Explaining evils of contraception

[Caldera]

The objective of my first post in this thread was to set up my reasons to show why contraception in some form may be appropriate inside of marriage. I just cut the post off before saying that outright.

I don’t want to give the wrong impression…I’m not gung ho about it either way, and am still up in the air because i feel there are legitimate arguments both for and against. What i was hoping to do is present a good argument for contraception to see if you could convince me to change my mind with a better argument against.

I pulled an all-nighter on these boards saturday night and had to get off the computer before i could finish the discussion.

After reading through these posts today, i can understand a little better the argument against contraception, but at the same time, i think Alan makes some excellent points in his posts and i tend to agree with many things he said.

So again, it’s a topic that is still up in the air for me, and i’m going to back off with my own argument for now, but i did manage to dig up some quotes from some Church Fathers.

Clement of Alexandria. Paedagogos 2. 10: (before 202. AD) “Marriage in itself merits esteem and the highest approval, for the Lord wished men to 'be fruitful and multiply. ’ He did not tell them, however, to act like libertines, nor did He intend them to surrender themselves to pleasure as though born only to indulge in sexual relations… . . Why, even unreasoning beasts know enough not to mate at certain times. To indulge in intercourse without intending children is to outrage nature, whom we should take as our instructor.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Catecheses 4. 25 (probably 350 AD): “Let those also be of good cheer who are married and use their marriage properly; who enter marriage lawfully, and not out of wantonness and unbounded license; who recognize periods of continence so that they may give themselves to prayer [alludes to 1 Cor 7. 5]… who have embarked upon the matrimonial
estate for the procreation of children and not for the sake of indulgence.”

The second edition, revised 1993 version of The Orthodox Church reveals even further alarming departure from Orthodox and previously universal ChristianTradition (page 296; emphasis added): Concerning contraceptives and other forms of birth control, differing opinions exist within the Orthodox Church. In the past birth control was in general strongly condemned, but today a less strict view is coming to prevail, not only
in the west but in traditional Orthodox countries. Many Orthodox theologians and spiritual fathers consider that the responsible use of contraception within marriage is not in itself sinful. In their view, the question of how many children a couple should have, and at what intervals, is best decided by the partners themselves, according to the guidance of their own consciences.

 

[gardenswithkids]

I think Alan raised a good point earlier about the overzealous marketing of NFP. For quite some time I have thought about posting a thread about people who “push” NFP on Catholics who may be otherwise open to large families. He inspired me to start that thread on the Culture of Life Board:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=700526#post700526

Caldera, I liked reading your last post. With all the outside pressures to use contraception it is important that we understand why the Church teaches what it does against artificial birth control. Discussion and resouces here at Catholic Answers Forums can help us to do that. I used contraception for years and it took a lot of grace to stop. I now realize the greatest evil about contraception when I look at the children that I concieved since we stopped using it. These children are gifts from God, and I was a fool for wanting to refuse such beautiful gifts.

 

[TNT]

Contraception is to sex what Bulimia is to eating:
What is Bulimia?

Bulimia, also called bulimia nervosa, is a psychological eating disorder. Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge-eating(sex) followed by inappropriate…purging …methods of weight control include vomiting (contras) fasting (NFP), enemas(after sex pill),…

For the most part it is a burden on the woman for the pleasure of the man.
It also guarantees the rise of the pagan (non-contra) and infidel (muslim) population relative to Christian. Thus the consequences longterm are built in.

 

[LittleDeb]

I appreciated your responses AlanfromWitchita. Please note when speaking of recreational sex I did use the wording “entirely recreational sex.” “Some” is great, “entirely” is the contraceptive mentality. I also said NFP can become contraception when the “only” periods of abstinence are during fertility.

My entire point is that NFP encourages the abstinence (continence) recommended in Scripture. Random abstinence does not give the blessings of prayer but periodic abstinence does. And no it does not need to be monthly. There are many couples who give up sex for Lent.

I would agree that it could look like we used NFP to increase our chances of conceiving. We didn’t. We let God be in charge. There were times I was fertile and it still wasn’t the right time for us. I’m not sure how that can be interpreted in another way. God blessed us for submitting to his will.

For some of the other concerns raised I agree wholeheartedly! NFP frequently gets pushed as a contraception. Large families are a blessing. All NFP does is prevent baby factories. When my fertility returned early at 7 months post-partum we KNEW we were not supposed to conceive again. It was not difficult at all to abstain during that time.

