Is it sin to conceive children in a fast or a feast day?

conceptin in fests

In this article I want to answer to the following question I have received on the portal Moldova Creștină

Is it true that it is sin to conceive children in a fast or in a day of rest? It is said that these children can be born with malformations, different disorders or parents will have to suffer a lot from them. Is this thing mentioned anywhere in the Bible or do the Holy Priests give any references to this? Thank you in advance for the answer.

This teaching is a superstition

I have never read in the writings of the Holy Priests such a teaching to explain that the children who are conceived in the fast or feast days will be affected physically or in any other way. This is a teaching of pagan origins or a superstition. For example, Russians were very concerned about the day when a child was conceived, thinking that this will determine the future destiny of that child. Country men were used to think that the child would be hardworking, healthy, joyful, smart if he/she was conceived in a lucky hour or day. The destiny of those children who were born on Sundays or in a fast day, or in the day of remembrance of those who were dead, was considered full of misfortune or that the child would be a fool or a thief, or a robber. If someone was born blind or dumb, they thought that was the result that he had been conceived on Friday.

The Bible doesn’t teach this way

There is no biblical teaching to say that it is sin to conceive children in a feast day or during the fast. And I do not know any passage from the Bible to say that children who are conceived in a fast or a feast day may be born with malformation, different diseases or that parents will have to suffer from them. More than this…

God doesn’t set abstinence from sexual relations during the fast

In the first Epistle to Corinthians, when he gives us teaching concerning the way a husband and a wife should report to each other, meaning their sexual relation, Apostle Paul wrote:

Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not of command. (1 Corinthians 7:1–6)(NASB)

So, according to this passage, abstinence from sexual relations during the fast is a concession, not a command from God. And if one spouse will not want to accept abstinence from sexual relations during the fast, this will not be a problem for the second one and this will affect neither their fast nor their relation with God. More than this, this will bring no bad consequences upon the children that can be conceived as a result of the sexual relation the couple had during the fast.

The physical health of the parents when the child is conceived will influence upon his/her health

This is a well known thing by all people. Men and women who want to conceive healthy children will take care of their health and they will not practise things that will affect their health, and then the health of their children.

The spiritual health of the parents influences upon the health of the child

Here is what the second of those 10 commandments given by God, says :

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:4–6)(NASB)

When Moses went up to the Mount Sinai for the second time to receive those 10 commandments…

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (Exodus 34:5–7)(NASB)

If you haven’t known these things before, I suppose that you looked for a connection between the problems you have in your life and the way your parents lived before God. Or maybe you become more worried when you think how your deeds and your spiritual condition you have at the moment will reflect into your children’s future. In this case, you will surely want to know…

How to save the future of your children?

You have to repent. You have to come to God and to ask forgiveness for all sins you have committed willingly or against your will, and then to enter a covenant with God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, choosing to listen to His Word written on the pages of the Holy Scriptures with all your heart. Study the Bible, live in accord to what is written there and never go back to your deeds and to your faithlessness from which those deeds have sprung. In this way, you will inherit the Kingdom of God and you will ensure a blessed future for you and for your children.

Translated by Felicia Djugostran