Why does the Bible not specifically talk about abortion or contraception?

[childinthefaith]

Exodus 20:13 → “Thou shalt not kill.”

The taking of life, abortion, and prevention of naturally occurring reproduction, contraception, pretty much fall under that don’t you think?

If we take the issue of contraception just one step further, it also violates “thou shalt not have any other Gods before me,” since making the marital act all about one’s self-indulgent pleasure and contravening it’s created purpose, is making one’s own physical gratification an “idol.” Add gluttony to that and we have three listed sins regarding contraception, and they also apply to abortion.

Certainly Leviticus gets detailed about things, but people knew then, as they do now, what happens as a result of the marital act - babies. And except for the heathens who sacrificed infants to Baal’s, they had no inclination to kill their young. I wonder how detailed Scripture needs to be for its extrapolation into modern issues such as this to be any easier?

Lastly on this point, let me say that we have had a few thousand years to design ways to avoid natural consequences, i.e., condoms, pills, etc., that the Israelites did not have. I can’t imagine Leviticus saying “don’t take birth control pills or use condoms,” can you?

 

[JOE_OBERR]

I would add to your response that Christianity (the Catholic Church) does not come from the bible and our personal guesswork on bible verses but from Apostolic Tradition, i.e., the oral word of God that the Apostles learned directly from Jesus over their three years spent with him. The bible is not a catechism, its intent is to transmit salvation history via the written word of God which is distinct from Apostolic Tradition. The Catholic faith was/is still transmitted orally via the Magisterium with the Catechism of the CC as the current expression of this oral word (1 Thes 2:13) which is the venue by which people come to understand the faith in its fullness, which is by hearing, not by reading the bible. The four Gospels only contain certain elements of Apostolic Tradition (CCC #78) so it is impossible to learn the full Gospel from it. The biblical canon wasn’t even fixed by the CC until the late 4th century and Gutenberg’s printing press was another 1,000 years away.