Contraception Ban: Be fruitful and overpopulate?

[Laurence_of_PA]

If I’m ignorant of some vital aspect to the whole contraception issue, I apologize in advance, but…

With a near exponentially-increasing world population (now I hear we’re supposed to hit 8-billion-or-so by 2050), eventually we’re going to hit the point where the divine mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply” will be – in my opinion – overfulfilled. One way or another, humans are going to become their own parasite, and overpopulation (yes, that it is what this thread is all about) will need to be combatted if we are to obey the other famous mandate to be good stewards of the earth. Of course, I doubt anyone’s approach to this would seriously be to stop having sex, on a account of how big it is in the functioning of the human being (as well as the whole husband-wife-union bonding deal).

So inevitably, it’s going to get to the point where banning artificial contraception would be ludicrous, so why promote such a thing now? Can doctrines only be temporary?

Or, is everyone just secretly hoping the world ends within the next fifty years so we can forget all our silly little planetary/natural resource limitations (Did you know that the world has only a 61 years supply of Copper left?).

 

[1ke]

With a near exponentially-increasing world population

Please back this up with some facts. Hint: you won’t find any.

and overpopulation (yes, that it is what this thread is all about)

Please study up on the myth of overpopulation. Malthus and Ehrlich have come before you beating that drum, only to be completely discredited.

I suggest you read The War On Population by economist and PhD Jacqueline Kasun. And, visit www.pop.org to research the truth.

So inevitably, it’s going to get to the point where banning artificial contraception would be ludicrous, so why promote such a thing now?

Inevitably? I think not. Contraception is not necessary to space and plan families

Can doctrines only be temporary?

No. God’s law is eternal. The moral law does not change.

The moral law does not prohibit spacing or limiting one’s family for just reasons. The moral law prohibits contraception because it is intrinsically disordered.

Or, is everyone just secretly hoping the world ends within the next fifty years so we can forget all our silly little planetary limitations **

The earth is not limited.
Laurence of PA;2641630:

(Did you know that the world has only a 61 years supply of Copper left?)

.

Uh, did you know Paul Ehrlich is a quack who has been disproven on all his predictions regarding running out of minerals, metals, and other natural resources?

Please provide your source for this pronouncement on copper.

 

[Genesis315]

If overpopulation were to become an issue, births could be limited–but through self-mastery, not contraception, abortion, or infanticide.

 

[LilyM]

Uh, did you know Paul Ehrlich is a quack who has been disproven on all his predictions regarding running out of minerals, metals, and other natural resources?

Please provide your source for this pronouncement on copper.

I vividly remember as a youngster in the 80s being taught that we would run out (not just have limited supplies, but run out totally) of most minerals and natural resources before the year 2000.

Science has its limits - and predicting things like the effect of population size is where it stretches them beyond reasonable bounds.

By the way, as the previous poster has said, it is more than possible to naturally space or limit the number of children a couple has - or avoid 'em altogether.

My sister has done so very successfully - ten childless years and now two children. Not out of religious conviction, but as a doctor she saw all the awful side effects and increased disease risks associated with contraception and decided to go the natural route.

 

[YinYangMom]

Here’s how I view the ‘we’re going to overpopulate the world’ cry:

It’s God’s world, not ours.
He’s the one who commanded us to multiply.
He’s the one asking us to do so responsibly, but always with Him as our guide - not our intellect, not our fear, not our anxieties - but our trust in Him.

He knows how many people this earth can handle and I trust that He has ways to balance things out along the way.
He knows our own inclination to destroy masses of populations either through war, disease, or neglecting the environment and such. He also knows about natural disasters heading this way. He’ll allow us to continue to procreate as long as He desires us to do so. If it ever gets to the point where the world really can’t handle any more then perhaps we will see a time come when Children of Men comes to fruition.

In the meantime, our obligation is to remain open to His plan for us. If He desires we produce children, we will produce children. If we discern He knows we are not able to responsibly care for another child we are able to practice NFP and trust in His response to our effort to please Him. We will not have anymore or we will, should He be telling us we are worrying too much.

I guess bottom line for me, it this whole idea that it’s our world and we are responsible for everything and anything that happens to it. That’s just not the case. He is still creating our world for us, through us. So we run out of fossil fuel, so we run out of copper. With His guidance we’ll discover other sources to replace those things or the evolutionary process in motion may deem those things no longer essential. Only God knows.

If we consult with Him first the world will be a great place, when we fail to consult with Him and do our own thing based on our own worries and fears, we’re bound to muck things up. So no, the teaching to engage in responsible sex thru marriage will never change, especially since the central part of all that is trust in God who creates all life anyway. You will not see the Church change her position because the world appears to be overpopulated. That would be presumptuous, I think.

