Question about a married man who gets a vasectomy? Is this a sin?

[Sam Gamgee]

I hear that the purpose for marriage is to procreate.
So, is it a sin if the husband gets a vasectomy?

 

[JunkYardDog]

It certainly doesn't bespeak faith.

Romans 14:23b
23 . . . whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

 

[White Horse]

I don't think we're commanded to "go forth and multiply" physically. I think for us that command is to be taken along spiritual terms. Spread the seed of the word, not necessarily the seed of your loin.

 

[JunkYardDog]

I don't think we're commanded to "go forth and multiply" physically. I think for us that command is to be taken along spiritual terms. Spread the seed of the word, not necessarily the seed of your loin.

Genesis 1:22
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 8:17
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

Genesis 9:1
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:7
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Genesis 28:3
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Genesis 35:11
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Genesis 48:4
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Leviticus 26:9
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

Each of these is PHYSICAL. There are no other references.

 

[jingwei]

hello!
junkyard dog. you're talking about God's message to the only human on earth. leviticus talks about multiplication of Israel.

 

[Sam Gamgee]

So, if it's a sin, should I tell my friend to get it reversed?????

 

[JunkYardDog]

hello!
junkyard dog. you're talking about God's message to the only human on earth. leviticus talks about multiplication of Israel.

Gee, was there a verse in there I missed where God rescinded the command? Have we "filled the earth"? (Before you answer that, fly over the US and look outside at the ground below. The answer to that question is, "Nope.")

 

[JunkYardDog]

So, if it's a sin, should I tell my friend to get it reversed?????

I doubt you would, but if he can it might qualify as fruit meet to repentance.

 

[revrobor]

Genesis 1:22
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 8:17
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

Genesis 9:1
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:7
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Genesis 28:3
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Genesis 35:11
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Genesis 48:4
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Leviticus 26:9
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

Each of these is PHYSICAL. There are no other references.

Yes and it is a command to those to whom it is addresses NOT a command to all people for all time. You cannot make a generalization out of it any more than you can say 2nd Chronicles 7:14 ("If my people.......etc.) applies to the Church today. Not everything in Scripture applies to everyone for all time.

There's nothing sinful about a vasectomy.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

It certainly doesn't bespeak faith.

Romans 14:23b
23 . . . whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Yes, but the basic human functions of eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom do not reflect faith. Surely they are not sinful.

 

[Simonline]

Procreation is just one of the reasons for marriage. The primary reason for human marriage is that it is a type/cameo/representation of the profound spiritual mystery that is the relationship between God and Humanity (specifically, redeemed Humanity). Since that and that alone is the only 'real' marriage, the 'master' marriage, of which all human marriages are merely representational types, and there is definitely no procreation involved in that marriage (unless, of course, you count the Messiah, who as the only Infinite Divine/finite human hybrid in existence, could be considered to be the 'offspring' of the mystical union between God and [Redeemed] Humanity?).

The important point is that procreation is not the primary purpose of marriage and therefore we should not coerce all married people into procreation (especially those living in already over-populated nations such as China). Although procreation and child-bearing within marriage is encouraged as a blessing, it is not (unless you're a member of the Roman Catholic laity) an 'obligatory command' and therefore people should be left to make up their own minds regarding procreation within marriage according to their own walk with God and not be 'encouraged' into it by others.

Simonline.

 

[Simonline]

Yes, but the basic human functions of eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom do not reflect faith. Surely they are not sinful.

They can be. Gluttony is a sin, sloth (laziness) is a sin. From a Biblical perspective the whole of life is to be lived by faith (including the mundane). The only thing that is 'secular' is sin itself. It is not true that that which is not religious or 'spiritual' is secular, since all of life is spiritual (including the mundane). Only those things in life that are blatantly sinful are actually secular. Apart from the sinful elements the whole of life should be sacramental (i.e. lived as if it is holy).

Simonline.

