Birth Control

[MercyMia]

danj6354- All you have to do if follow the uphill trend of divorce and abortion that followed the wide spread use of artificial birth control. Look how casual God’s gift has become among the unmarried and even young teenagers? Do you not see the correlation between the complete degradation of the family and the contraceptive mentality? We have taken away the purpose of the marital union and replaced with a cheap, contracepted version that suits our own selfish needs. I thank GOD for the wisdom he has revealed through His Church that we have never been led astray to believe that it is morally acceptable to use abc. Every other denomination forbid contraception prior to the 1930’s and it was even illegal. All the other denominations changed their principles and allowed for it. Sadly, the early versions of the pill were abortive as it was later discovered. Thanks be to God, He never led his Church into error on this teaching and the Church has upheld the truth even though the world has been critical and even some of our own reject it.
And no, NFP is not the same as artificial contraception. God wonderfully designed a woman to be able to conceive merely a few hours out of every month. If we chose to avoid during that time, there is nothing wrong with that so long as we understand that the possibility of life is always there and we embrace it. We are simply having self control - not gratification without the unitive aspect as is the case with abc.

 

[TLM08]

danj6354- All you have to do if follow the uphill trend of divorce and abortion that followed the wide spread use of artificial birth control. Look how casual God’s gift has become among the unmarried and even young teenagers? Do you not see the correlation between the complete degradation of the family and the contraceptive mentality? We have taken away the purpose of the marital union and replaced with a cheap, contracepted version that suits our own selfish needs. I thank GOD for the wisdom he has revealed through His Church that we have never been led astray to believe that it is morally acceptable to use abc. Every other denomination forbid contraception prior to the 1930’s and it was even illegal. All the other denominations changed their principles and allowed for it. Sadly, the early versions of the pill were abortive as it was later discovered. Thanks be to God, He never led his Church into error on this teaching and the Church has upheld the truth even though the world has been critical and even some of our own reject it.
And no, NFP is not the same as artificial contraception. God wonderfully designed a woman to be able to conceive merely a few hours out of every month. If we chose to avoid during that time, there is nothing wrong with that so long as we understand that the possibility of life is always there and we embrace it. We are simply having self control - not gratification without the unitive aspect as is the case with abc.

Protestant denominations did in fact forbid artificial birth control at one time. Homosexuals and those caught in adultry were to be taken outside the camp and stoned in the Old Testament too. Things do change and evolve as evidence of the fact that the killing of homosexuals is no longer required of God’s people.

Artificial birth control actually has very little to do with the root cause of sexual immorality. We sometimes have a tendency to think of sexual immorality as a recent development in human history. Sexual immorality has run rampant since the dawn of time and is caused by our sinful nature. The Old and New Testaments are chock full of instances where sexual immorality of all sorts infested the people of God long before the invention of birth control. It could be said however that the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s was sparked by the feminists movement and the advent of the pill.

 

[TLM08]

If birth control is inherently evil, then NFP is on par ethically with “insider trading” of stocks.

 

[Jennifer_J]

If birth control is inherently evil, then NFP is on par ethically with “insider trading” of stocks.

What you misunderstand and MISREPRESENT is that the Church is not against BIRTH CONTROL (as in the controlling of births). What the Church is against is the MISUSE of our sexual faculty. Marriage is a Sacrament and sex is a renewal of those vows–it’s sacramental. There is a right order to sex–that it’s between a married man and woman and that it’s done to completion (that is that the man climaxes inside the woman). Sex has 2 functions in marriage: procreation and unity. These functions are tied together and to remove one is to damage the act and to remove the sacramental nature of the act. Contraception seeks to remove the procreative potential from the act, leaving only the unity. However, what results, while it might be pleasurable, is lacking in it’s complete nature. NFP, on the other hand, keeps the unitive and procreative nature of the act intact. It matters NOT that the woman may be naturally infertile at the time because the Church doesn’t dictate WHEN to have sex (ie, there is no rule that says you must have sex on day 14 or must abstain on day 21). There is no logical way to say that contraception and fertility awareness are morally equal.