My wording is “charting and prayer help us to understand God’s will in our lives.” When I said, “I want a baby now!” God said wait.

There is an article that was referenced to me called, “That Celibate Bachelor Was Right!” It is right here on Catholic Answers. I would provide the link but this computer won’t let me. I love the part about her feeling like a “drive-thru.”

 

[yallguys]

AlanFromWichita:

That’s a bit different way to look at it than I’ve heard before.

Paul is exactly relating the sexual act to lust abatement. How can you possibly read it any other way? If Church teachings came only out of this, then in fact the only reason for anyone to get married is for exactly that purpose.

Nothing in St. Paul’s writing suggests “going after it as often as possible,” and I don’t even see that as a fair characature of my own sorry state when I was away at college. For an unmarried dog like I was, yes, going after it as often as possible was an unfortunate goal, but I have never heard Paul’s writings used to promote that – not even by the worst of us. Paul specifically allowed “time off” as it were for prayerful activities.

St. Paul’s writings may not be the complete teaching, but nor should it be disregarded. How can you read them and not conclude that lust abatement is absolutely a part of marriage, and if having sexual intercourse doesn’t work for that purpose, then why did Paul say that it should be (or if your prefer, is allowable to be) used for that purpose?

Yes.

Paul was no dummy when he wrote about it, either.

The definition of “often” is of course subjective, but having long period of abstaining does make it more difficult to handle working all day with women in various styles of dress and coming home. We once had to abstain for nearly a year because of medical reasons, and I don’t apologize to admit that other temptations became more difficult to put out of my mind. That is natural part of one’s biology, and to deny it is to deny accepting oneself as we are made by God.

Alan

I think I may have caused confusion by writing about too many different arguments in one post. I don’t post often so forgive the poor writing in the last post and this one. I wasn’t at all saying that St. Paul wasn’t saying that marriage helps you out of lust. I was saying it was a shame to think that is ALL marriage is, and perhaps a greater shame to think you can justify using contraception just to have more sex.

What about the quality of the sex? Don’t you think there is something wrong with having sex like an animal when we were made in the image of God? We are capable of much more through His grace than just scratching the itch every time we feel the urge. What about the good of your spouse? Sex isn’t just letting the lid off of a boiling pot of lust, it is designed by God to one create children, and two to be a union between couples. Sex mirrors Christ relationship with His holy Church!

If someone is the kind of person who ONLY has sex because they can’t control themselves I think their is a much greater risk they are being sinful rather than virtuous. Even if they never even look or think about another person of the opposite sex besides their spouse. How did they get by before they got married I wonder? I am not married. Here in Europe the women might as well be completely naked as it would be less of a temptation the way they dress, so there must be some way to avoid lust besides having sex.

Don’t forget that Christ calls all people to be chaste, either in celibacy or even to be chaste in their marriages. I am not contradicting St. Paul, all I’m saying is that it is never OK to use your spouse for your selfish pleasure while closing your marriage off to children. It’s never Ok to contracept. As correct as St. Paul was in that particular verse that wasn’t the sole reason, not even the main reason God designed marriage, EVEN if it can be included as a benefit of marriage, and St. Paul was refering to just that.

Otherwise I might as well say the only reason for having sex is to have children and that one should never ever have sex unless they are 100 percent trying to have children based on 1 Tim 5:14 “The Apostle himself is therefore a witness that marriage is for the sake of generation” But that would be silly unless of course St. Paul has just contradicted himself. Hmm, perhaps the Church is wrong.

And the Church teaches that couples should have as many children as they possibly can for the good of their souls. Having Children is good for your holiness, as well as a main reason for getting married. I.E. you shouldn’t be trading in two kids for a better house, a TV, and a boat etc… Those aren’t serious reasons to not have children. Some other poster recommended Why Humane Vitae was Right, a reader by Janet Smith. It is long and dense sometimes but well worth the read. God bless.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

TNT:

For the most part it is a burden on the woman for the pleasure of the man.
It also guarantees the rise of the pagan (non-contra) and infidel (muslim) population relative to Christian. Thus the consequences longterm are built in.

If you’re talking about contraception then I wish we wouldn’t get into this inequity issue about how it hurts the woman for the pleasure of the man.

To some degree, this applies to all extramarital sex when pregnancy is not desired, contraception or not. Pleasure of the man, the woman has to deal with consequences because the man can and often will be out the door if pregnancy happens.

