Barriers

We talk about barrier methods primarily in terms of protection. In a world full of promiscuous sexual activity, we are faced with a plethora of sexual infections. Indeed, if your lifestyle choice involves sleeping with many different people, or even one person who has slept with many different people, "protection" should be on the forefront of your mind. I wont go into the shoddy effectiveness condoms offer in this regard, but I did want to point out that I understand that condoms exist to protect against things other than children.

This post is not addressed to the swinging New York crowd, but rather to Christian suburban housewives. Outside the Catholic Church, very few denominations talk about birth control. Those that do focus on potentially abortificient chemical methods. Condoms, it seems, are fair game.

After the birth of our son my husband and I briefly used this method of birth control. It was beyond our scope that doing so could possibly be an affront to God or our own marriage. Only those silly Catholics don't believe in condoms, and we my friend, were not Catholic.

One day, after becoming increasingly active in the pro-life cause, I stumbled upon a discussion of birth control. I flippantly closed the window dismissing any ties that condoms and abortion may share. To prevent is one thing, to kill quite another! Right?

The seed of doubt was planted. I prayerfully asked God for direction on the issue. The answer was quite clear-Condom's "protect" the married couple from blessing.

"But God," I reasoned "you are sovereign, if you want a couple pregnant all condoms in the world wont stop it...your will is supreme"... and then it hit me- By using birth control I was telling God that MY will was superior and more perfect than his. Ouch.

I never intended to set my will above God's. Quite the contrary, I believed that God had given us birth control as Mercy and that we were welcome to use it. Everyone uses condoms! Try as I might, I could not make my act less subordinate. I wasn't going to die if I became pregnant, and though I had a sick child, a pregnancy would neither cure nor kill him. I was trying to control God's blessing- to control God- simply because I did not really want to be pregnant so soon after giving birth. I did not trust God with my life. I put my faith in latex.

The barrier that I thought was placed between my husband and I was really placed between my heart and God. Perhaps those "silly Catholics" were on to something.