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Thank you for the question: Just what are the Verses ?

Before I respond, let me throw out the opposite question, since it seems to me that the the burden of proof lies there: Since, practically speaking, all Christians were united in condemning contraception before 1930, where in the Bible does it say that one can have relations with one's husband/wife and NOT be open to offspring? Just what are the Verses ?

I don't say that to dodge the question, but would welcome your response.

Now a basic response: First, one can look at Onan (Gen 38:1-10). When his brother was killed and Tamar was left a widow, Judah told him to marry her and to produce offspring. He practiced the form of contraception which today we call "withdrawal": Onan "went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing" (Gen 38:9-10).

For Christians the marriage covenant takes on a new depth. Perhaps the most beautiful teaching on marriage in the Scriptures, a teaching which indicates how wrong contraception is, can be found in Eph 5, especially v.21-33, where St. Paul speaks of marriage as reflecting that great mystery of the spousal love of Christ the Divine Bridegroom for His Bride the Church: "This is a great sacrament (sacramentum hoc magnum); but I speak in Christ and in the church.

St. Paul's point is that from the beginning marriage was modeled on the union of Christ with His Church: "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh" (Gen 2:24; Eph 5:31). And after Genesis announces this marriage covenant "God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it" (Gen 2:28).

Contraception goes against the very nature of marriage as willed by God, and certainly does not reflect the love between Christ and the Church. Imagine a Pastor limiting the number of Baptisms in his parish saying, 'God forbid that we have a large parish family' - just the thought of it is preposterous. Christ and the Church are fruitful!

I also think of Our Lord's very sad words as He carried the Cross towards Calvary: "But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us" (Lk 23:30).

Shalom also to you!

To the question, 'Where in the Bible does it say that contraception is contrary to God's law?' one must understand the nature of marriage as it was intended by God "in the beginning":

--union - "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh" (Gen 2:24)

--procreation - "And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it" (Gen 1:28).

The entire Bible, as Scott Hahn continually has pointed out in his conferences and writings, is centered on a covenant relationship between God and His people: "And you shall be my people: and I will be your God" (cfr. Gen 17:1-7; Ex 6:7; Lev 26:12; Dt 5:2; Jer 30:22, etc.).

Covenant is not contract. A contract is made for an exchange of goods or services; whereas a covenant is an exchange of persons. Frequently the Bible refers to the covenant between God and His people in terms of marriage (cfr. Hosea 2:19; Is 54:5, 62:5; plus all of the parables of Jesus in reference to the kingdom of heaven as a wedding banquet and the references below).

Based on the Scriptures, then, marriage is instituted by God as a reflection of His covenant with His people. The love (union and procreation) of husband and wife are to reflect the love of God for His bride. For Christians this is deepened through the revelation that the love of husband and wife is meant to reflect the mystery of the union of Christ the Divine Bridegroom with His Bride the Church. (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:32; Apoc 18:23; 21:2,9 etc.)

That said, one can readily understand Scott and Kimberly Hahn's discovery. Scott writes:

"If married love is a sacramental sign of God's love for His people-as both testaments of the Bible testify-then the act itself must accurately reflect that love. It must be faithful, monogamous, indissoluble, and fruitful. This is the foundation of all traditional Christian sexual morality, though it will surely come as a surprise to many Christians today. I know this, because it took me completely by surprise, some twenty years ago."

He continues...

"Yet Christian history's overwhelming verdict on contraception arrived as news to us, as did the powerful arguments for this teaching from Scripture and moral reasoning. Confronted with the evidence, Kimberly and I felt compelled to change our lives. So we threw the contraceptives away, and soon afterward our change of theology produced a change in Kimberly's anatomy. Our first child, Michael, was on the way."

He then points out:

"Pope John Paul II has rightly called contraception "a lie in the language of love:" Sex... should be an oath in action, a complete gift of self, an embrace in which a man and a woman hold nothing back from one another. It is a gift of an entire life, and so it belongs only in a lifelong, exclusive marriage. It is a covenant exchange, an exchange of persons: "I am yours, and you are mine." Marriage is what makes sex sacramental and covenantal. The total gift of self rules out the possibility of divorce, adultery, premarital sex-and contraception. For contracepting couples do hold something back, and it's perhaps the single greatest power two human beings can possess: their fertility, the ability to co-create with God a new life, body and soul, destined for eternity. The sexual act says in its ecstasy: "I give you everything." But contraception renders that communication untrue.

Read the full article here (it's well worth the time): A Lie in the Language of Love.

If anyone is sincerely interested in deepening their Scriptural understanding of marriage, Blessed John Paul II has written beautifully and extensively on the subject. His entire series of Wednesday audiences on the Theology of the Body are readily available.

God bless you all!