Abortion and Birth Control

QUESTIONS CONCERNING ABORTION AND BIRTH CONTROL

1. Is it good to let a discussion on abortion and birth control start without a firm theological foundation concerning God's created orders?
2. Is it Christian to answer questions about these controversial subjects from a pragmatic and utilitarian point of view?
3. Can we speak of God's will without considering the family (the marriage relationship and the parents and children relationship) an order of creation?
4. Can a Christian let the exception allowed by the Mosaic Law for the "hardness of the heart" be valid for him and his own heart (reborn)?
5. Has not the hard-heartedness of man brought on the deplorable situations we are facing in our sick society?
6. Does not the finger of Christ pointing to Genesis ("from the beginning") imply that the "putting asunder" must be applied in all areas that concern the creative orders? (For instance putting asunder what God has joined together in marriage as well as in parenthood.)
7. Is it a Godly marriage which on the one hand enjoys the highest evidence of unity of the flesh in sexual intercourse, but on the other hand refuses to recognize God's order of creation as an intended reason for this union?
8. Is not something essential eliminated from marriage and intercourse when the potential life is eliminated?
9. What is the similarity between "putting asunder"the mother from the child in abortion and the separating of potential parents from their children by contraceptive measures?
10. When is a marriage responsibly faithful to God as well as to the personal relations between the spouses? Is contraception unfaithfulness to God?
11. If the absence of children does not, in principle, call into question the full meaning and purpose of marriage, is it not called into question if the willingness to have children is lacking, and moreover is lacking most of the time?
12. Is the push for "planned parenthood" and "abortion" a war of the present generation against the unborn generation?
13. Is the so-called population bomb to be made harmless by acts against God's created orders of marriage and family?
14. Can a Christian allow his "calculated" need for "security" (prosperity, egocentrical emphasis) to take precedence over confidence and faith in God?
15. Does the present ease of contraception or abortion present the responsible Christian spouses with a new and stronger temptation to misuse and, thereby, often destroy their marriage?

Dr. Martin J. Naumann, Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, IL

March 31, 1971