Married couples will soon have a new tool to help them discuss and dissect the ever growing and increasingly confusing issue of contraception.
Pastors, professional pastoral counselors, and marriage and family therapists who do pre-marital counseling also will be interested in the resource, “Christ in Your Relationship: Thoughts on Christian Marriage, Family and Contraception.”
The report takes a comprehensive look at a myriad of birth-control options, offering both medical and spiritual perspectives. It was prepared by the Sanctity of Human Life Committee, a program of LCMS World Relief/Human Care, in response to Resolution 6-10, approved at the 2004 LCMS convention. The resolution requested a review of birth-control products and methods — including clarification on those that can act as abortifacients — and asked that this information be made available to LCMS pastors and laypeople.
The report examines everything from abstinence to the latest hormonal products and intrauterine devices. It opens with a discussion of “God’s original design for the beautiful vocation of marriage and how that vocation has often been negatively affected and influenced by our sinful society,” said LCMS Life Ministries Director Maggie Karner.
The Sanctity of Human Life Committee charged three members with writing the report for committee approval. In addition to Karner, the report’s authors are Rev. Dr. Kevin Voss, director of the Concordia Bioethics Institute and a Concordia University Wisconsin professor, and Dr. Sherry Prowatzke, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Waukesha, Wis.
The report will be available as a free download at http://worldrelief.lcms.org by mid-July. Printed copies will be available by late summer.
For a free printed copy, contact LCMS World Relief/Human Care at lcms.worldrelief@lcms.org or (800) 248-1930, Ext. 1371.
Posted July 2, 2007
