The Problem is Not Birth Control

The politicians have once again baited the religious among us. The religious among us have swallowed the bait, “hook, line, and sinker” as the southern way of describing the overly gullible might sound. It is amazing to me that this game keeps being played, right now over birth control, but the subject hardly matters, we keep playing the game!

What frustrates me about “the game” is that it inevitably has those who have taken the mantle of speaking for Christians sound as though they expect the federal government to do the job that God gave the church, not government. A reasonable reading of Paul’s comments in Romans 13 would suggest that citizens of the kingdom of God ultimately understand that “Rome is not the answer.” The emperor was quite guilty allowing (and probably participating in) lots of atrocities – slavery, abortion, infanticide, sexual perversions, to name a few – but Paul apparently believes that the gospel is a more effective change agent than marching on the Roman senate.

While I recognize that we live in a different culture with a different kind of government than Paul and the believers in Rome faced, when we play “the game” that is currently being played out on the evening news, we sound as though we have no confidence in the gospel and lots of confidence in “Rome,” that is, government. Do we really think that the federal congress, a state legislature, or local city government is more powerful that “the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation” as Paul describes it in the opening chapter of Romans? How else can the opening of Romans be read other than as a “laying down the gauntlet” to the Emperor Nero, that the gospel, not the emperor, is the power of God?

Of course our government not only allows, but encourages us to be involved in its deliberations. People my age can remember the turbulent 1960s, when leaders of the Civil Rights Movement did just that – and the result was bringing about all sorts of changes in the way Americans should do business. People younger than I find it hard to believe that there was a day when the color of your skin determined which water fountain you could use! Despite that progress, surely no one would argue that the passage of federal law actually stopped anyone from being racist. At their very best, governments can only make behavior legal or illegal – they can never transform individuals into the people God is calling them to be. Governments can “buy time,” but only the gospel can “transcend time.”

The current debate about birth control isn’t even one of those topics where orthodox Christians tend to agree. On one side of the argument, we hear people quoting “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28) as a divine and eternal mandate to keep having babies. But if that is an eternal mandate that would make any attempt at birth control sinful, how is one to explain Paul’s word to the Christians at Corinth that it is sometimes best not even to be married – which of course from a biblical perspective would mean no children. Could Paul have said that if God’s expectations are that each person should get married, be fruitful, and populate the earth?

Honestly – neither of those samples from biblical testimony prove one way or the other whether birth control is acceptable or not. That’s why among orthodox believers, you don’t always get the same answer. Could it be that God actually expects us to use the grey matter between our ears and some sanctified common sense? And that having done that, we faithfully practice our own convictions without any expectations that others have to follow our lead?

It is hard for me to grasp how we allow an issue that Scripture itself isn’t all that clear about to become a wall of separation among believers and fodder for politicians pimping for our votes! Truth be known, if I believe that birth control is unacceptable, it is the job of the church, not the government, to teach its members that part of the faith. Even though I think Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 7 make it difficult to think that the “be fruitful and multiply” of Genesis was a divine and eternal mandate, I’m perfectly fine with others thinking that it is. I just don’t want those folks thinking that I’m inferior in some spiritual way because I don’t see the issue the same.

I understand that the political conversation right now is wrapped up in election year bantering and that we can hardly have elections without debating the church/state relationship – but can’t understand why any believer would trade “the power of the gospel unto salvation” for some policy of the federal government. I’m not sure the government is forcing anyone to practice birth control and if my convictions are that birth control is wrong, then I should be working on bringing others to Christ and teaching them that, one at a time.

I also understand the “but they are making the church pay for birth control . . .” part of the conversation. But I would remind you that very similar conversations could have been developed among the Roman Christians about their government. But Paul tells them, “pay your taxes.” Paul seems to think that “government is government” and we ought to seek to live beneath its radar screen and preach Christ. At some level, government is irrelevant for citizens of the Kingdom of God as we eagerly await the reappearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20, 21)

The problem with “they are making me pay for something I don’t approve of” argument is that once that can of worms is opened, we never get them back in! No doubt more Christians disapprove of all the military interventions we have going on at the moment than disapprove of birth control. What if I don’t approve of how the food stamp program is implemented? Or some medical practices that keep elderly people alive at all cost? Or . . . that list is endless!

That’s just how it is with government – we will never approve of all it does. Paul surely didn’t approve of much of what Rome did, but could still say, “pay your taxes.” How could that be? Government is irrelevant, and when compared to the gospel, rather impotent.

So, let’s quit allowing the politicians to bait us! We have much more important stuff to be doing. We aren’t here just “to buy time,” but “to transcend time.”