Maybe mankind is meant to be crowded for a time, uncomfortable, sandwiched together. Maybe then these barriers we have set up over the centuries will finally break down out of necessity. Maybe only then will we become one body again on earth - seeing each of us as human first and foremost - no longer seeing nationalities, races.

I know, it’s a naive position to hold but I just can’t bring myself to stress out over the bigger picture of the future when there are so many variables we have no control over and only God does. Seems a waste of energy.

 

[CatholicMC]

The Western World is contracepting itself into oblivion. The birth rates in many places in Europe are not large enough to sustain the native population.

 

[sprout]

why place a higher value on natural resources and copper of all things than on God & family & children?

What’s more important? copper resources? oil resources? or human beings?

 

[AaronsStaff]

If the people of the world would actually follow moral values, and not have children until they got married, and then had a sizeable family, there wouldnt be as big a problem. Too many people are having kids out of wedlock and then abandoning them. If everyone wait till marriage to have relations with their spouse, there would not be a problem.

 

[pumpkinbeast]

Truth does not change. It can’t change, no matter if you want it to, or if it would make life easier if it would change, it won’t. The truth is that using contraceptives is a sin. It is always wrong, and always will be wrong. End of story. It’s not some arbitrary ban, done to annoy people. It’s the proclamation of the truth. If the earth ever did reach the point of over-population, which it hasn’t, then NFP can be licitly used to limit family size. Another thing: limiting family size for just and grave reasons is NOT a sin. Using contraceptives is ALWAYS a sin. IF the earth ever reached the point of overpopulation, then it would probably be a just enough reason to use NFP to limit family sizes. But we’re no where near that point yet.

By the way, did you know that if you fit the entire current world population into the state of Texas, each person would have over 1000 square feet of space each? Google the numbers and try it yourself, it’s true.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

If I’m ignorant of some vital aspect to the whole contraception issue…

Laurence
The Church uses the word contraception differently than the general public, so the answer is NO. In the Church definition contraception refers to (paraphrasing) “outside influence” as condoms, pills, sterilization, etc. The Church allows couples to marry and have small families or even families without children. ( clear as mud, huh) The husband and wife may estimate the fertility period and abstain from sex during that period. This practice can go on endlessly. In the near future it is likely a woman will have the ability to use body temperature, sweat, saliva, blood, urine, etc, etc to determine if she is in a fertility period, this in an immediate fashion . So practices allowed by the Church to avoid pregnancy can easily control future population growth. In the current window we have the not so reliable method compared to banded methods which are much more reliable and thus the current frustration.

Hope that helps

 

[phil8888]

The Western World is contracepting itself into oblivion. The birth rates in many places in Europe are not large enough to sustain the native population.

Yes, I think this is a danger. There is a huge myth as some have pointed out about there being too many people on earth. I live in Canada, and if you look at a map, and see where the populations of people are, it looks like about 0.0001% of the area is being used. There are enormous and vast amounts of space available.

And who cares about 2068? That’s like 60 years from now. Do you not think they will have invented other things by then? Plus, they’ll probably be going to the moon for minerals and stuff by then.

I remember seeing a thing where if everyone on Earth lived on Vancouver island, everyone could have a HUGE area for themselves. The problem is not overpopulation, it is super high density in some places. Just take a look at a map, you’ll see huge areas that are not occupied at all, and then you’ll see places like Delhi with unbelievable density.

 

[JimG]

And how many years’ copper supply was remaining in the year 1800 BC?

Only a few centuries ago there were warnings that the supply of whale oil would run out soon–there would not be enough to fuel all the ever expanding number of lamps. And sure enough, they were right.

Then there were warnings that the kerosene supply could not keep up with the number of kerosene lamps that would be needed by an expanding population. And they were right about that too, although there still seems to be enough kerosene to go around.

 

[Pious_Mat]

I find it amazing that someone didn’t mention NFP right away and nip this argument in the bud.

People’s preception of the Catholic Church as a proponent of women as “baby factories” is incorrect. As Bishop Sheen said, few people hate Catholicism, but many hate what they think Catholicism is.

The Church doesn’t teach that we have to have a dozen kids each, only that each sexual act ought to be open to new life.

This means that if a couple practises NFP, they can limit the amount of children they have without breaking any of God’s commandments. We don’t all have to abstain, we don’t have to use contraceptives (most of which, by the way, are less effective than NFP), and the world isn’t ending.

The replacement rate for a Developed world nation is 2.1 children per woman. Therefore, if all married couples physically capable of having children have three, we pretty well just meeting the replacement rate.

