is it a sin to sterilize a woman?

[charsan]

Iceland is hailed as conquering the problem of having any mentally deficient births. Their solution is to abort all children who are mentally handicapped before they are born.

That is awful. Lord have mercy! One wonders how a place could be so evil but when people don't respect or want life than one knows

 

[chevyontheriver]

I guess what Im saying is this. Two people have read directions, and one of them followed the directions to the destination. Yet they both say they know how to get the the destination. Which one would you say it better equipped to deliver the directions?

Most direction givers today, are those who have read maps only. This is dangerous... I prefer to relay directions only to places that I've been....for maps are hard to read, therefore, I cannot trust my interpretation of them alone....I must follow it to the end, before sharing the way with others.

But I also find no fault if your are others do differently.

OK.

I might want to ask some day for the directions to heaven. Which few people have been to before and are still here to provide directions. Should I despair of anyone being able to provide directions. I certainly would expect to get some bad directions from some people, but is it hopeless to get any good directions?

I'll leave it at that. For me, faith is knowing. Credo ut intelligam, as Augustine said.

 

[martymonster]

Umm, why would it be a sin for a woman to get her tubes tied, but not for a man to get a vasectomy?

 

[JacksBratt]

When a married couple decides "no more children," sterilization is not the only answer.

A vasectomy would be the better way... It's another answer.

 

[JacksBratt]

Yes, but I am concerned with what my own Church does especially if I consider it the True Church.

Wait.... What is this "True Church"?

Any child of God who has accepted Christ as their savior... has entered into the body of Christ and is part of the collective "Church".

There may be different buildings with different designs. However it is the people who are the church. The "church" is the bride of Christ... those who are believers in our savior and His work on the cross.

 

[JacksBratt]

If by that you mean health reasons then I can somewhat concur. I know that some women has the choice of either being sterilized or suffer from great pain. Some even are in danger of bleeding to death. it almost happened to one of my aunts, but she where luckily and blessed not to die from it.
I know that it is permissible for Catholics to go through with the procedure if it's medically necessary and beneficial.

I cannot believe, in this day and age, where they are transplanting lungs, livers, hearts and such.. that anyone is at any risk when getting their tubes tied or their vas deferens severed. It's routine.

 

[zoidar]

when a married couple decides no more children

I think this is an "yes, no, maybe" - question. Depends on many factors.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

I cannot believe, in this day and age, where they are transplanting lungs, livers, hearts and such.. that anyone is at any risk when getting their tubes tied or their vas deferens severed. It's routine.

I'm sorry that i came of as so muddy. English is my second language so even when I do my best I sometimes fail to make sense.
What I meant was that the procedure could be done if it helped a person and relieved him or her from pain and dangerous complications of not committing the surgery.

Again, sorry for my bad English.
You're absolutely correct, it is standard procedure and it's not dangerous at all as far as physical health is concerned. This is not a medical dilemma as much as it is a moral dilemma.

 

[RaymondG]

OK.

I might want to ask some day for the directions to heaven. Which few people have been to before and are still here to provide directions. Should I despair of anyone being able to provide directions. I certainly would expect to get some bad directions from some people, but is it hopeless to get any good directions?

I'll leave it at that. For me, faith is knowing. Credo ut intelligam, as Augustine said.

No, there is no need to despair in wait for one who has been to a destination we desire to go to. For there is one who Is there who tells us that He will give this wisdom freely to all those who ask.

But there are some, like the children of israel, of old, who fear the thunderous, life altering voice.....and therefore, ask God to only speak through others. For these..... they are at the mercy of the speaker.....in hopes that the speaker if one of the few who has found the narrow way.

Faith is great.....but have we received the holy ghost since we believed? Most are not even aware that there be any such thing.

"Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

But keep the hope.....Hope for today....not putting off for tomorrow, or after death, promises that are meant for now.......as today is the day of salvation and God is the God of the living......And "he the liveth and believe in ME, shall never die."

