirit in this area. I am not sure that you believe that God should determine the number, though. Anyway, your situation is a reminder of how the sin of this world affects us in so many ways...even in our health and having children.
Jack, who knows, if you keep trying you may just a receive another blessing like Abraham did. :-D
Josh, unbelievers will always have a different standard, but it is when the church adapts that standard that we should examine ourselves.
Joe, I think that if many would do a search on Margaret Sanger...the woman credited for founding planned parenthood, they would come to see satan's hand working through this woman to contaminate the world, and the church, with her sick ideas. It still amazes me that she is so celebrated...maybe those who celebrate her haven't read her sick books. I believe the church, and yes mostly the protestant part, have been duped.
The pill, which is the most used form of birth control, is still a potential abortifacient. It also leads to a higher chance of miscarriage in a woman's first pregnancy, even when she has stopped using it for several months prior. The pill is also very bad for a ladies health...as is abortion. Pregnancy, for most healthy women, actually makes a women healthier when she does the right things and nurses. Nursing is wonderful for a child, and we know that if done for two years it helps brain development better than anything...look at all the problems children have today with development. I think there may be a connection, and so does the medical world because they now promote nursing more...though not like they should. Sin is still there, and even if we do everything right, things could still go wrong, but we should try if we know to better. Women were also never intended to have as many cycles as we do...which leads to many health problems on a monthly basis...migraines, swelling, emotional upsets, fatigue, etc., and most of these get worse as she gets older. There may even be related problems after childbearing age.
I really don't want to simplify this issue, but I also think that believers need to consider it more, and with open eyes. The Lord bless all of you.