Please actually inform yourself on acurate Church teaching. Start with the Catechism
scborromeo.org/ccc.htm on marriage and family–following the footnotes to the appropriate Church documents and Biblical passages.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Catholic Church authorities have decided that artificial birth control is forbidden under any circumstances. Even if you have failing health, 6 children under the age of ten, two months behind on your mortgage and your husband has just lost his job. Artificial birth control is not permitted! But what does the Bible teach about birth control?
*"To begin with, we know God looks approvingly on the bearing of children. That is evident from Titus 2:3-5 and Paul’s exhortation to young widows in 1 Timothy 5:14. Psalm 127:3-5 says children are gifts from God and the man who has many of them is blessed. A large family involves increased responsibility, but children raised in a godly way will influence the world for good and for God’s glory. Nevertheless, nothing in Scripture prohibits married couples from practicing birth control, either for a limited time to delay childbearing, or permanently when they have borne children and determine that their family is complete.

However, not all methods of birth control are acceptable. Abortion, perhaps the most widely used “birth control” method today, is tantamount to murder (cf. Exodus 21:22, where the killing of an unborn fetus is punishable by death). Psalm 139:13-16 clearly indicates fetal life is human life. Any form of birth control that destroys the fetus or fertilized ovum rather than preventing conception is therefore wrong.

Other methods of birth control, including non-abortive forms of the pill, condoms, and the common surgical procedures of tubal ligation or vasectomy, do not pose a problem biblically. If both spouses are persuaded in their consciences before God that they should have no more children, no Scripture prohibits them from carrying through with that decision.

In our viewpoint, birth control is biblically permissible. At the same time, couples should not practice birth control if it violates their consciences (Romans 14:23)–not because birth control is inherently sinful, but because it is always wrong to violate the conscience. The answer to a wrongly informed conscience is not to violate it, but rather to correct and rightly inform one’s conscience with biblical truth."*

*Taken from gty.org (John MacArthur’s website)

If perchance DH and I had all the highlighted problems…I’m not too sure how “frisky” we would be anyway. I can’t see saying we have all these problems, so let’s just add to them by committing a mortal sin by using ABC to have intercourse.

AND This is from a woman who should not have any more children, because of a high chance of another premature baby. I do not willingly want to risk another premature birth of a baby born even earlier than the one I’m holding.

BUT, we are not going to contracept.

 

[buffalo]

Study: Women on Birth Control Pill Less Attracted to ‘Masculine’ Men

** A recent study featured in the journal “Ecology and Evolution” claims the birth control pill may have changed women’s taste in men over the years, London’s Daily Mail reported.**
Scientists from the University of Sheffield in the U.K. said the Pill’s hormones have suppressed a female’s interest in ‘masculine’ men, making ‘boyish’ men more attractive.
Dr. Alexandra Alvergne of the University of Sheffield said women taking the pill have altered the way women pick their partners.

more…

 

[TLM08]

… Sex has 2 functions in marriage: procreation and unity. These functions are tied together and to remove one is to damage the act and to remove the sacramental nature of the act. Contraception seeks to remove the procreative potential from the act, leaving only the unity. .

Those who use (non-abortive) articicial birth control and those who practice NFP share the exact same goal which is to remove or greatly reduce the procreative potential. If condom use etc is immoral, why is watching the calendar with the “let’s hit it while we can” attitude any less evil?

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Those who use (non-abortive) articicial birth control and those who practice NFP share the exact same goal which is to remove or greatly reduce the procreative potential. If condom use etc is immoral, why is watching the calendar with the “let’s hit it while we can” attitude any less evil?

It isn’t evil because the couple is giving up sex for periods at a time. The condom using couple isn’t giving up sex in order to avoid pregnancy. They are having all the sex they want and making it as sterile as possible by using a condom.

In using NFP a couple is intimate at times of the month that are less likely to be fertile but they are also **giving up intimacy **when they are more likely to be fertile.

A couple using a condom has sex when the wife is fertile, and try to make the act sterile on purpose. Why are they having sex if she is fertile, if they don’t want a baby?

God didn’t make women fertile all the time, he also gave women clues to know they are fertile… I wonder why?

 

[Jennifer_J]

Those who use (non-abortive) articicial birth control and those who practice NFP share the exact same goal which is to remove or greatly reduce the procreative potential. If condom use etc is immoral, why is watching the calendar with the “let’s hit it while we can” attitude any less evil?

