I refused to even consider the possibility that contraception could be wrong because it went against what I "wanted" to believe. But the bible truth was undeniable. Barrenness was never viewed as something to be valued.
of course the Bible is written from a POV that lots of children are a morally good thing and represent a blessing from God. so what? that doesn't mean that we must adopt the same attitudes. These things are not commanded of us, but rather they form the basic framework for the worldview of the ancient Hebrews. Just as God does not command me to believe that the world is flat, that the sun revolves around the earth, that slavery is a just and morally good form of economic activity, God does not command me to believe that having lots of kids is a morally good thing and that He is blessing me with them, the more the better. Nor is the flip side true, that barrenness**** or voluntary non-parenthood is an unmitigated evil.
You really need to separate the culture and history of the Bible from the commands and principles that God wishes for all people to believe in all times*(transcultural). It is not all that difficult to do, the OT was written to a pastoral people who did not use even a portion of the total biomass of their land, who did not build factories, mine the ground or shoot rockets into space. If i believed, as you apparently do, that the life style and world view of the Hebrews is commanded by God to be my lifestyle and worldview, then i would be out in the desert herding donkeys, living in tents with at least 4 wives and 12 kids. It's a package deal, don't pull the kids out of the lifestyle as binding without pulling the whole deal.
Our interpretation of Scripture is dependent on separating what God commands from what God uses in the Scripture. I do not live a nomadic lifestyle, nor am i commanded to in order to love and honor God. I am not commanded to keep slaves, to have multiple wives nor am i commanded to have as many children as i ** can have. Apply this wooden literal point-by-point hermeneutic all you want, but it is just plain bad exegesis which no one really does, and certainly no one can do very consistently. You pick out of all the elements of Hebraic nomadism, only the blessing to have lots of children as binding on Christians today. How come? because you desire to see this as a command, you want kids and you find the command in Scripture as a result. Well i'd love to marry the cute 14 year old next door and have that big burly strong guy across the street as a slave, should i apply these elements of the ancient world as well? Should i get a group of like minded people together, enslave the neighbors and rape their daughters***, and foyst the whole thing on the Old Testament commands to do these things, because i'd like it to be so?
pick and choose all you want, but don't bind our consciences with your foolish and inconsistent hobgloblin of a hermeneutic. You may think that God is telling you to have as many kids as physically possible, fine, but don't force me to as well because you have a faulty and inconsistently applied hermeneutic up your nose.
lest you think this strong, you are creating an 11th commandment and trying to bind all Christians to it, thanks but no thanks, i'd prefer God's original 10. As well as Jesus's summary of the Law as love God and love your neighbor, curiously i don't see NO CONTRACEPTION in any of this.
notes:
* it is this failure to distinguish the culture of the Hebrews from the commands of God for us, that had the missionaries in Hawaii put muu-muus on all the women to cover their naked breasts, while at the same time destroying their culture, killing them with diseases and stealing their land.
the missionaries came to do good and their children did very well indeed.
** actually my wives, but everything then was addressed to males, we don't do that anymore either, understanding that my wife has a soul as well as i do.
*** raping virgins was a time honored custom that still leaves traces in our wedding ceremonies, the best man was there to help capture the bride, to fight off her family getting her back until after the marriage was consummated and she was now damaged goods that no one wanted. why not bring back all those attitudes as well? they form the basic elements of Hebraic culture's atitude towards sex, marriage and women.
**** if my wife is infertile should i follow the Hebraic custom of buying the next door neighbor's young daughter as a slave and bedwarmer? and expect that God will bless this union with lots of kids as well? after all we have fundamentalist LDS sects in my area that believe exactly this, for the same hermeneutical reasons you propose that contraception is a morally wrong thing to do. it all stems from the same systematic error, lifestyle and cultural principles specific to the Hebrews in the Old Testament are not being commanded by God as binding on all subsequent readers of Scripture in order to be God's children in the same way as they were. We are believer's ingrafted and adopted, not natural children, not genetic descendents.
