Contraception...Why is it considered sinful?

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I’d like to see the studies that tested a single, monolithic “NFP” against the vast body of contraceptives without controlling for what method is used. I also don’t see how that’s relevant, either, considering the morality isn’t based on the result of the action.
 
God does not make mistakes. All the things we plan or not, when we accept His will, become blessings. I think in the end, that is the true concept between NFP. It is good and responsible to unselfishly plan the children one can care for, but ultimately, God knows what is good for us and what we can handle. Those stories of people with 10 kids normally have difficult periods but I think those that abandon themselves to the wil of God, look back and count their blessings.
 
Every child from a large family or small family has experienced downsides. I’m from a large family, but my father talked to me a lot when I was a teenager. My mother’s way was to do things for me–she sewed many garments for me even when I was young–and she also listened to all my troubles when I came home from school.

You may have to reconsider the idea of individual attention. If you went home right now and wanted to talk with your parents, I’m sure they’d make time for you. Also, your siblings are probably more integral to your happiness than you think.

My advice for you is to meditate on the question, would you like to marry a man who is in tune with your cycles and willing to improve with you in self-control and discipline through NFP, or would you like to marry a man who barely understands your reproductive system and expects you to pop a pill or damage your healthy Fallopian tubes (or wants to damage his own reproductive system) so he can have the sex life he wants?

I think your basic question is should you wait for a Catholic man or settle for an ordinary guy.
 
Honestly I think I would prefer something like NFP because I’d never want to put hormones in my body.

I am in a relationship and think he would have no problem abstaining and he is in the medical profession and knows a lot about the body and I know would encourage tracking cycles and all that. He however has told me he would not trust NFP due to the failure rates and would want some form of contraception to avoid having ten kids like my parents accidentally did. He is more open than other guys I known and is willing to have even 5 kids. But knowing a personal example of my parents who had more kids than they intended because NFP did not work on more than one occasion is only Makin it clearer to me and him that it does not work and we would want less kids regardless of whether we marry each other
 
The one real difficulty with NFP, is that it requires a lot of self-control. That is literally the only downside to the method. And due in part to human nature (which has never changed), and due in part to a different way we think since the introduction of the pill (entitlement to consequence-free sex anytime I want), sexual self-control is really difficult. But sometimes the more difficult road is the most rewarding. We have found this to be true, of NFP and many other things related to faith.

Other criticisms of NFP are inaccurate because they are criticizing not modern true NFP methods, but instead speaking of the too simplistic method of counting days. Modern NFP methods do count days but it also looks at other more conclusive signs.
 
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Jen95 said:
I think that the OP has one valid point – I believe that there is disagreement about whether Catholics are “allowed” to follow NFP any time / whenever, or whether it is only allowed for very serious considerations (not to be used routinely).

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Taylor Marshall – 11 Aug 14

NFP and Serious Reasons…What are these reasons? - Taylor Marshall​

Do you need a reason to morally practice NFP or Naturally Family Planning? …
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I don’t know how I missed this thread. Anyone who reads CAF frequently, knows of my steadfast opposition to contraception, and that I question whether even NFP can always be used licitly and morally regardless of a couple’s reasons (such as when a couple has no financial problems and no other reason to avoid pregnancy aside from “just not wanting a child”), in that the teachings of Pius XI, Pius XII, and Paul VI seem to have disallowed this. I have been shouted down quite a bit, but I am only going to “shut up” about it when the mortician massages my fingers into place and fastens the little doohickey in my mouth that closes my jaw until the parousia.

As I have said elsewhere on CAF, I am right on the cusp of sending a formal letter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (what they used to call the “Holy Office”). When I do this, I will scan the letter (my name and address redacted) and share it here. My inquiry will be along the lines of
  • Is it possible to contract a valid sacramental marriage if either or both partners has a positive and permanent intention to avoid bearing children for the entire duration of the marriage, without any excusing cause aside from just not wanting to have children?
  • It is morally licit for a couple to agree, by mutual consent, to practice natural, non-contraceptive methods of family planning, avoiding marital relations during what is foreseen as the fertile period, at various times during the marriage, when they have no grave or serious reason to seek to avoid pregnancy?
I do know that the Vatican has replied to specific requests for information when the faithful have asked, for instance, about the liciety of attending SSPX Masses, or the phenomenon of visible particles of the Host sloughing off into the hands of communicants, so I am hoping I will receive a similar courtesy of a reply.

Questions such as these are one reason we have a magisterium in the first place — to settle disputed matters within the universal Church.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
no grave or serious reason to seek to avoid pregnancy?
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Would it not be more proper to ask what qualifies as a “grave reason”? I’ve seen things from “dead if pregnant” to “not economically feasible” for reasons justifying NFP. It’s a really subjective and nebulous term, don’t you agree?
 
Lara said:
My advice for you is to meditate on the question, would you like to marry a man who is in tune with your cycles and willing to improve with you in self-control and discipline through NFP, or would you like to marry a man who barely understands your reproductive system and expects you to pop a pill or damage your healthy Fallopian tubes (or wants to damage his own reproductive system) so he can have the sex life he wants?
Click to expand...
I think this is short-sighted. It doesn’t have to be one or the other (of the two scenarios you describe).

Loving couples use contraception. Yes, it goes against church teaching. But it doesn’t mean the spouses are objectifying each other or don’t love each other dearly.
 
I don’t think anyone denies that love is present in a marriage that uses contraception. However, it is clear that they have a different interpretation of the nature of marriage and their intentions towards sex, seeing as they preclude the possibility of children, tend towards the objectification of their partners.
 
Do you have references to scientific studies?
Everything I have read indicates that natural methods are very reliable.
 
The objectification may not be necessarily manifest in the relationship, but is inherent in the philosophy behind contraception. To thwart the procreative aspect of marriage is to raise sexual and relational pleasure above all else. Being unified with one’s spouse isn’t bad, but when divorced with the procreative it reduces the participants to objects to that end.
 
The thing is people always have reasons not to want a ton of kids. No one just doesn’t want a kid. And why would I want someone who won’t be a good parent to have kids? What if they end up resenting their kids and causing more harm to their kids because they had them?
 
rosejmj said:
What if they end up resenting their kids and causing more harm to their kids because they had them?
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It is impossible to do more harm to a person as compared to them never existing. That doesn’t make sense. In a way you’re saying that if a child suffers from their parent, it would be better for them to not exist, which I find absolutely reprehensible.
 
“No honey, I don’t want you, I want the model that isn’t fertile tonight.”

They’re not saying it directly, but they are saying it.
 
I am saying a person should not have kids if they aren’t going to be good parents and aren’t ready to embrace Parenthood
 
Someone who isn’t ready to embrace parenthood, shouldn’t be getting married then. Surely you can agree to that?
 
If it’s better to just make more people exist and the worst thing you can do is not let a person exist better start right when you become fertile. Think of all the kids I could have made! And now they don’t exist! I could have started at 13 when God made me fertile. All those lives gone, unlived, not even there
 
Marriage isn’t all about Parenthood. It’s also about companionship and sharing your life with another
 
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