 

[Neostarwcc]

I honestly believe that it is against Gods wishes for humanity. Why? Several reasons. God does not want man spilling their seed into anything but their wife because sperm is alive and is capable of making a baby. So why should we decide as parents or as a couple that we dont want to put a baby into this world that God might have wanted here? I dont believe in birth control either.

Yes it protects against STDs as well but if people would actually watch who they were sleeping with they actually wouldn't have go worry about STDs. So honestly birth control and sterilization are just another invention that is against God.

 

[LovebirdsFlying]

I'm going to have to politely disagree with some of these viewpoints.

I'm diabetic, for one thing. I became sterilized after nearly dying during my third childbirth. The baby did not survive. Another pregnancy after that might very well have killed me, and probably would not have produced a living child. Now I'm past childbearing age, so this is no longer an issue.

Threat to life, and not simply because I didn't want any more children, was my reason. If my choice was a sin, which I don't believe it is, then God will deal with me. There is no way I can go back and undo it now.

I disagree with those who say the procedure is taking the choice away from Him. I serve a God who, if He really wanted me to have another child, wouldn't let a minor technicality like sterilization stop Him. After all, Sarah and Elizabeth had babies well past the age of childbearing, and Mary had one even though she was a virgin. With God all things are possible.

 

[Not David]

Wait.... What is this "True Church"?

Any child of God who has accepted Christ as their savior... has entered into the body of Christ and is part of the collective "Church".

There may be different buildings with different designs. However it is the people who are the church. The "church" is the bride of Christ... those who are believers in our savior and His work on the cross.

You can believe that, I believe something else.

 

[RaymondG]

You can believe that, I believe something else.

Blessed are they who do not stop at belief......but go on to know.....

 

[JacksBratt]

You can believe that, I believe something else.

So, if you believe something else.. Who is the True church, in your opinion?

What is it that you believe?

 

[Not David]

So, if you believe something else.. Who is the True church, in your opinion?

What is it that you believe?

This thread is about sterilization, not about the True Church.

 

[GodLovesCats]

Look it up. What's the purpose of marriage? Same goes for sterilizing a man.

Are you saying there is no reason for a man and woman who don't want kids to get married? Think again. Marriage just gives them the right to have kids. Many couples get married with no intention of having any kids and of course there are no rules against this in the Bible.

Are you open to life or are you not? I'm a convert to Catholicism. Your best bet is to look it up in the Catechism. We do not even use birth control. The Duggars seem to be the Protestant version of we believe as far as being fruitful and open to life. God bless you!

The Catechism is not the Bible. Look it up in the Bible and get back with me. If they are not the same the Bible wins. As a Christian, you know that.

Who are you calling the Duggers and what do they have to do with birth control?

 

[chevyontheriver]

I honestly believe that it is against Gods wishes for humanity. Why? Several reasons. God does not want man spilling their seed into anything but their wife because sperm is alive and is capable of making a baby. So why should we decide as parents or as a couple that we dont want to put a baby into this world that God might have wanted here? I dont believe in birth control either.

Wow. A Protestant who believes what every Christian would have believed a hundred years ago on this subject. It's rare enough for a Catholic to believe what the Catholic Church still teaches on the subject. You are rarer still. But I believe quite correct. So I commend you. It took me a while to figure it out. Janet Smith has two books I have read on the subject, 'Why Humanae Vitae Was Right' and 'Why Humanae Vitae Is Still Right'.

Yes it protects against STDs as well but if people would actually watch who they were sleeping with they actually wouldn't have go worry about STDs. So honestly birth control and sterilization are just another invention that is against God.

Only barrier methods protect against STDs, and they don't do that great a job of it either. Sterilization offers no protection against STDs at all. You are right that you should only have sex with someone you actually, um, know.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Are you open to life or are you not? I'm a convert to Catholicism. Your best bet is to look it up in the Catechism. We do not even use birth control. The Duggars seem to be the Protestant version of we believe as far as being fruitful and open to life. God bless you!
The Catechism is not the Bible. Look it up in the Bible and get back with me. If they are not the same the Bible wins. As a Christian, you know that.