 

[White Horse]

Genesis 1:22
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 8:17
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

Genesis 9:1
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:7
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Genesis 28:3
3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

Genesis 35:11
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

Genesis 48:4
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Leviticus 26:9
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

Each of these is PHYSICAL. There are no other references.

God made the command to two people...Adam and Noah (after the flood).

Why don't we stone adulterers anymore? Because that's not a physical command for us, it's a spiritual command. You are to stone the adulterer inside you.

We are on an overpopulated earth already. We are spiritual children, not the "sand" but the "stars". It is irresponsible to have ten or fifteen kids you can't take care of. There's nothing irresponsible, however, with having 10 or 15 or a gozillion, spiritual children.

 

[JunkYardDog]

Yes, but the basic human functions of eating, sleeping, and using the bathroom do not reflect faith. Surely they are not sinful.

Since God describes children as an unqualified blessing from Him, wouldn't it be a lack of faith to say no, you don't trust His judgment on how many children you can "handle"?

God does not make an issue of the others except that I'm sure I have faith that if I refused any of those for a long time it would kill me.

 

[beechy]

Since God describes children as an unqualified blessing from Him, wouldn't it be a lack of faith to say no, you don't trust His judgment on how many children you can "handle"?

God does not make an issue of the others except that I'm sure I have faith that if I refused any of those for a long time it would kill me.

God in His infinite wisdom created a system whereby a prerequisite to conception is the meeting of a sperm and an egg . . . a union which generally requires a conscious, voluntary action on our parts, whether that action is heterosexual sex or in vitro fertilization. Just because children are blessings doesn't mean that God doesn't want you to have some discretion over how many your own family will have. Trusting in God doesn't mean acting in ignorance of the world we live in. I trust God to heal my broken arm -- IF I go to the doctor and have the ends set first. I trust that God will help me provide for my children -- but that doesn't mean He wants or needs me to have as many children as I physically can.

Also, I would take issue with the idea that more children = more blessed. The value of a family is not to be quantified like stock holdings. One child is just as precious as 10.

 

[billwald]

No, but check statistics on testicular cancer if available.

 

[billwald]

"Since God describes children as an unqualified blessing from Him."

His Son turned out OK but that isn't universal.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

They can be. Gluttony is a sin, sloth (laziness) is a sin. From a Biblical perspective the whole of life is to be lived by faith (including the mundane). The only thing that is 'secular' is sin itself. It is not true that that which is not religious or 'spiritual' is secular, since all of life is spiritual (including the mundane). Only those things in life that are blatantly sinful are actually secular. Apart from the sinful elements the whole of life should be sacramental (i.e. lived as if it is holy).

Sure, you are right. Gluttony is not of faith. However, those "mundane" taks that I described do not serve any purpose other than survival, and do not inherently glorify God.

 

[Shizzle]

Anyone know the parable of the man who was stranded on a roof when it was flooding? the floods were rising and a man in a boat came by and said "get on", he replies, no im fine, just waiting for God to save me. a man in a hot baloon came by and said "get on", he replies, no im fine, just waiting for God to save me. Then finally a helicopter came, and he replied the same thing. As the flood waters engulfed the roof and the man breathed his last breath, he asked God why he hadnt saved him, he replied "i sent a boat, a baloon, and a helicopter, isnt that enough?".

Are we just waiting to see a miracle for God to stop us from getting pregnant, do we roll a dice and say that whatever number it lands on is Gods will? We are told not to gamble, if it were going to put you on the street to have another baby, then would you not be gambeling with your lives not to use birth control? yes you would, sin is sin whether or not u think it is, just becas somethings a sin if u think it is, doesnt mean its not if you dont. Sex and pregnancy is not a divine thing, its a physical act with a CHANCE of getting pregnant. You are not having faith in God by having sex without protection in a situation where having a baby is not financially possible, you are gambling with your lives which is a sin against God, the only thing your having faith in is chance.

 

[indra_fanatic]

I hear that the purpose for marriage is to procreate.
So, is it a sin if the husband gets a vasectomy?

What denomination tells you this?