First use of birth control

[Muze]

I suggest submitting your question to the “Ask an Apologist” forum. You’ve asked it in various threads, but don’t seem to have gotten the answer you want.

The question is rhetorical, and is intended to point out that contraception isn’t the issue in the Onan story, but rather Onan’s attitude towards his duty to his brother.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Then if you are right why does the word “Onanism” mean what it does?

onan·ism definition
Pronunciation: /ˈō-nə-ˌniz-əm/
Function: n
1 : MASTURBATION
2 : COITUS INTERRUPTUS
onan·is·tic Pronunciation: /ˌō-nə-ˈnis-tik/
Function: adj

Onan, Pronunciation: /ˈō-nən/
Biblical character. In the Book of Genesis Onan was commanded by his father to impregnate the widow of his slain brother and to raise the offspring of the union. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan engaged in coitus interruptus

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dictionary.reference.com/browse/onanism

 

[TimothyH]

What he did was to avoid his duty to his brother. The wasting of seed on the ground was only the means by which he did the destible part, which is not having children for his brother. In this passage (and in the book of Genesis), not furthering his brother’s line is far more important than spilling his seed

No, I’m sorry Muze. You are not reading the words correctly.

…he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid contributing offspring for his brother. What he did greatly offended the LORD…

What he did = spill his seed
Why he did it = to avoid contributing offspring for his brother.

God was offended with what he did, not the reason why he did it. What he did was spill his seed. The Bible clearly states that avoiding his duty was the reason why he did it but that spilling his seed was the actual deed.

And look at the punishment. God himself handed down the punishment for avoiding the duty to his brother in the mosaic law. That punishment, as perscribed by God himself in Deuteronomy 25, was public humiliation. See post 14 for the exact text or reference Duteronomy 25:5-10 at the USCCB website or any other website or Bible as you prefer.

Yet God did not demand the punishment of pubilc humiliation which He himself perscribed for avoiding duty to one’s brother. Instead, God demanded Onan’s life. This was far in excess of the punishment which God himself had laid out for such a crime, not having children on your brother’s behalf. Why would God exceed his own punishment? Isn’t justice one of God’s most basic traits? God did not hand down the punishment for failing to fulfill one’s duty to one’s brother because Onan’s crime was not that he did not fulfill the duty to his brother (which was the reason) but because he spilled his seed.

-Tim-

 

[Brendan_McCabe]

1. If we are going to Jewish way, then the RCC is wrong:

bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/jewishethics/contraception.shtml

In Judaism, birth control pills both the acceptable and preferred as a way to limit family size, for medical purposes, and to space out having Children.

1. This isn’t Jewish LAW. Rules about contraception come from the Rabbinic traditions (post-exile), which would be the same traditions Jesus condemned repeatedly during His ministry here on earth.

So, I don’t think you really want to stand on Jewish Tradition. It really undermines you.

You are grasping at straws, carry on.

 

[mark_a]

The fact is that the “detestible” thing that Onan did was to avoid his duty to his brother and bear children for him. The rest of the passage bears this out, as there is a multi-sentence discussion of what he would have to do for this child and how the child wouldn’t be his in the end.

Clearly the point of the story is that Onan refused to continue his brother’s line, and that was why he was killed. The spilling of the seed was just the means by which he attempted to do so.

Not according to the reformers.