Billy Ball pastors Faith Baptist Church (Sons of Thundr), an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church in Primrose, Georgia. Ball and the church are noted for their hatred of Sodomites and abortion. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Faith Baptist as a hate group. As I was perusing the church’s website, (link no longer active) I came across a booklet Billy Ball wrote on the subject of birth control. Here’s some of what Ball had to say:
Do you remember when there was very little difference, if any, between common sense and what the Bible had to say? Well, today the phrase “common sense” seems to be a means of justifying ourselves in satisfying our own selfish plans and living a lifestyle contrary to the life of faith!
The above statement at face value is innocent. As a matter of fact, it is very true in some areas of our lives. There are many things in life for which we should certainly plan, and I believe the Scriptures would even support us in doing so. However, there are also some things in life which God wants us to trust Him with totally. His plan for bringing human life into this world would certainly be placed in this category, if anything would.
Now, let’s think for a moment about this thing called birth control. Even the term itself sounds odd to the ear. Birth control, controlling birth, no matter how you say it, the key word is still control. You will find as we continue on with this study that, Scripturally, the only control that God gives a man or woman concerning birth is the decision to marry or not to marry. Beyond that, the Bible teaches that birth control belongs to God.
I challenge you to search the Scriptures for this ideology that man is to control birth. The only person who ever made an attempt in the Scriptures to control birth was judged in doing so. Other than that one example, the Bible is silent concerning others who held this belief…
…There was a time when people understood that when you got married, you expected children to be the normal, natural result of this union. As a matter of fact, marriage itself was considered by most people to be “starting a family”. So, yes, plan, if you are a Christian! Plan to get married and receive God’s gift of children. Or, on the other hand, plan to stay single if you do not desire children at this time. As far as I see in the Bible, there is no other legitimate way of controlling birth…
…So then, if the Bible teaches us that children are a gift from God, and a reward from Heaven; and if we know that God killed the only Scriptural example of those who support this heresy. And if we also understand the fact that if a man knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is a sin unto him. James 4:17, KJV “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin”. Then based on the above argument alone, can we honestly say that birth control falls under the realm of personal liberty? Please explain how and where, by any stretch of the imagination, that any Christian can use the Bible to justify birth prevention as a personal liberty that is acceptable to God…
…”That’s the reason we have so much welfare now!” Yes, believe it or not, that is one of the common statements made by the modern day birth control advocates. However, this statement is actually a copout for not talking about the real issue regarding a lot of the welfare problems, which is abstinence. A good portion of those people should not be having sexual relationships anyhow! Sex, in the Bible, was reserved for those who were legally married. All other sexual behavior was, and still is, forbidden by the Scriptures…
…We are so used to implementing our “plan B”, while knowingly disobeying God’s “plan A”. So, instead of using man made birth control to solve the unwanted expense of unwanted children across this country, we should repent of the fornication and adultery that refers us to our “plan B” in the first place. That, my friend, will drastically reduce the dollars spent on those who don’t want to take responsibility for their lifestyles.
But to blame the welfare problem on those who let God decide how many children they have in a responsible Christian way is at best ridiculous! This is the same argument used for fixing your pet!…
…”It’s my body, so it’s my choice.” Now we really begin to see the thinking behind the birth control movement. If this statement sounds all too familiar, it is because you’ve heard it before from the abortion crowd. You see, the driving force behind the abortion proponents is this humanistic idea that we are our own gods and that we have the right to make our own decisions about our life and how we use our body. However, as Christians, our attitude should be that we are not our own, but that we have been bought with a price. I Corinthians 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price:”. The rest of that verse says “therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”. Preventing children can never glorify God!
Now, please tell me how birth control, by any stretch of the imagination, can glorify God? You will say, “But preacher, we’re not talking about a baby, but a seed!” Exactly! But, did you know that the Greek word from which we get the word seed is the word sperma? This is where we get our word sperm. So, if the baby is a gift from God, according to Psalms 127, then the sperm also is God’s gift. God gave you the sperm to be used to bring offspring into the world. Now, we do know that there is a difference between the sperm and the baby after conception. But we must also realize that the potential for life is found in the God-given seed. Therefore, this shows that it is a very serious thing to interfere with His seed in any way.”
Ball wants readers to know that his booklet is straight from the Bible, an unassailable source of perfect truth, but only if it is a King James Bible. Ball wrote:
I know that there will be many who disagree with the contents of this booklet. However, as with any literature which I have written, I challenge any and all to take a King James Bible and Scripturally refute it. I’m still waiting!…
…It is disturbing to see the extent to which humanism has entered into our congregations. The sad part is, however, that many so called preachers will simply discount this teaching as “much to do about nothing.”…
…Finally, let me say that our church and my family have personally suffered for our stand on this clearly taught Bible issue. We know, however, that sound doctrine is about the only thing some men will not endure in these last days…
Poor Bro. Billy, persecuted just because he wants to keep women chained to the bed, submissive, ready, and willing for their husbands to come home and impregnate them. While Ball is not as eloquent as many of the spokesmen for the Quiverfull movement, his views are one and the same.
Notes
According to a 2012 news article, Faith Baptist Church has about 130 members (link no longer active).
Wikipedia states the church is IFB. Several other news reports say it is Southern Baptist.
111616
“I know that there will be many who disagree with the contents of this booklet. However, as with any literature which I have written, I challenge any and all to take a King James Bible and Scripturally refute it.”
