September 18, 2007

Is Birth Control / Family Planning Wrong? (II)

Is God good? I mean truly, do you believe that God is good?

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever" – Psalm 136:1

I know it seems like an odd first question to answer in a birth control exploration, but it is the most profound question you must answer in this whole touchy subject. Do you believe that God, Jehovah, Lord, Father is GOOD?

Because how you answer that question will not only impact your views on birth control and family planning, but it will impact your views on the entire Bible and will color all of your theology. If you view God as inherently good and true, then you believe that ultimately, as a follower of Jesus, that God will do nothing "eternally" bad to you. You can read verses like Romans 8:28 and know that while we will suffer in this lifetime, and experience hardships and sorrow, that ultimately God is doing all of it as a kind, loving Father who is guiding and caring for His children in a wise, divine way that we may not always understand.

But you never question God's goodness. Therefore, you have no reason to question whatever may happen in your life. You have no reason to secretly question life's circumstances and wonder "Does God know what He is doing here?" You have no reason to keep looking over your shoulder and wondering if God is really on your side. You just know that He is good and you don't question it. You bank on His goodness. You love His goodness. You trust in His goodness.

How does this fit into the topic at hand?

If God is inherently good, and you are a follower of Jesus, and you believe everything I just wrote, and what the Bible says about God being good (do a word search here with the words "God" and "Good" and see what you come back with) then you WILL NEVER look at a pregnancy and question whether God knows what He is doing. Or whether a pregnancy is a good thing. Nor will you have to worry about getting pregnant and having another child because you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is good and He will always be good and if you conceive, then it HAS to be, a good thing. It can't not be. Why? Because God is good. And he is sovereign. And if he only does good things for His children, then how could you look at a pregnancy as a bad thing? You also will have no reason to prevent a pregnancy, because if you do conceive, by the Bible's words alone, it has to be a good thing.

Might the pregnancy bring challenges? Sure. Might it be an "inconvenience"? Probably! Will it be hard? Absolutely! No one ever said having children was a cake walk. Might it cost you your "career"? Potentially. But what is more important? Your career or children?

IMPORTANT NOTE: I WILL ADDRESS THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF THE MOTHER QUESTION LATER THIS WEEK!

Whatever questions you may have, you cannot argue that God is not good, and therefore does not have your best interests fully in view. If you argue that, then you might possibly not know God the way you ought to.

We will look at several other questions/angles over the next few days, but today's question I believe is the most important one to answer. Is God good? You need to answer that in your life, not just for family purposes, but for soul purposes.

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