Because it’s not the “goal” at issue, it’s the means to that goal. It’s not sinful to totally abstain if the need is such that more children would be an undue burden. It’s not sinful to have sex at any point in the woman’s cycle. NFP does nothing TO fertility, it’s merely a way of detecting potential fertility and either choosing to have sex or not have sex. There is no sin in either choice (either to potentially try for children or to not have children). As MaryGail said, the contracepting couple has sex no matter their fertility–they are altering the act to avoid children. NFP couples are just not having sex (abstaining) to avoid more children. There is a huge difference between contraception and NFP.

 

[ExDeoVita]

It isn’t evil because the couple is giving up sex for periods at a time. The condom using couple isn’t giving up sex in order to avoid pregnancy. They are having all the sex they want and making it as sterile as possible by using a condom.

In using NFP a couple is intimate at times of the month that are less likely to be fertile but they are also **giving up intimacy **when they are more likely to be fertile.

A couple using a condom has sex when the wife is fertile, and try to make the act sterile on purpose. Why are they having sex if she is fertile, if they don’t want a baby?

God didn’t make women fertile all the time, he also gave women clues to know they are fertile… I wonder why?

Very true, I have trouble understanding why people can’t understand this difference. It seems like it is asked in every other thread. To use C. West’s analogy: Whats the difference between euthanizeing an old person or letting them die a natural death? Of course the ends are the same, but the means… well that is self explanatory.

I often wonder what children would feel like knowing their parents conceived them not out of openness to life (which is always the case when a couple embraces using NFP) but when their parents were willfully blocking God’s gift of their life from beginning.

When children grow up, sometimes their parents relay the story of how they came into this world. I would be hard pressed to find someone that would be happy to know their parents were mentally / emotionally detached from bringing their life into the world. Personally, I would be upset. Most people don’t bring up this angle, but I think I can say that most people would like to know their parents were open to life and willing to accept the precious gift of God when they were conceived. Hence, yet another difference: Conceived because mommy and daddy weren’t even thinking of a new life when the condom broke -OR- conceived when mommy and daddy embraced with the full knowledge that a new life could God-willing spring fourth from the Tri-unal embrace.

What does everyone else think?

 

[ExDeoVita]

Protestant denominations did in fact forbid artificial birth control at one time. Homosexuals and those caught in adultry were to be taken outside the camp and stoned in the Old Testament too. Things do change and evolve as evidence of the fact that the killing of homosexuals is no longer required of God’s people.

Artificial birth control actually has very little to do with the root cause of sexual immorality. We sometimes have a tendency to think of sexual immorality as a recent development in human history. Sexual immorality has run rampant since the dawn of time and is caused by our sinful nature. The Old and New Testaments are chock full of instances where sexual immorality of all sorts infested the people of God long before the invention of birth control. It could be said however that the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s was sparked by the feminists movement and the advent of the pill.

Actually bud, ABC has a great deal to do with sexual immorality. Because if focuses on HIM, HER and nobody else. The self-service of exciting every nerve in our bodies without having to deal with consequences like babies has everything to do with the ME mentality, and logically has everything to do with the sexual immorality/immaturity of this generation. Regardless of what you say, NFP when used correctly is always open to new life, ABC in stark contrast is a means of explicitly prohibiting life. If there is a need to space births, than there is a natural way to do it which always and in every case leaves God in the mix.

Let me ask you this since you brought up the topic of immorality: How many couples would kill their pre-born son or daughter ie: abortion, had they embraced with the the full knowledge that new life could be created? You may not want to answer that, but the outcome of following God’s law never leads to things like abortion. It is precisely the contraceptive mentality among our young adults that has made the MD’s (murder doctors) at planned parenthood so filthy rich. Go read margret sangers expose and tell me she didn’t know of the link between giving people the ability to artificially neuter themselves whenever they wanted and the money that would ensue with unplanned/crises pregnancies. You would be calling me an idiot if you told me abortion had nothing to do with the contraceptive mentality.

For anyone interested, Life Site News has posted Fr. Corapi’s response on the ‘meltdown of western civilization’ that has a great deal to do with this very topic. See youtube video (approx. 10 min. long). As with all of Fr. Corapi’s speeches, it is well worth the 10 minutes!

lifesitenews.com/

 

[tabsie3210]

Very true, I have trouble understanding why people can’t understand this difference. It seems like it is asked in every other thread. To use C. West’s analogy: Whats the difference between euthanizeing an old person or letting them die a natural death? Of course the ends are the same, but the means… well that is self explanatory.