Note that most countries in the developed world are below their replacement rate (e.g., Sweden, Canada, Germany, etc.). It is poorer countries that are causing any growth in the population. Based on this, one might speculate that if we begin to try solving world poverty, we may solve the “crisis” being mentioned.

In short, the sustainability of a society’s population has nothing to do with contraceptives (condoms are just as cheap in the Congo as they are in the US, and are available at health clinics throughout the world), it has more to do with the society’s respect for the sanctity of marriage.

 

[thistle]

If I’m ignorant of some vital aspect to the whole contraception issue, I apologize in advance, but…

With a near exponentially-increasing world population (now I hear we’re supposed to hit 8-billion-or-so by 2050), eventually we’re going to hit the point where the divine mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply” will be – in my opinion – overfulfilled. One way or another, humans are going to become their own parasite, and overpopulation (yes, that it is what this thread is all about) will need to be combatted if we are to obey the other famous mandate to be good stewards of the earth. Of course, I doubt anyone’s approach to this would seriously be to stop having sex, on a account of how big it is in the functioning of the human being (as well as the whole husband-wife-union bonding deal).

So inevitably, it’s going to get to the point where banning artificial contraception would be ludicrous, so why promote such a thing now? Can doctrines only be temporary?

Or, is everyone just secretly hoping the world ends within the next fifty years so we can forget all our silly little planetary/natural resource limitations (Did you know that the world has only a 61 years supply of Copper left?).

The world is not overpopulated and never will be.
The only issue is whether the rich countries will help the poor countries to eliminate poverty.

 

[gardenswithkids]

If I’m ignorant of some vital aspect to the whole contraception issue, I apologize in advance, but…

With a near exponentially-increasing world population …

Hmm, maybe can take some rather drastic measure to prevent impending doom. Hey! I know–maybe we should help spread the news that babies result from sex. Contraception confuses people on that issue. All methods of contraception have a “failure rate”, and many pregnancies result from contracepted sex. Instead of promoting contraception, our culture could stop promoting sex.

Speaking of sex resulting in babies, sperm donation, egg donation, serogate pregnancy, IVF and other reproductive technologies separate making babies from making love. That’s a problem in our culture too.

Oh, look at that–the Church already addresses these problems with her teachings. God must know what He’s doing. I won’t worry about over-population–I’ll worry about immorality and problems that result when we think we know better than God.

 

[Mirror_Mirror]

If I’m ignorant of some vital aspect to the whole contraception issue, I apologize in advance, but…

With a near exponentially-increasing world population (now I hear we’re supposed to hit 8-billion-or-so by 2050), eventually we’re going to hit the point where the divine mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply” will be – in my opinion – overfulfilled. One way or another, humans are going to become their own parasite, and overpopulation (yes, that it is what this thread is all about) will need to be combatted if we are to obey the other famous mandate to be good stewards of the earth. Of course, I doubt anyone’s approach to this would seriously be to stop having sex, on a account of how big it is in the functioning of the human being (as well as the whole husband-wife-union bonding deal).

So inevitably, it’s going to get to the point where banning artificial contraception would be ludicrous, so why promote such a thing now? Can doctrines only be temporary?

Or, is everyone just secretly hoping the world ends within the next fifty years so we can forget all our silly little planetary/natural resource limitations (Did you know that the world has only a 61 years supply of Copper left?).

Simple one word answer for you:

Never

 

[marci]

For the record, I don’t believe in overpopulation, but I think some of the posts I’ve seen are not realistic about NFP. It is not to be used as permanent BC. It can only be used to either limit family size, due to justifiable reasons, not selfish ones, or to space out children. Also, it doesn’t always work. I had four children in three years (twins in the middle) while using NFP. A cousin of mine just had her sixth, two of which were “planned” and the rest just kept on a comin’.

 

[BlestOne]

how about simple trust that God will provide just like he provided manna for the Israelites? or more recently… how God provided for me 10 yrs ago when my ex walked and left me with 3 kids and no child support? Ask around, when all you have left is faith and a bunch of kids, God doesn’t let you go hungry. I am not the only one here that had to learn to trust and found that God does provide. God wants us to trust him with everything…as Abraham did when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac to prove his trust.

 

[Eschato]

If I remember correctly the world population is actually decreasing now. At least in the western world. I know for a fact that you could fit every person in the world today into the state of Texas and they would have more space than people do in modern New York City.

 

[FLCathMom]

The world is not overpopulated and never will be.
The only issue is whether the rich countries will help the poor countries to eliminate poverty.

Amen. Children born into poverty do not cause poverty, they magnify the problem. No one likes to see children starving, but when people see adults starving, they can dismiss it as that person’s own fault. So, get rid of all the poor babies, then we can enjoy our lattes while driving in our shiny new cars to our roomy homes in the suburbs.