Contraception vs Abortion

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Dan_Grelinger said:
What is the evidence that non-abortion murder is less grave than abortion? The church seems to treat abortion as the ‘graver’ of the two actions.
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The way it was explained by one, priest, IIRC, was that the sinfulness of abortion was not part of the consciousness of society, including members of the Church, and so to highlight the fact that it was gravely sinful, they gave it the automatic excommunication penalty (we say “automatic” but actually there are a few conditions like age for example IIRC). This is not so with non-abortion murder and so there wasn’t that need.

But I have not seen, first-hand, an official explanation.

The gravest sin IIRC according to Thomas Aquinas is hatred of God.
 
To Dan Grelinger,

Your last post was excellent, I hope everyboby in the world reads it and takes it to heart. God bless you.
 
Hi everyone,

Firstly, 3 points to review on what Pope JPII said in Gospel of Life:
  1. that BOTH are evil and are fruits of the same tree
  2. that there is a DIFFERENCE in the moral gravity.
  3. BUT he does not say which is the greater of the two evils.
So, I think this falls into the speculative theology area that is also not official/dogmatic teaching as to which is the worse evil. And like a holy priest said in today’s Sunday Mass sermon, we shouldn’t focus too much on questions that we can’t answer anyways in this life (like will Pope Francis be the last pope, or when will be the end of the world, or is Princess Diana’s soul in Heaven or Hell, etc., but rather we should focus on the essential question: what must I do to be saved?" Granted, while I don’t believe knowing the answer to which is worse will be on the “entrance exam” to the Heavenly Kingdom nevertheless it may be somewhat helpful to speculate and contemplate this question if it brings one closer to the Heart of God and one’s growth in holiness.

Secondly, I think this is a bit if an apples vs oranges discussion in one sense that has been overlooked and would, if I’m correct, mean the answer is more of a “both/and” kind of an answer. Here’s what I mean by that…

It seems to my tiny theological mind that the evil of abortion is worse for the PERSON(S) who commit this sinful act whereas the evil of contraception is worse for the WOULD-BE SOUL(S) who MIGHT have not come into existence as a result.

Let’s make this a more concrete example and apply names. Let’s say the married couple are named George and Elizabeth and the child is Teresa…

A) If George and Elizabeth intentionally kill Teresa via abortion they would deprive Teresa of the normal temporal life on earth and gravely sin In doing so. Fast forward 1 billion “years” from now and in eternity you would find George, Elizabeth, and Teresa in eternity, hopefully each with God in the kingdom of Heaven.

Vs

B) If George and Elizabeth intentionally render the marital embrace sterile which would have otherwise been fertile they would deprive Teresa of both the temporal life on earth and eternal life and gravely sin in doing so. Fast forward 1 billion years from now and you see George and Elizabeth somewhere in Eternity, but, very sadly, no Teresa.

(And to let the profundity sink in, imagine YOU in Heaven 1 billion years from now enjoying yourself; now, imagine Yourself NOT in Heaven for all eternity. Profound silence! No words can express this.)

So I say all this just to remind us all that The End (which is truly just the Beginning) is the most important thing to keep in mind (ie, Eternity) and also that the answer to this question depends on if you’re talking about the couple or the child.

Also a distinction must be made between an evil act and the consequence of an evil act.

In conclusion, I think it MIGHT go like this:
  1. For the couple, the greater evil would be abortion
  2. For the child, the greater evil would be contraception
And who better to ask than a child, so I asked our pre-teen sons “Is it better to exist or to never have existed?” and they answered it quite well I thought saying:

“It’s better to exist cuz then you got a chance to go to Heaven!”

Beautiful! From the lips of a child!

So in the end it depends on who you’re asking and if you’re looking at this from a temporal or an eternal perspective. Alas, the most important person to ask this question to is God. Instead of asking which would hurt God the most let us flip this coin over and ask which would make God happier? What would give God the greatest glory? The answer we all know is what He told us all through that very first couple and parents to us all. “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Thanks for a great question! We will all absolutely know the answer one day very soon. Let us pray we are each ready when that day comes. Meanwhile let us love one another as Christ loves us. Please say a prayer for me! And if you really love God, please say two for me! 🙂

A big hug and kiss of peace to you all in Christ! Hope to see you on the other side!

From the least of your brethren,
John
 
WordisLove said:
Innocent Question: I am a new Catholic, since artificial contraception is a mortal sin as is abortion, how is abortion a graver sin? Are there levels of grave sin or simply greater obstacles to something being considered grave due to the knowledge of wrongdoing on the sinner (ie. contraception may not be a grave sin in a certain event due to the sinner not being culpable at the time, whereas the abortion is clear cut right vs. wrong) Sorry for the confusing logic here, do you understand what I am attempting to state here?
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Contraception is designed to prevent pregnancy, which goes against God’s plan for the purpose of intercourse during marriage, being open to life. Abortion is the killing of a human being in the womb.

“Thus, in 1995 Pope John Paul II declared that the Church’s teaching on abortion “is unchanged and unchangeable. Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors . . . I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by the Church’s tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium. No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the Church” (Evangelium Vitae 62).”

“The Church also has affirmed that the illicitness of contraception is an infallible doctrine: “The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity, it is contrary to the good of the transmission of life (the procreative.aspect of matrimony), and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive.aspect of matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in the transmission of human life” (Vademecum for Confessors 2:4, Feb. 12, 1997).”

Peace,
Ed
 
Cardinal Patrick Hayes in a Christmas pastoral letter sent to his people in New York to be read from the pulpit on Sunday December 18, 1921:

“Heinous is the sin committed against the creative act of God, Who through the marriage contract invites man and woman to co-operate with Him in the propagation of the human family. To take life after its inception is a horrible crime; but to prevent human life the Creator is about to bring into being is satanic. In the first instance, the body is killed, while the soul lives on: in the latter, not only a body but an immortal soul is denied existence in time and in eternity. It has been reserved to our day to see advocated the legalizing of such a diabolical thing.”
 
Mystic Aviator, this is why our society is called to so much suffering because there has been a forgetting and separation of God’s intention for humanity and a forgetting that every child conceived is not “unplanned” as some would say, but “Planned” as a blessing from all eternity. The enemy has planted his seed of confusion and pride.
 
I don’t understand the constant debates on which mortal sins are graver than others and why.
What difference does it make? If you die in a state of mortal sin you go to Hell no matter how grave or less grave the mortal sin is on your soul.
 
This thread is over 6 and a half years old. It will be locked very shortly.
 
Lapey said:
This thread is over 6 and a half years old. It will be locked very shortly.
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The resurrection of the dead is Catholic doctrine. But the resurrection of threads is not looked upon favorably. 😃
 
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