I often wonder what children would feel like knowing their parents conceived them not out of openness to life (which is always the case when a couple embraces using NFP) but when their parents were willfully blocking God’s gift of their life from beginning.

When children grow up, sometimes their parents relay the story of how they came into this world. I would be hard pressed to find someone that would be happy to know their parents were mentally / emotionally detached from bringing their life into the world. Personally, I would be upset. Most people don’t bring up this angle, but I think I can say that most people would like to know their parents were open to life and willing to accept the precious gift of God when they were conceived. Hence, yet another difference: Conceived because mommy and daddy weren’t even thinking of a new life when the condom broke -OR- conceived when mommy and daddy embraced with the full knowledge that a new life could God-willing spring fourth from the Tri-unal embrace.

What does everyone else think?

I’m the result of a burst condom on my parents’ wedding night, actually. Mother related the story to me, and also related how she and Dad were thrilled to find out she was pregnant anyway. Mom’s attitude was, “It was God’s will that we have this kid, one way or the other.”

From what I understand, my parents both have very low sex drives, so condom use wasn’t really an issue - it was more of a, “This is what people do” thing for them by that point. I do know they tried repeatedly after me to have another kid and they never could concieve again, so I’m my mother’s only child. They’d also tried to adopt, but my father was too old, though Mom was young enough. But after having me, they had changed their minds and decided (unsuccessfully) to have another.

So I didn’t grow up broken-hearted because my parents had done a 180 as soon as they found out about me (my grandmother likes to joke that as soon as the doctor said, “Congratulations,” my dad was tap-dancing on the doctor’s desk), but one has to wonder what it would have been like if I hadn’t been my mother’s only kid and my father’s favorite.

 

[Magickman]

I have no dog in this fight, because I am age 60, never married, and still perpetually single. Parenthood will not come my way.

Without any direct experience of marriage, it is not my place to judge those in the state of wedlock. Other people’s reproductive choices are not my business.

Because children are so vitally important, parenthood requires an absolute devotion to the tasks of raising a family. If married people do not have this commitment, I would not urge them to conceive. If a couple is not married, they ought marry before starting a family.

All the artifacts of human life are artificial, from toilet paper to microchips. Calling birth control artificial is a red herring. The more important issue is how couples and families can surmount the challenges of modern life, and remain faithful to their consciences and values.

Children are a gift and a wonder. No doubt about that. But perhaps there can be too much of a good thing.

 

[TLM08]

Actually bud, ABC has a great deal to do with sexual immorality. Because if focuses on HIM, HER and nobody else. The self-service of exciting every nerve in our bodies without having to deal with consequences like babies has everything to do with the ME mentality, and logically has everything to do with the sexual immorality/immaturity of this generation. …

Let me ask you this since you brought up the topic of immorality: How many couples would kill their pre-born son or daughter ie: abortion, had they embraced with the the full knowledge that new life could be created? You may not want to answer that, but the outcome of following God’s law never leads to things like abortion. It is precisely the contraceptive mentality among our young adults that has made the MD’s (murder doctors) at planned parenthood so filthy rich. Go read margret sangers expose and tell me she didn’t know of the link between giving people the ability to artificially neuter themselves whenever they wanted and the money that would ensue with unplanned/crises pregnancies. You would be calling me an idiot if you told me abortion had nothing to do with the contraceptive mentality.

For anyone interested, Life Site News has posted Fr. Corapi’s response on the ‘meltdown of western civilization’ that has a great deal to do with this very topic. See youtube video (approx. 10 min. long). As with all of Fr. Corapi’s speeches, it is well worth the 10 minutes!

lifesitenews.com/

Heaven knows if ever there is a time in one’s life that will “excite every nerve” it’s early in the marriage when love is fresh, our bodies are physically fit and everything is new and exciting. The ultimate expression of human love surely should never be accompanied by such a high level of physical pleasure. Yes, keeping the thought of pregnancy forefront of the minds of a young, attractive healthy married couple just starting their life together would tend to put a damper on things. Us good catholics are here to make sure everybody keep the excitement in check!

