Contraception - Ladies - Men

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I would recommend Natural Family Planning. I never took the pill because it is affecting a woman’s hormonal system and we do not know its effects on the body, or how it will be when a woman ages. I always pray to discern whether or not to take such and such medication.

For example, my first pregnancy was very hard because of nausea. My doctor gave me some medication to treat it. I took one pill and got a strong sense in my spirit to not take it. The medication turned out to cause birth defects by just so many months of use.

I am old and now take prescriptions for one or two things, and fortunately for me, the drug is about the safest and best out there. I even have to watch my aspirin intake.

So I avoid whatever is artificial and man made after reflecting and studying the product.

I had my first born right away. She is a great blessing to me. The rest were pretty much from NFP, although it took time to have a second one. However, NFP takes time to know one’s body. And it is good for a married couple to live a more spiritual life as well, which is a challenge.
 
eucharisteo said:
This is the job for a priest to help guide us through it. A faithful Catholic spiritual director could also help. But deciding on the severity of any sin has already been established. However in order for the sin to be grave three criteria must be “met”.
  1. The matter must be grave matter
  2. We must know that the matter is a grave sin
  3. We must be free to commit the offense [someone puts a gun to your head idea
The same is true for all serious sins whatever it is. Here’s a public confession, I have an issue determining which sins are grave sometimes. I feel that if I say something harsh privately towards someone I’ve committed a serious offense that falls under #5, thou shalt not kill. The sin is rooted in one of the deadly sins, “anger”.
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that’s the part i am trying to figure out. is it a grave matter to use nfp to avoid pregnancy after having two children, 2 miscarriages, and 40 years of age?
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It is case by case. Are both parents able to fulfill their duties with more children? My husband has had some major issues. We have 4 children, but for me to oversee more, would have brought about neglect and lack of sustenance, as well as tension in the household. Thus, the reason for NFP in my case. Raising children in a culture that opposes you is very difficult.

People should take their concerns to their pastors about the number of children for their peace of mind.

There are people who have practiced artificial birth control to a ‘t’, and still conceived a child. There are reasons these events happen…I wish I could have had more.
 
spencer2 said:
that’s the part i am trying to figure out. is it a grave matter to use nfp to avoid pregnancy after having two children, 2 miscarriages, and 40 years of age?
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My feelings about this is that it is a fact that it is healthier to space the children if possible for the mother’s health. But abstinence is the best solution, though very difficult. In this case I would think it is acceptable to practice NFP. But one must know the risks.

When you “practice NFP”. It is often erroneously thought of as just trying not to have children. But really that view is not the way it is supposed to be viewed. It should be seen as a tool to optimally have children and therefore it is a life style in that you don’t start and stop it. I’ve read where some women that have not been able to conceive have found a way through it to conceive. So it is not evil in and of itself but how you use it.

It’s like owning a gun for hunting. You can hunt and kill everything in sight, provide for your family. But there is a point where you kill too much. So it is prudent to avoid killing what you can’t or won’t use. Eat what you kill. Strange analogy. The person hunting may love to hunt but to do so without being respectful of pointless killing of animals becomes evil. In your case you are trying to protect the life of the mother but remaining open to God’s will. My feelings about NFP are irrelevant, so don’t take my feelings as gospel. My opinion is just that, an opinion based on some knowledge but mostly lack of understanding. We have to follow our consciences. But we also must form our consciences to that of God’s ways. And the Church has the authority to bind and loose. We must trust in the infallibility of it as guided by the Holy Spirit.
 
I haven’t read but heard the young couples sharing about the insights they gained from John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body’.

So if you are first married, it is the best time to enjoy the giftedness of each other and merge into one being…in the Catholic faith, the partner is gift to each other,…and may be a great work to keep considering the up’s and down’s of life.

(By the way, there is a great Italian family tradition, no matter how poor, to find one thing that happened that day to celebrate at the dinner table. That would give a perspective on all members in context to life, its goodness and mystery.)

It would be good for parents today who can still conceive to read John Paul II on Theology of the Body. I read he had been a great confessor and advisor to young people and the married couples.
 
Priscilla_Ann said:
No, contraception never made me feel like a machine. My husband and I have been happily married for 27 years and our intimacy was never affected by whether or not we used contraception. There were times when we used contraception and when we didn’t; We were intimate before vasectomy and after vasectomy, before hysterectomy and after hysterectomy. Sex is just one part of our relationship, and the decisions we made were made together as partners in our life together. Our decisions were based on doing what was morally responsible.

