A wholly reasonable approach to birth control

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JohnStrachan

New member
On the web page for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada under beliefs and practices concerning birth control it states:

"The view of most Orthodox bodies is that controlling conception through “natural family planning”, or contraception, is acceptable for married couples, as long as it is done in a spirit of responsible Christian stewardship of life.

This means, first, that birth control will not be used merely because having and rearing children is seen as a financial or social inconvenience. Secondly, it means that any form of contraception used will not be physically harmful to either spouse, and will not involve the abortion of a fertilized egg. Finally, the decision to utilize birth control, as well as the decision to have a child, must be a mutual one between both wife and husband."

This seems like a reasonable approach to birth control. So why do the Orthodox and RC churches have such a differing perspective?
 
Last edited:
The Roman Catholic Church has a differing perspective because RC is teaching for perfection.
 
This is not the only matter of faith/morals that are different.

Many denominations, in fact most, hold the beliefs that you quoted fro EO re artificial birth control.
 
Yes, and on this Catholics would say they are more orthodox in moral doctrine than Orthodoxy (name).

You cited the currently predominant view in Orthodoxy, though it should be noted Orthodoxy has permitted variation on the issue even today. It also really only started becoming the predominant view in Orthodoxy in the late 1980s and 1990s. In the decades prior to this, and certainly in the earlier 20th century, Orthodoxy had a very similar position on artificial birth control to Catholics.
 
Last edited:
JohnStrachan said:
What does orthodox mean? It means “correct belief” Why sully correct belief?
Click to expand...
Hmm…
I know that the Roman Catholic Church shares the way to perfection. I know that the approach to birth control you shared is not a correct belief. Therefore, even though a Church titled Orthodox declares it is a correct belief, it is still not orthodox, in that it is not a correct belief.

If I ever sully correct belief, please admonish me, as you should the Ukranian Orthodox Church.
 
Look, you can go back into Church history, and up until about the 1930s, artificial contraception and the like was universally CONDEMNED, even by the reformers. People push for birth control, not because it’s a moral good, but because it’s now morally inoffensive to all but a small group.
 
Artificial contraception is wrong because it harms God (in the way we can do such) by rejecting His order in the use of the great gift of the sexual faculty, not because it harms people (though it can and does in many ways).

As for the name of the Orthodox Church - well, every group has a pretty attractive name… who wouldn’t want to be in the “Church of Christ,” for instance?

-K
 
Last edited:
JohnStrachan said:
40.png
jochoa:
I know that the Roman Catholic Church shares the way to perfection.
Click to expand...
But the RC approach is dogmatic. It is not based on scripture.
Click to expand...
It is based on the ancient apostolic faith and is a teaching pretty much all Christian communities had in common before the 1930s.
 
JohnStrachan said:
But the RC approach is dogmatic. It is not based on scripture.
Click to expand...
What Scripture references do you consider justify artificial contraception?

Furthermore, although the RC is dogmatic, doesn’t change that the RC is indeed correct, also, the Wholly Bible is the dogmatic Roman Catholic Bibliography.
 
Last edited:
kapp19 said:
Artificial contraception is wrong because it harms God (in the way we can do such) by rejecting His order in the use of the great gift of the sexual faculty, not because it harms people (though it can and does in many ways).
Click to expand...
I know you added a caveat to what you said, but I’d just like to emphasize that we cannot harm God. We do put ourselves at odds and in disunion with him when we sin.
 
Yes, it’s an odd expression - but I take it from the Blackfriars’ translation of the Summa on this precise point. Thomas doesn’t even bother to qualify it… though of course it must be read in context.
 
40.png
A wholly reasonable approach to birth control Moral Theology
On the web page for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada under beliefs and practices concerning birth control it states: "The view of most Orthodox bodies is that controlling conception through “natural family planning”, or contraception, is acceptable for married couples, as long as it is done in a spirit of responsible Christian stewardship of life. This means, first, that birth control will not be used merely because having and rearing children is seen as a financial or social inconvenie…
Click to expand...
It is simple…the Catholic Church’s rules manifest God’s desire that sex is both for unity of the husband and wife, along with openness to human life (procreation). When artificial birth control is used, the desire of the humans is to discard or prevent procreation, thus only using sex for unity (pleasure), treating the spouse as an object solely for pleasure.

Besides this breaking of God’s desire, many forms of artificial birth control are early stage abortificants, where the child is killed early. Many, even in the pro-life community who oppose abortions by doctors and clinics, are killing their children early in their life.

It is sad to say that there are hundreds of millions of murderers out there, many who aren’t wise or smart enough to realize that their choice of artificial birth control is literally killing their children. Literally hundreds of millions of killers out there, who prize pleasure and kill their children instead.

May God have mercy on their souls.
 
Last edited:
How come no Christians accepted contraception until the Lambeth Conference of the Anglicans? It’s sad some EO Churches have also embraced that novelty.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top