How did we get here?

[deepsouthpapist]

Has the whole world gone mad? We now live in a world where children are sexualized; (think Miley Cyrus with super creepy picture with dad and semi-nude photo); Men hit on their own daughters (recently dad Ryan hit on daughter Tatum O’Neil); 83 year men are canonized as cult heroes for public sleep overs with 18 year old twins; abortion is the law and encouraged under the guise of women’s healthcare and old people are going to be encouraged to “exit stage right” when they become ill through the new gov’t sponsored health care system. Moreover, homosexuality is now given the same value as traditional marriage. Excuse me but did I wake up in some distorted reality? The poles of right and wrong have been inverted. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Where will it all end? I don’t know…

But I can tell you where it all began…

Three words…
**
ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL!!!**

Worse yet, it was predicted before it began through the Pope’s encyclical. When we removed the responsibility that goes along with sex, we began down a very steep and slippery slope indeed.

It was predicted before any major denomination began condoning birth control that society in general would collapse under it’s own weight if artifical birth control became the norm.

And so here we are!! How do we back out of this mess?! Where do we go from here?!

 

[pierced77]

As the world grows dark, let us Shine!

 

[fulbert4605]

Ashley and Brad look near the same height. Upon closer examination, Ashley is found to be just a little taller than Brad.

Well, Josh and Ashley look near the same height, too. Looking closer it is found that Josh is slightly taller than Ashley.

Megan is near the same height as Josh, but i now can see Megan is the taller one, but only slightly.

Anthony’s stature is barely higher than Megan’s.

And i can’t even tell if Vanessa or Anthony are taller. Okay. . . it’s Vanessa; she’s the taller.

Boy, the kids in this class are all so similar in height! But who is that short one who just walked in front of Vanessa? That’s Brad.

It would not be proper to say Vanessa is just a little taller than Brad.

 

[deepsouthpapist]

Ashley and Brad look near the same height. Upon closer examination, Ashley is found to be just a little taller than Brad.

Well, Josh and Ashley look near the same height, too. Looking closer it is found that Josh is slightly taller than Ashley.

Megan is near the same height as Josh, but i now can see Megan is the taller one, but only slightly.

Anthony’s stature is barely higher than Megan’s.

And i can’t even tell if Vanessa or Anthony are taller. Okay. . . it’s Vanessa; she’s the taller.

Boy, the kids in this class are all so similar in height! But who is that short one who just walked in front of Vanessa? That’s Brad.

It would not be proper to say Vanessa is just a little taller than Brad.

???

 

[gardenswithkids]

Has the whole world gone mad? … Excuse me but did I wake up in some distorted reality? The poles of right and wrong have been inverted. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Where will it all end? I don’t know…

But I can tell you where it all began…

Three words…

ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL!!!

Worse yet, it was predicted before it began through the Pope’s encyclical. When we removed the responsibility that goes along with sex, we began down a very steep and slippery slope indeed.

It was predicted before any major denomination began condoning birth control that society in general would collapse under it’s own weight if artifical birth control became the norm.

And so here we are!! How do we back out of this mess?! Where do we go from here?!

I agree with you and Humanae Vitae that predicted the decline of the culture that would take place if acceptance and use of artificial birth control became widespread. But contraception didn’t come from out of nowhere; something lead up to the acceptance of artificial birth control. Some problem or problems already existed in any culture that would accept contraception. What was it? Obviously sin, but what sins or sins more specifically?

Prejudice against minorities, immigrants and the lower classes? (Think Margaret Sanger and her promotion of contracpetion for eugenics for Catholics and other “undesirables”.) Old fashioned Onanism? (contraception maybe just a more technological form of mutual masterbation and withdrawal.) Bad education that allowed misplaced good intentions to effect major change without the applying logic to examine where that change would lead? (Anglicans originally changes their stance on contraception based on difficult situations.) Selfishness and lust? All of the above and/or other?

While the current state of affairs is certainly troubling, we didn’t invent sin. And we didn’t evolve in a vacuume–we are the product of previous generations. The “good ole day” may have been better, but they may not have been as “good” as we think.

Now that we’re here, how do we get out of this mess? We must be strong and struggle against sin. Not just the sins we see in society but whatever personal sins tempt us in particular. I suggest you may enjoy reading a book called “How to Win the Culture War” by Peter Kreeft. Kreeft calls “saints” the secret weapon in the Culture War. If we want to help get society out of this mess, we must start with ourselves, stuggle against our own weaknesses, turn to God and allow Him to make us saints.

