Birth Control

[Ian]

[Ian]

[Ian]

[Steve]

Thanks, Micah, for the sources! More material for my gospel database. And thanks, Ian, for the great scans. I already have a few additional thoughts to add to this discussion, but I'm going to study these items a little before posting those. I must say, I'm quite fond of this forum.

[Steve]

For what it's worth—a snippet from the May 1971 Ensign:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strongly encourages married couples to have children. It is against birth control.

Granted, the article is written by a stake president, but I think it's interesting that the statement was published in the church magazine. I found it while reading so I thought I'd just go ahead and post it.

[Ian]

i believe that the church has always been against birth control. our position has never changed, because the church's position is the Lord's position. that position is "built in as a part of what we know and what we are" as members of the church. this should not be a controversial subject. we're blessed to have had these truths revealed to us.

People write asking what is the position of the Church on the Word of Wisdom, for instance, on soft drinks or something. And we think, "Why do they have to ask?" It is a principle, and you have the freedom to do as you will. You do not have to be commanded in all things. Without having to have the Church deliver a statement on it, you should know what the Lord's position is on abortion or cloning or same-gender marriage or birth control. All of those things are built in as a part of what we know and what we are.

We are about the only ones left in the world who hold to these standards. When we look around, we cannot find any organization that is holding to the standards. We do not like to talk about the other churches, but we are going to stand alone. If so, there we will stand.

Boyd K. Packer, "The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character," BYU Fireside Address, February 2, 2003

[Ian]

i ran across this today, add this to the list of quotes:

President Harold B. Lee:

Those who refuse to have children fail to gain the greatest joy. In the days of our grandparents, their great pride and joy was to rear a large and honorable family. In so doing, there was developed within the family circle an unselfishness and an individual and collective loyalty that made divorce a rare happening and therefore little thought of, in that day, as a solution for social ills.

There are those among us who think (if it can be called thinking) that having a large family of children is old-fashioned and an evidence of those who are unsophisticated and don't know better. No more pernicious doctrine than that could hardly be imagined. Those who refuse to accept the obligations of parenthood are not living up to their greatest opportunities and thereby fail to gain the sweetest joys of life with a beautiful family. The Psalmist expressed it this way: "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127:3-5.) Those who refuse as husbands and wives to have children are proving themselves already too small for the infinitude of God's creative powers.

The Brethren advise against delaying the having of children. I sat one morning with some of my Brethren who are among our most prominent leaders. One of the Brethren said he had recently had requests from two sisters, at different times, asking if he would give them a special blessing so that they could have children. On inquiry he found that in their earlier married life they had refused to have children, and now, when they desire children, for some reason they can't have them.

Another one of my Brethren spoke up and said, "That reminds me of our own experience. We married quite young and we had our children, five of them, before my wife was twenty-eight. Then something happened and we were not able to have any more children." He continued: "If we had delayed having our family until after I had my education, which would have been about that time, we probably would have had no children of our own."

When I consider those who enter into holy wedlock in the Lord's own way and receive the divine commandments to multiply and replenish the earth, then through their own designs fail to observe the commandment, I wonder if, later on, when they are ready to have the children, the Lord might not think: "Maybe this is the time for you to do a little soul-searching in order for you to come back to the realities for which you have been placed upon the earth."

Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 283-284.