Contraception is a sin? Hodge, a former Presbyterian pastor who is now a layman in the conservative Orthodox Presbyterian Church, realizes his mission is quixotic.

The very suggestion made Bryan Hodge and his classmates at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute laugh.

As his friends scoffed and began rebutting the oddball idea, Hodge found himself on the other side, poking holes in their arguments.

He finished a bachelor’s degree in biblical theology at Moody and earned a master’s degree in Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

And now, more than a decade later, he is trying to drive a hole the size of the ark through what has become conventional wisdom among many Christians: that contraception is perfectly moral.

His book, The Christian Case Against Contraception, was published in November.

Hodge, a former Presbyterian pastor who is now a layman in the conservative Orthodox Presbyterian Church, realizes his mission is quixotic.

In the 50 years since the birth-control pill hit the market, contraception in this and myriad other forms — the condom, diaphragm, IUD, the patch, shots, implants and sterilization — has become as ubiquitous as the minivan.

Like lighter fluid poured out on a smoldering sexual revolution, the pill dramatically opened the possibilities for women in the worlds of work, sports and education. No less than other Americans, Christians were caught up in the cultural conflagration. In a nation where 77 percent of the population claims to be Christian, 98 percent of women who have ever had sexual intercourse say they’ve used at least one method of birth control.

The pill is the most preferred method, followed closely by female sterilization (usually tying off Fallopian tubes).

Read More: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/49927893-80/contraception-says-church-catholics.html.csp