The Catechism is not the Bible. Look it up in the Bible and get back with me. If they are not the same the Bible wins. As a Christian, you know that.

I think you are saying that because it isn't absolutely clearly spelled out in the Bible that you can't do something it must be OK to do it, never mind the whole of Christian history.

Your own Protestant denominations would ALL have agreed with the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the subject of sterilization until a tiny little crack was opened up by the Anglicans at their Lambeth Conference in 1930 which allowed for contraception in certain very uncommon situations. The little crack enlarged until by the 1960's virtually every Protestant, with only the rarest of exceptions, rejected the consensus of Christian teaching on the subject from the beginning.

The Christian understanding of sexuality was inherited from the Jews. The contemporary societal understanding of sexuality is Greco-Roman and it has made huge inroads even into Christianity. But the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church agree on this matter. Dig up the older teachings, from before 1930, of your own denomination on the subject to see how they found it in the Bible. Then figure out just why they changed.

The Catholic Church almost changed along with the rest of Christianity, but managed to stay true to historic Christianity on this one subject. That was in 1968 when pope Paul VI released the encyclical 'Humanae Vitae'. The Catholic Church is pretty much the only one who held firm in this teaching even though millions of Catholics have ignored the teaching. There was a Lutheran pastor who held true, Larry Christanson and his wife Nordis, who wrote about it about 25 years ago, and a few others, but that was it.

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

obviously there needs to be consent on the part of the person being sterilized.



as far as biblical grounds, there is malachi 2:15, but most translators are confused about the meaning of the Hebrew here. the KJV has the most bold translation that would make it seem as one of the intentions of marriage is to bare children to be raised up in the LORD.

there's also psalms 127:3-5, but it needs to be understood that in these times children were put at a high premium for things other than the LORD commanding people to have children. children in that time were a socio-economic contingency plan for the parents. not having children meant losing your inheritance, not having laborers for the field, not having soldiers for war, etc. it's interesting how in verse 5 it mentions not being ashamed and speaking with your enemies in the gate, which dealt with legal proceedings.

overall, there is no command in scripture for married couples to have children. however, I would want to know the reason behind any able-bodied person refusing to have any.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Wow. A Protestant who believes what every Christian would have believed a hundred years ago on this subject. It's rare enough for a Catholic to believe what the Catholic Church still teaches on the subject. You are rarer still. But I believe quite correct. So I commend you. It took me a while to figure it out. Janet Smith has two books I have read on the subject, 'Why Humanae Vitae Was Right' and 'Why Humanae Vitae Is Still Right'.

Only barrier methods protect against STDs, and they don't do that great a job of it either. Sterilization offers no protection against STDs at all. You are right that you should only have sex with someone you actually, um, know.

Honestly it's just common sense it has nothing to do with me being a Protestant. When God made man and woman he told them to "Be fruitful and multiply". Just imagine if Abraham and his family used birth control (Yes it was available to them). How would the Jewish people have existed and multiplied over the years if Abraham used birth control?

I mean. It could be argued that when God wants to put a baby in there he will/can put it in there anyway but I want to have ALL of the children that God wants from me. Not just a couple. Sex was designed to be pleasureful like most Protestants claim, yes but it was also designed by God for procreation.

True, if everyone was "fruitful and multiplied" our world would be overpopulated but the OP asked whether or not God viewed it as a sin. Not if it was completely practical. Just like masturbation, divorce, abortion, birth control, sex before marriage, murder ...etc are all technically sins that God allows to happen. But it doesn't make them any more or less sins.

I meant sex as in the way sex was designed by God. If everyone waited until marriage to have sex and didn't hump everything that moves than there wouldn't be any STD's in the world to worry about. Thus making birth control a purely "I don't want God's baby" thing.