Now please allow me to be serious for a minute. Margaret Sanger was a monster from the pit of Hell, and no doubt has made her return to spend eternity with her father the devil. My post had absolutely nothing to do with the abomination of abortion which is nothing short of the live butchering of innocent children. It is the American Holocaust and our national badge of shame. Sexual immorality as I stated previously has been with us since the beginning. It was not the result of artificial birth control. Feminism and liberalism are the driving forces behind the sexual immorality of recent decades.

Since nothing in scripture forbids it, I maintain the assertion that non abortive methods of birth control when employed by married couples who wish to delay having children for a time, space births or have decided that they already have brought enough children into the world that they can properly care for is a moral and responsible course of action.

 

[ExDeoVita]

Catholic Church authorities have decided that artificial birth control is forbidden under any circumstances. Even if you have failing health, 6 children under the age of ten, two months behind on your mortgage and your husband has just lost his job. Artificial birth control is not permitted! But what does the Bible teach about birth control?

*"To begin with, we know God looks approvingly on the bearing of children. That is evident from Titus 2:3-5 and Paul’s exhortation to young widows in 1 Timothy 5:14. Psalm 127:3-5 says children are gifts from God and the man who has many of them is blessed. A large family involves increased responsibility, but children raised in a godly way will influence the world for good and for God’s glory. Nevertheless, nothing in Scripture prohibits married couples from practicing birth control, either for a limited time to delay childbearing, or permanently when they have borne children and determine that their family is complete.

However, not all methods of birth control are acceptable. Abortion, perhaps the most widely used “birth control” method today, is tantamount to murder (cf. Exodus 21:22, where the killing of an unborn fetus is punishable by death). Psalm 139:13-16 clearly indicates fetal life is human life. Any form of birth control that destroys the fetus or fertilized ovum rather than preventing conception is therefore wrong.

Other methods of birth control, including non-abortive forms of the pill, condoms, and the common surgical procedures of tubal ligation or vasectomy, do not pose a problem biblically. If both spouses are persuaded in their consciences before God that they should have no more children, no Scripture prohibits them from carrying through with that decision.

In our viewpoint, birth control is biblically permissible. At the same time, couples should not practice birth control if it violates their consciences (Romans 14:23)–not because birth control is inherently sinful, but because it is always wrong to violate the conscience. The answer to a wrongly informed conscience is not to violate it, but rather to correct and rightly inform one’s conscience with biblical truth."*

*Taken from gty.org (John MacArthur’s website)

This is not Church teaching. It is your incorrect opinion on what* you *believe the Bible teaches.

 

[MercyMia]

Heaven knows if ever there is a time in one’s life that will “excite every nerve” it’s early in the marriage when love is fresh, our bodies are physically fit and everything is new and exciting. The ultimate expression of human love surely should never be accompanied by such a high level of physical pleasure. Yes, keeping the thought of pregnancy forefront of the minds of a young, attractive healthy married couple just starting their life together would tend to put a damper on things. Us good catholics are here to make sure everybody keep the excitement in check!

Now please allow me to be serious for a minute. Margaret Sanger was a monster from the pit of Hell, and no doubt has made her return to spend eternity with her father the devil. My post had absolutely nothing to do with the abomination of abortion which is nothing short of the live butchering of innocent children. It is the American Holocaust and our national badge of shame. Sexual immorality as I stated previously has been with us since the beginning. It was not the result of artificial birth control. Feminism and liberalism are the driving forces behind the sexual immorality of recent decades.

Since nothing in scripture forbids it, I maintain the assertion that non abortive methods of birth control when employed by married couples who wish to delay having children for a time, space births or have decided that they already have brought enough children into the world that they can properly care for is a moral and responsible course of action.

I share your sentiments on Margaret Sanger…I know we are supposed to be merciful but with a person like her it is hard. But contraception was a major part of her agenda. Even recently, one of the scientists from that era who helped develop the pill has come out and said he regrets is because he feels contraception has basically caused the social breakdown of Europe (he is European).