If contraception makes you feel like a machine, I would suggest that perhaps the problem isn’t contraception, but rather your relationship with your spouse.
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This friend speaks my mind.
 
Zatzat said:
Not at all, whether it be condoms, the pill or my soon to have vasectomy…
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You might want to check into the connection between sperm antibodies and dimentia in vasectamized men first.

Best wishes.
 
mark_a said:
You might want to check into the connection between sperm antibodies and dimentia in vasectamized men first.

Best wishes.
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The only study I could find used a sample size of 47 people.

I’ve psoted studies on this forum that involved 38 000 people and have been dismissed for not having a larger sample size. :rolleyes:

My concen with regards to this link = zero.

If your God wants me to have dementia, I’ll have it and if your God doesn’t want me to have it, I won’t.

Yes?
 
eucharisteo said:
Does contraception make you feel like a machine rather than a real person with the ability to cooperate with God’s creation? How do you deal with this contradiction that I discovered on my own in my previous beliefs?
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Seeing we’ve ‘replenished’ the earth it may be really wise for a couple to use contraception.
 
anns82 said:
please don’t tell me you are referring to the overpopulation myth
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No. I don’t think there’s a need for more people for the sake of having more children either.

Jesus said that in the end of days, it’s not wise to be a women with a baby. As I look at the world, especially who much of the world’s attention is on Israel, I’m wondering if the end is around the corner.
 
Zatzat said:
Myth? What myth, it’s a fact. 20 years ago, the population was 4 billion. Now it’s 6.5 billion.

Myth??:confused:
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Your stats don’t mean there’s over population in the whole world. Sure several countries don’t need any more numbers but the world has more room.
 
Zatzat said:
The only study I could find used a sample size of 47 people.

I’ve psoted studies on this forum that involved 38 000 people and have been dismissed for not having a larger sample size. :rolleyes:

My concen with regards to this link = zero.

If your God wants me to have dementia, I’ll have it and if your God doesn’t want me to have it, I won’t.

Yes?
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No. That’s the Calvinist’s God.
 
Zatzat said:
Myth? What myth, it’s a fact. 20 years ago, the population was 4 billion. Now it’s 6.5 billion.

Myth??:confused:
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Yes, I saw that Captain Planet episode too. The theory began with Malthus and it still continues today despite the fact that his dire predictions did not come true. His flaw was that he based it all on math and did not take into consideration how human nature effects things.

The truth is, many of the world’s populations are not reproducing at the rate necessary to perpetuate human life. People tend to forget that while every child is a “new mouth to feed,” they also come with two hands and a brain which are great for creating things, solve problems that face humanity, and can even take care of you in you when you in your old age. Every child is not just another mouth to feed, but a new source of love. I think that is why God wanted us to be fruitful.

Population Research Institute Website
 
anns82 said:
People tend to forget that while every child is a “new mouth to feed,” they also come with two hands and a brain which are great for creating things, solve problems that face humanity, and can even take care of you in you when you in your old age. Every child is not just another mouth to feed, but a new source of love. I think that is why God wanted us to be fruitful.
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And don’t forget that children will help keep social security solvent.
 
Dokimas said:
Jesus said that in the end of days, it’s not wise to be a women with a baby. As I look at the world, especially who much of the world’s attention is on Israel, I’m wondering if the end is around the corner.
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I’m guessing you’re referring to Luke 23:28-31, in which case I would point out that Jesus is saying “for in deed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed,’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?”

I think it is important to note that it is the people who are saying “blessed are the barren” not God. God had told us not to consult with fortune tellers and those who try to predict the future because no one knows the day. Yes, life and society today seems very bad, but God does not want us to live as if the world is going to end. Live justly and correctly in case you die today, but do not stop loving (which is what every child is) simply because the physical world will not last forever.

Please let me know if you were thinking about a different quote.
 
Zatzat said:
Myth? What myth, it’s a fact. 20 years ago, the population was 4 billion. Now it’s 6.5 billion.

Myth??:confused:
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Many of these “so-called” studies are estimates and also rarely discuss the advances in medicine as well as the number of countries with longer life expectancies because of medicine. Much of the starvation in the world is because of struggle over political power and really silly environmental hysteria case such as the San Joaquin Valley where farms are shut down because our government decided to save a minnow rather than provide for millions.

Also, do the words, “be fruitful and multiply” ring a bell?
 
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