Is it good to use family planning?

In many places in the Bible, God tells his people to “be fruitful” or have many children (Genesis 1:28). He told Abraham He would give him many descendents. The Psalmist in Psalm 127:3-5 speaks of children being a blessing from the Lord and says that people should have many children.

But in our modern world we face many problems such as overpopulation and an inability to feed so many people in certain areas. The result is that there is much suffering and starvation. Of course much of this suffering is caused by sin, because if people obeyed God’s laws by not taking part in sex outside of marriage, there would not be so many children born outside of families, and who are therefore not being cared for properly.

However, parents do need to act responsibly and not allow so many children to be born that they cannot care for them properly. Children need to be fed and clothed and educated and this cannot be done if there are too many.

So there should be some kind of limitation of children or family planning, but it would be wrong to do it with selfish motives. Some couples feel that they can have more money for themselves or be less tied down if they do not have children.

Christian parents need to be open before God and restrict their families for reasons that are acceptable to God. Sometimes the health of the mother is a big factor to be considered. If she is not strong enough, she should ask advice from a doctor about family planning. Christian parenthood is a great responsibility before God.

Not all methods of family planning are acceptable before God. Those which kill babies after conception, eg. abortion, are not acceptable and should be avoided.