BTW I am one of those “young, attractive” married couples…I am 25 and have been married for 2 years. There is nothing friskier than knowing your husband loves you completely and does not expect you to suppress your fertility as a means to his physical ends. I do not feel bogged down by the openness to life…I feel freed by it! If you are having a hard time getting why…a book I might recommend is Theology of the Body by Christopher West. And no, the Church does not want to spoil everyone’s fun by forbidding birth control. Quite the opposite. We are striving for REAL love in a very selfish and self-serving world where babies are the uninvited guest in our self-centered sex lives and women are objectified because the unitive aspect of sex has been erased.
As far as being responsible by spacing births…it is called abstinence or perodic abstinence (i.e. natural family planning).

Now, you are separating abortive versions of the pill from other methods. BUT the first version of the pill that came out was abortive and virtually all churches except for the Catholic Church gave it the green light! So yes, those people unknowingly green-lighted something that was abortive. We are dealing with a moral issue that needed the guidance of God’s protected church!

Moral depravity has always been with us…of course, but the family and chastity has been declining at an accelerating pace since the introduction of contraceptives. I don’t understand people who cannot see that connection.

 

[Scardinoz]

Forgive me for dropping in a personal story.

My wife and I were married as protestants on June 7th of this year. We explored all the cool new toys we had never been allowed to play with before. About a month after we had been married, something was weighing very heavily on me: birth control. My wife was on the pill and for some reason I had the impression that it was wrong for us to have sex while she was on the pill. I did not discuss the issue with my wife or let her know what I was thinking but I did pray. I asked God if we should be using birth control and I was given a clearly distinguishable impression that it was not right. I came to God in prayer many times over this issue and kept getting the same only it became increasingly heavy on me. I finally asked that, if God wanted us to stop using birth control, He would make my wife bring up the issue with me.

A day later, my wife stopped me in our kitchen and said, essentially, “I don’t know how to say this but… I don’t think we should be using birth control. I just don’t feel like it’s right.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor.

We tried natural family planning for about two weeks but I lost my resolve. (Married for a month; what do you expect?)

Alas! No birth control and no NFP. Now my prayers are along the lines of, “Not my will, LORD, but let Your will be done.”

 

[Nyarlathotep]

My wife and I were married as protestants on June 7th of this year.

Congratulations!

I asked God if we should be using birth control and I was given a clearly distinguishable impression that it was not right. I came to God in prayer many times over this issue and kept getting the same only it became increasingly heavy on me. I finally asked that, if God wanted us to stop using birth control, He would make my wife bring up the issue with me.

A day later, my wife stopped me in our kitchen and said, essentially, “I don’t know how to say this but… I don’t think we should be using birth control. I just don’t feel like it’s right.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor.

We tried natural family planning for about two weeks but I lost my resolve. (Married for a month; what do you expect?)

Alas! No birth control and no NFP. Now my prayers are along the lines of, “Not my will, LORD, but let Your will be done.”

Relax, buddy; you’re not exactly in Gethsemane, although newlywed abstinence is probably the nearest thing to it that I can think of. :banghead:

Speaking from personal experience, you may “fall” many times, but as long as she remembers (or you remind her) to take her temperature and check out whatever needs to be checked out and mark it on your calendar, it does work.

And my wife and I – we are lazy people. We still have a Netflix movie from, like, a week ago, but like any habit (flossing?) once you get the hang of it, it’s not that bad.

Take it from me – 5 years of marriage without birth control, and only 2 kids! (And before my fellow Catholics jump on me about not wanting a whole herd, we have a 2 bedroom house, you got any ideas where to put 'em?)

 

[wanner47]

I’m another one who has had both sides of the coin. My husband and I were both Protestant when we married, and I was on the Pill for the first two years or so of our marriage. When we decided to convert, we began learning about NFP.

HOLY COW! Prior to my conversion I’d had no idea that I could chart my cycles and learn so much about my body. We stopped ABC and never looked back.

I can say wholeheartedly that our marriage has improved spectacularly as a result. I wouldn’t go back to ABC if you paid me! And without NFP and learning to be open to life, we wouldn’t have the incredible 2.5 children we do today.

 

[kage_ar]

Take it from me – 5 years of marriage without birth control, and only 2 kids! (And before my fellow Catholics jump on me about not wanting a whole herd, we have a 2 bedroom house, you got any ideas where to put 'em?)

Gosh, how did the human race survive without 5 bedroom houses?