Contraception is simply the reverse of conception. It is achieved by the premeditated use of synthetic devices and other procedures to inhibit pregnancy via sexual intercourse.

Modern forms of contraception and birth control techniques were unknown in Biblical eras hence no references to contraception or the use of its methods such as pills, implants, injections, or patches, appear in the books of the Bible. Scripture is however not silent on the act of birth control and the significance of children.

The Bible focuses heavily on the value of having children. Children are declared as blessings from God; it is recorded that God forms children in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16). God knows children before their birth (Jeremiah 1:5), and that barren women seeking children are rewarded with offspring.

The only Biblical account of the condemnation of birth control is found in the book of Genesis. The narrative is of the marriage between Onan and Tamar. Onan refused to share his inheritance with any child and so practiced the oldest form of birth control. He deliberately abstains from Tamar; uses his wife for his own pleasure but denies Tamar of her only chance at motherhood.

“What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so he put him to death…”. (Genesis 38:10)

Christian tradition and the church often use this passage as evidence of God’s disapproval of birth control. The different denominations of the Church also hold clashing viewpoints since the passage in suggests that Onan was put to death, not for engaging in the act of birth control itself, but for his selfish and wicked motivation behind the act.

* The Biblical story appearing in Genesis suggests that the motivations behind birth control determine whether the act is right or wrong.