Who Still Fights Against Contraception?

[mnn727]

It's a common non-LDS perception that you have many children because you are supposed to do so so all the spirits in heaven can gain bodies. Is this total myth, or is there something to it?

We just could never figure out how it happened

[Blackmarch]

Profile needs to be updated. I am happily re-married to the mother of my children.

Congratulations :)

[Backroads]

Okay, okay, I was wrong...I get it...call off the hounds, and tell the guys in the black van across the street they can go home now.

Seriously though, I had thought that was the case. In retrospect, I'm unsure where or when I first thought this, but no matter.

You ain't getting away so easily...

[prisonchaplain]

That depends largely on which president of the church you've been reading up on.

The only ones I know much about are Pres. Hinckley and Monson. So...what say they?

[mrmarklin]

The only ones I know much about are Pres. Hinckley and Monson. So...what say they?

I don't know specifics, but many apostles and prophets over the years have used the "multiply and replenish" in a lot of speeches. There is also language used about not "delaying your family life" etc etc.:)

It wouldn't surprise me if there was some language to this effect in the current conference last April in some speech or other.

I've been quoted so much of this stuff over the years, I really don't want to bother looking any of it up!

This is the source of the misunderstanding in Mormon culture about contraception.

Edited June 9, 2011 by mrmarklin

[mrmarklin]

It's a common non-LDS perception that you have many children because you are supposed to do so so all the spirits in heaven can gain bodies. Is this total myth, or is there something to it?

This is not a myth. We are taught, in general, that bringing spirits to the world to obtain bodies is a good thing. And it is. But previously someone had a quote from the Church's General Handbook of Instructions. This is the true position of the Church. It's a personal matter.

[Vort]

It's a common non-LDS perception that you have many children because you are supposed to do so so all the spirits in heaven can gain bodies. Is this total myth, or is there something to it?

There is something to it. President Brigham Young is recorded as having taught:

There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles. Now what is our duty? To prepare tabernacles for them: to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can.

(Journal of Discourses 4:56.)

This does not qualify as "official doctrine", but it certainly is the word and mind of a prophet of God to his generation. Whether and how it applies to us today is a matter for each individual to ponder and pray about. I would note that our current leadership, while always speaking positively of child-bearing and never advocating for birth control, has been less forthright and offered more counsel about family planning being a matter between the married couple and the Lord.