The first chapter deals with the difficult subject of birth control.Here are a few of my random thoughts:
-Driscoll does a fantastic job of lifting up the value and blessing of children. He is totally against married couples who prevent pregnancy for selfish reasons.
-Characteristically, Driscoll handles this subject straightforwardly and with humor. He addresses the main issues head-on.
-It is clear that Driscoll has done his homework. This chapter contains 30 footnoted passages of Scripture and 82 endnotes citing sources used. His work on the history of birth control is fascinating. I certainly learned a tremendous amount from this chapter.
-Driscoll is helpfully balanced. While firmly committed to the Biblical view of family, he exposes the legalism and weak arguments of the "no birth control" proponents. He calls out husbands who treat their spouse as more of a womb for making babies instead of a wife to find pleasure in.
-He gives helpful examples of reasons to use birth control that do not constitute sin or selfishness.
-He gives 5 different levels of birth control. The first 3 he labels as available to Christians (no birth control, natural birth control, and non-abortive birth control). Regarding the 4th, Driscoll urges prayer, wisdom, and study (potentially abortive birth control - such as "the pill"). And, he opposes the 5th level (abortive murder).
-Driscoll concludes by discussing the power of Jesus to forgive and save.
One potential problem:
-Driscoll concludes this chapter by leaving open the possibility that there could be an instance where abortion would be considered. He says he opposes "any Christian couple considering level 5, unless there are extremely weighty extenuating circumstances." He leaves it at that.
I cannot think of any situation in which I would even consider it a possibility to have an abortion. I wish he would have at least given an example.
Overall, this is a very helpful chapter that is a good resource for Christian couples dealing with these difficult issues. Your thoughts?
UPDATE: Here is an article by Desiring God that Driscoll quotes in the chapter (HT: Rebecca).
7 comments:
Abortion in his view! .
-Driscoll concludes this chapter by leaving open the possibility that there could be an instance where abortion would be considered. He says he opposes "any Christian couple considering level 5, unless there are extremely weighty extenuating circumstances." He leaves it at that.
As for me I would never consider that abortion would be considered. No way! He need to explain why and why!
PS. see my email about other thing that I didn't want to post it on this.
Pro-Life for Christ,
'Guerite ~ BoldLion
Thanks for this review...I was recently directed (via the Prayer of Hannah blog) to this article at Desiring God and found it to be very interesting and helpful regaurding the topic.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1440_Does_the_Bible_permit_birth_control/
Rebecca,
thanks for the link. I've included it in the post. Driscoll quotes from this article in the chapter.
Not sure if you listened to the sermon that Driscoll gave on this, but he did call out level five as a sin. He doesn't go into details, but I'd imagine that the extenuating circumstance would probably be health of the mother. I know that in the book "Case for Life" by Scott Klusendorf he leaves that issue alone in terms of reasons for an abortion.
You can find the whole sermon series that the book came from here http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/religionsaves
Lew
Lew,
Thanks for the clarifications. Yes, Driscoll is clearly against abortion. I didn't mean to imply that with my concern.
I just wish he would have clarified instead of leaving the question open.
I look forward to reading this in detail. However, as with so many modern Protestants, Pr. Driscoll appears to believe that he has the authority to refute the consensus opinion of all three major branches of Christianity (Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox) on this issue until the 20th century, that is, that contraception is a sin. Luther and Calvin both condemned the practice in no uncertain terms and both relied on Scripture to do so. I will be interested in seeing if Pr. Driscoll cites any orthodox Christian who taught otherwise prior to the last quarter of the 19th century, the earliest I have found. I will also be interested in seeing if and how he treats the teachings of St. John Chrysostom, Martin Luther and John Calvin on this subject.
Yes, indeed, as soon as a sperm and egg fuse to become a zygote, there is a new human life created. When you realize this, it makes it clear the nature of the afterlife. For instance, 50% of zygotes spontaneously abort (i.e. pregnancy doesn't ensue because the fertilized egg never takes root). And no matter what is the true religion or true denomination, surely no more than 1/3 of earth's people get to heaven. This would leave zygotes outnumbering humans 3/1 in heaven, and it will likely be difficult to find other humans in heaven because we will be in the minority. Since humans who were born will be such a minority in heaven, it stands to reason that heaven is really for zygotes and we will be their helpers as they mature into ..um.. will they stay as zygotes forever?
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