For my internet issue I decided to look into biblical interpretations regarding the use of contraception.  Each of the articles I found point to the story of Onan in Genesis 38, as well as other texts in their interpretations of this issue.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/biblical-birth-control-surprisingly-contraception-friendly-old-testament

This article looks at the arguments regarding contraception in the Old Testament, and comes to the conclusion that the text does not forbid the use of contraception. It points to Song of Solomon, claiming that the young man seduces the young woman with a number of plants that were used as contraceptives during that time, such as pomegranates, myrrh, and cinnamon. This supposedly would have allowed the two to have sex without the risk of pregnancy. The article also looks into the book of Esther, in which Esther intervenes through seduction to save the Jews, as well as Numbers 5, which describes a ritual “when a husband, who suspects that his wife has cheated on him, can force her to swallow a special concoction prepared by a priest.” The text says that if she has been unfaithful, the LORD will her belly swell and her thigh to fall away. In other words, this will cause her to abort her fetus if she has in fact conceived through another man.

http://socrates58.blogspot.com/2006/05/biblical-evidence-against.html#

This article believes that the Bible prohibits contraception, pointing to the passage in Genesis 38 in which Judah commands Onan to sleep with Tamar to give his brother offspring. Onan “spills his seed on the ground” instead of obeying his father, and as a result is killed by God. The article acknowledges that this incident involved levirate law, the duty to produce offspring with the wife of a deceased brother, but states that God did not punish Onan for failing to fulfill this duty, stating that the punishment for such a crime was public humiliation, not death. Therefore, the author argues, the punishment must have been for his act of contraception. The previous article from AlterNet argues the opposite, that God’s anger resulted from Onan’s failure to carry out his duty of giving his brother offspring.

http://www.equip.org/articles/should-christians-use-birth-control/#christian-books-1

A section of this article specifically looks at birth control in biblical teaching. The author states that the Old Testament expresses God’s desire that His people not be barren (Deut. 7:4), that God rejected the common practice of sterilizing males (Deut. 23:1), as well as the sexual abstinence in Israel (Exod. 21:10). This article also touches on the story of Onan, and argues that it is not a condemnation of contraception, rather a punishment of Onan’s unwillingness to bear children for his brother. Whereas the previous two articles focused strictly on the Old Testament, this article touches briefly on the New Testament, though the author argues that nowhere in the New Testament is birth control prohibited. He cites 1 Corinthians 7:5 as a verse in which Paul cautions against refraining from sexual relations with one’s spouse except during periods of religious devotion, which may be related to the topic, but does not touch on the issue of contraception.

Pieters, Albertus. Notes on Genesis: For Minister and Serious Bible Students. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1947.

The author of Notes On Genesis, Albertus Pieters, states the position from which he writes the book right off the bat; immediately the reader has the knowledge that Pieters believes that the Bible is the true word of God, and also that he holds this belief from a Christian point of view. As a result we can use this book to study Christian interpretations of Genesis. As the title indicates that serious Bible students should read the book, it is likely that the text contains more than simply Pieters’ own opinions, but rather what he considers to be the most widely accepted interpretations of the book of Genesis. The title also states that the book is for ministers, indicating that it is useful for faith-based study as well as academic study.

I was able to find this book in the 200s (Religion) section of the basement floor of Skillman Library, as I have made use of several other books of similar nature from this location. These books tend to be older (the book I selected was published in 1947), which I find appealing as the majority of them stick to pure analysis and interpretation, whereas many of the newer books focus on cultural ramifications and the politics involved in interpreting the Bible in different ways. This section of the library includes books containing analysis of all aspects of the Hebrew Bible, from the perspective of Jews, Christians, University professors, and ministers.