Actually, all I’m going to do is ignore it.
Ignore it at your own eternal peril Mike.
I’m pretty comfortable taking my chances. 😉
Ben, go f*** yourself (by the way, f*** rhymes with fuck). Do you really think you’re trying to reach a bunch of “unreached” pagans? We left the fundamentalist church because of the controlling bullshit you seem to think is so wonderful. In other words, we’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Now, go find yourself a satanic website to witness to. We don’t want to fucking hear it.
Is that what they taught you Dale?
What do you man by “that”?
You’ve been warned Mike. 🙂 You can check out Benaiah Narsil’s preaching here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3kbdR76Fpo
I watched a little bit of this video, and once again, what a wonderful reminder of the great decision I made to walk away from all religious beliefs and faith. How sad it must be to be like him trapped in a box.
Ok, so he walks around Mardi Gras preaching at anyone who is drunk enough to give him the time of day and telling them they are going to hell. Wow, all the scary sinners walking around in their winter coats – such a display of hedonism. It all seemed very random; did he actually expect to convert someone? Or does he just feel better putting himself out there and being a voice crying in the wilderness?
Poor Billy, completely emasculated in the face of liberated women like me. I like the fact that apparently my insistence on ‘controlling’ my own reproductive life keeps him awake at night. While I sleep the sleep of the just. 😉
Funny how he objects to the word “control”….When we know that church and all that it stands for is about control. I dunno, just an observation……
Wow, talk about the epitome of ignorance. Wasted a few minutes reading more of this guy’s drivel… This guy is a little too preoccupied with the sexual activities of his congregation.
“What about the advice of the doctor; health problems, etc?”
“To start with, there are a couple of questions that I would use to answer that question. First of all, is the doctor who is giving the advice a Christian? Secondly, does this particular doctor have a large family? And thirdly, does this doctor believe in abortion under any circumstances whatsoever? It seems that Christians have simply assumed over the years that we should believe what any doctor prescribes solely because he or she has a medical degree, and a license to practice medicine. Let us not forget that this is the same profession that recommends and performs the murderous act of abortion thousands of times each day.
I wonder what would happen if we put as much confidence in the word of God as we did in the medical profession?”
I only wish old Brother Billy Boy was an anomaly. Oh, how I wish! This crap is spread to the eager congregations like so much disease, and they believe it!
There is a man, name of Mike Tice, a Jericho Rider, who shows up at clinics screaming about abortion being wrong and how “birth control is just as bad as abortion”! His claims are, of course, Biblical.
This challenge, to find one controlling child birth, is played out in the Old Testament of the good old King James Bible, however. When a man suspects his pregnant wife to be carrying the seed of another man. The husband takes said wife to the priest, who gives her an abortive concoction. IF the pregnancy is of her husband, she will continue to carry, but if the seed is from another outside of the marriage, she will abort. (Numbers 5:11-31)
What a great book!
abortion and birth control protester in Akron OH
This Numbers passage is an excellent point. Nevermind that we can now see it is pure superstition and hokum for the moment. Induced abortion was ok with Yaweh and Moses back in the day, because it served a greater good!
In all my years in fundavangelicalism, i never heard this passage discussed. Wonder why? This is a classic case of there being no absolute morality, of situational ethics, and of how a patriarchal society views women.
After thinking about it, it is not just superstition. The potion the accused woman had to drink was made by taking dust from the tabernacle floor and sprinkling it in water. Given the activities around the tabernacle/temple, I’m sure the floor dust was well-stocked with Salmonella, E. coli, and lots of other microbes that would not be good for a pregnant woman. So what we have here is an iron-age method of inducing abortion. It would not be 100% efficient, but it would work in enough cases that it could be used, and then twisted for patriarchal/religious purposes.
These verses say NOTHING about the sanctity of life, that the fetus is a person. In these verses, the fetus is simply a blob of tissue that is destroyed if its mother sinned. There is no mention of “you knit me together in my mother’s womb”. No “right to life” for the fetus that had no control over its conception. Notice that if there is an induced abortion, the husband has absolutely no condemnation; it is the woman who is blamed for everything.
The last verse sums this passage and practice up pretty well: “The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”
The fundies and evangelicals can, I am sure, come up with some rationalizations. But the language here is pretty cut and dry. All the arguments about “God’s absolute morality”, “sanctity of life”, “life begins at conception”, “God hates abortion”, etc. – they go out the window here. It’s all about the husband saving face, the wife bearing the brunt and all the blame, and the fetus simply being a pawn in this game of “tabernacle dust roulette”.
Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that the Numbers 5:11-31 passage is talking about STDs & not pregnancy because it says she was ‘defiled’ & not ‘with child’ or ‘had taken seed from another man’ or some other similar statement. Also seems like a truth serum if she it made her belly swell & thighs to rot. I don’t know…
Speaking as a Christian, and being generous in so doing, I would have to say that Billy Ball is an ignorant “dick brain.” Outside of that, I have nothing else to say.
“Mikespeir,”
1. You didn’t.
2. You haven’t.
3. Well? When are you going to start ignoring it?
4. Waiting….
5. Do you know what “ignore” means?
6. Sigh.
“Charles,” good of you to be so generous….with yourself.
Is “dick brain” from II Onan? I can’t find my own copy.