OTOH, in my darker (behaviorally) years in college, I’m quite sure that not all the girls were playing the victim w.r.t. contraception, Catholic or not.

One of the reasons I find this line of reasoning annoying is that if girls are out there “serving” the men at their own expense as if they’re martyrs or something, then that means they must be liars and fakes. Maybe they are really just being submissive victims (and I know some actually are) but these kind of women are phony, play on the egos of men, and are not to be trusted even beyond the implications of having extramarital or premarital sex. I’ve read somewhere that some women actually enjoy the act, and aren’t faking it for the benefit of their partner!

Alan

 

[gsaccone]

Hello Caldera, I hope this helps.

All truth springs from God, and so the truth is to be found there. God is a Trinity of Persons all sharing one divine nature. For brevity sake I will not elaborate on that at the moment but if you would like I very good description of that concept which I lifted from Frank Sheed. Anyway, God the Father is infinite and exists outside of time all in one act of being. In that one act of being God the Father’s “knowledge of himself” can be thought of as the “thought of Himself” which is infinite and complete, so complete it is the Second Person of the Trinity, but possessing the same singular divine nature. What can you call a thought? When it is expressed it is word, the “thought (or knowledge)” therefore of God is the Word of God; Jesus Christ. Now in this same instant act of being outside of time God the Father and God the Son (the Word) give completely of themselves to each other – complete self giving love. This love is so complete, so giving and so infinite in it’s completeness it is another person, in fact it is the Holy Spirit. God’s love is in essence creative and God is love, His love gives rise to life and the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are in an eternal state of mutual self giving love – God is a family of Persons, that’s why we have family covenants throughout Scripture. We are created in God’s image are we not? What happens when couples come together to give self-giving love to each other? Well, nine months later you might have to give that love a name! That is just one way we are made in God’s image and model God’s own interior life and participate in His creative act. When we use contraception we are specifically saying to God, “I want the love part, but I’m not open to the creative part.” We are specifically putting up a barrier to God’s will. In so doing we are choosing our self-will over the will of God, which of course is a sin and separates us from God. Natural Family Planning is different. In NPF we are not putting up a barrier to God’s will for each time the couple does come together in self-giving love they are open to God creating life in them if He so chooses. They may abstain during fertile times for fasting from sex is approved by Paul. So to summarize one is putting up a specific barrier to God’s will while the other is saying “God I’m not sure if now is the right time for children but we respect your divine will and providence and if you wish for us to become pregnant are open to it if you desire it for us.”

By the way, this also explains why homosexual acts and gay marriage are immoral and contrary to God’s Divine nature.

 

[gsaccone]

test

 

[amarischuk]

gsaccone:

Now in this same instant act of being outside of time God the Father and God the Son (the Word) give completely of themselves to each other – complete self giving love. This love is so complete, so giving and so infinite in it’s completeness it is another person, in fact it is the Holy Spirit.

**1. Since there is a quarrel between the Romans and Greeks about the procession of the Holy Spirit, which greatly impede unity really for no other reason than that we do not wish to understand one another - we ask that we should not be compelled to any other creed but that we should remain with that which was handed down to us in the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel, and in the writings of the holy Greek Doctors, that is, that the Holy Spirit proceeds, not from two sources and not by a double procession, but from one origin, from the Father through the Son. **

fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1595brest.html

Theology of the body is an amazing bit of allegorical sophistry. If I were to read the same allegorical sense into Genesis I would be branded a heretic.

Adam

 

[novenarosary]

Catholic2003:

If the wife has a medical condition that makes it unsafe for her to become pregnant, it is licit for the couple to use NFP to avoid pregnancy altogether.

I hadn’t practiced birth control with contraception, but a few months ago I had no choice. After a molar pregancy and huge cysts on both of my ovaries, the doctors gave me 2 months to take hormones and shrink them down, or have a hysterectomy. I can’t tell you the physical pain I was in, too. After taking birth control for 2 months, my cysts went away, and I don’t have the constant cramping that I had put up with for years, even before my bad pregnancy.

I have 2 children that I have to be able to care for. If I got pregnant again, the doctors told me it could have serious ramifications on my life. Finally, I feel good again, and I’m on birth control for the rest of my life, or at least until menopause. To me a greater sin is to not be able to take care of your family because you have allowed yourself to become disabled. I don’t believe in birth control just to stop you from getting pregnant, but if it’s for a real medical condition, there just is no other choice.

Dianna