Of course, with the exception of couples who reaped the benefits of fidelity to the teachings of Christ\u2019s Church on sexuality (of which Pope Paul VI also spoke), the world\u2014including many in the Church\u2014dismissed the wisdom of Humanae Vitae<\/em> and plunged more deeply into the darkness of corruption and sin.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race.\u00a0 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it\u201d (John 1:3-4).<\/p>\n Pennyroyal<\/p><\/div>\n In the ancient Greco-Roman world\u2014not unlike the Ancient Near East\u2014practicing magic was prevalent.\u00a0 It involved the use of evil spells, curse tablets, contraceptive and abortive potions (specifically, often herbal drinks, pastes) and, less often, generally deadly poisons (all called pharmakeia<\/em>), amulets, and love potions.\u00a0 The contraceptive and abortive potions were numerous and highly demanded; examples were silphium and acacia to contracept, and pennyroyal tea to abort.\u00a0 Written documentation of contraception and abortion go back to nearly 2,000 B.C. \u00a0In Scripture, one example of a sterilized, contraceptive act apart from pharmakeia <\/em>is in Genesis 38:6-11.<\/p>\n In antiquity, pharmakeia<\/em> was the Greek word for these potions, and their users typically distinguished between contraceptive and abortive blends, although they both were categorized as pharmakeia<\/em>.\u00a0 These were commonly and more effectively used methods to contracept and abort, and so were representative of contraception and abortion in Scripture.\u00a0 Church Fathers and early ecclesial documents, such as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles<\/em>, also refer to and condemn these anti-fertility practices.<\/p>\n In Scripture, to refer to this as generic magic or sorcery misses the specificity for which pharmakeia<\/em> was intended.\u00a0 In the Old Testament, contraception and abortion also were practiced in this way.\u00a0 In the reading from Wisdom above, the Greek words for \u201cdestructive drug\u201d are pharmakon olethru<\/em>. \u00a0This may refer to both deadly poison and abortive potion, since its immediate context refers to the integrity of creation and generation of life, over and against death.\u00a0 Exodus 22:17, because of its feminine identification and overall context, and Malachi 3:5, because of its context, also are likely references to contraception and abortion, or at least to sorcerous activity (keshef<\/em> in Hebrew) that includes them.<\/p>\n The immediate context of the above references to Galatians and Revelation was condemnation of common sins that centered around sexual immorality, murder, and idolatry.\u00a0 Idolatry was frequently associated with temple prostitution and its consequences.\u00a0 So, in Galatians, Saint Paul condemns acts of sinful nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, pharmakeia<\/em>, and several more.\u00a0 The context here, and in the following, does not favor pharmakeia<\/em> meaning the much less frequented administering of deadly poison to members of the general population, and this overtly homicidal meaning would be particularly redundant on those lists that include murder.\u00a0 Pharmakeia<\/em> may have been that broadly intended\u2014referring to contraceptive and abortive potions and occasional administration of poison\u2014but probably meant the former restrictively.\u00a0 An exception is Revelation 18:23, in which pharmakeia<\/em> seems to refer specifically and metaphorically to deadly poison.<\/p>\n So, the translation probably should read as follows in Revelation.\u00a0 Rev 9:21 lists murders, contraceptive and abortive potions (pharmakeion<\/em>), sexual immorality, and thefts.\u00a0 In Rev 21:8 and 22:15, the risen Jesus Himself condemns certain representative sins.\u00a0 Rev 21:8: \u201cBut the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the sexually immoral, the ones using contraceptive and abortive potions, the idolators, and all practicing falsehood\u2014their place will be in the fiery lake of burning Sulphur.\u00a0 This is the second death.\u201d\u00a0 Rev 22:15: After pronouncing eternal blessing on the righteous (see 22:11 and 22:14), Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, declares, \u201cOutside are the dogs, the ones using contraceptive and abortive potions, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolators, and all who love and practice falsehood.\u201d<\/p>\n Why would Christ condemn contraceptive and abortive potions?\u00a0 Simply, I think He does so because marriage is a profound, intimate union (Genesis 2:24), procreation is a divine blessing and mandate of this union (Genesis 1:28) for those who are able, children are a gift (e.g., Psalm 127:3), and children in the womb are acknowledged as really alive and sacred (e.g., Psalm 139:13-15, Jeremiah 1:15, Luke:1:39-45).\u00a0 To deliberately sterilize sex, or worse\u2014murder an unborn child\u2014is a serious offense against God and the human person.\u00a0 I think Humanae Vitae<\/em> is just beautifully and boldly echoing the divine and exalted plan for married love and the transmission of human life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mark Koehne<\/strong> teaches Sacred Scripture for Saint Joseph\u2019s College Online Theology Programs<\/a>,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cGod did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.\u00a0 For He fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/07\/Christ.png\")
<\/a>So what does the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, have to say about contraception and abortion in Scripture?\u00a0 Surprisingly to many, and strikingly, some very strong words. Dei Verbum<\/em> and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (110) assert that to discover in Scripture the sacred author\u2019s intention, \u201cthe reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture,\u201d among other things.\u00a0 Perhaps in error in ascertaining these conditions, a common mistranslation in the Bible occurs in Saint Paul\u2019s Letter to the Galatians 5:20 and the Book of Revelation 9:21, 18:23, 21:8, and 22:15, in which the word pharmakeia<\/em> or its cognate is most often rendered sorcery, witchcraft, magic spell, or magic arts.<\/p>\n<\/a>