 

[jwashu]

Ashley and Brad look near the same height. Upon closer examination, Ashley is found to be just a little taller than Brad.

Well, Josh and Ashley look near the same height, too. Looking closer it is found that Josh is slightly taller than Ashley.

Megan is near the same height as Josh, but i now can see Megan is the taller one, but only slightly.

Anthony’s stature is barely higher than Megan’s.

And i can’t even tell if Vanessa or Anthony are taller. Okay. . . it’s Vanessa; she’s the taller.

Boy, the kids in this class are all so similar in height! But who is that short one who just walked in front of Vanessa? That’s Brad.

It would not be proper to say Vanessa is just a little taller than Brad.

LOL! I agree… OP you start with some logical statements but don’t explain how you got to ABC from your original pre-suppositions. Which at this point is all they are, you offer no facts, only observations and opinions on what is happening in our school systems.

 

[BuffaloNickels]

As the world grows dark, let us Shine!

True Dat!

The darker the sky is, the brighter the stars shine. If all BILLION Catholics lived their faith, imagine the light they would cast on a dark dark world?

 

[RDJ]

Has the whole world gone mad? We now live in a world where children are sexualized; (think Miley Cyrus with super creepy picture with dad and semi-nude photo); Men hit on their own daughters (recently dad Ryan hit on daughter Tatum O’Neil); 83 year men are canonized as cult heroes for public sleep overs with 18 year old twins; abortion is the law and encouraged under the guise of women’s healthcare and old people are going to be encouraged to “exit stage right” when they become ill through the new gov’t sponsored health care system. Moreover, homosexuality is now given the same value as traditional marriage. Excuse me but did I wake up in some distorted reality? The poles of right and wrong have been inverted. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Where will it all end? I don’t know…

But I can tell you where it all began…

Three words…
**
ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL!!!**

Worse yet, it was predicted before it began through the Pope’s encyclical. When we removed the responsibility that goes along with sex, we began down a very steep and slippery slope indeed.

It was predicted before any major denomination began condoning birth control that society in general would collapse under it’s own weight if artifical birth control became the norm.

And so here we are!! How do we back out of this mess?! Where do we go from here?!

What’s wrong with artificial birth control? Would you rather see even more teenage mothers than there are now than birth control being available? It’s just part of human nature to want to have sex. People have been doing it ever since Adam and Eve.
As for homosexuality, I just can’t believe that some states actually allow gay marriages. I believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. Fortunately, Obama is not for gay marriage. I guess that doesn’t matter though since each state can make their own decisions regarding gay marriage.
Your comment on the health care… Obama most certainly would not tell people just to die because they are ill.

 

[Rascalking]

I concur that this world is oversexed, and much of it is disturbing.

There are many reasons as to why, ABC being perhaps one of them. It clearly is not the only reason. I think many things that are done today were hidden in the past, pre 1960’s world. For example-it used to be that you would have to seek out porn…not, it finds you. You had to go to the red light district and admit shame and scorn from families if you were caught. Now, you can download/order/text do whatever you want. It’s a dangerous world.

Our goal, as Christians, is to never, ever forget that there is so much beauty in the world-literature, friendship, music, sports…if we become bitter, caustic, or obsessed with being negative, we’ll lose friends, and more importantly-it’ll be impossible to convice people that we’re right.

 

[gardenswithkids]

What’s wrong with artificial birth control? Would you rather see even more teenage mothers than there are now than birth control being available? It’s just part of human nature to want to have sex. People have been doing it ever since Adam and Eve…

Hi RDJ, I see you are United Methodist. Welcome to Catholic Answers. The question of “what’s wrong with artificial birth control” (ABC) is frequently discusses on these forums. We can answer your question on either theological or practical grounds. Since you brought up teenage pregnancy, I’ll address that a little in this post, and I’ll ask you a few questions first.

Have you ever seen the out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates before the widespread use and acceptance of contraception? Did you realize that contraception was even against the law of the United States in the past? (See the court case Griswold v. Connecticut, which was later sited in Roe v. Wade .) Have you ever seen the numbers of people who report they were virgins on their wedding night in the past compared to the present?

Contraception reduces the possibility of pregnancy, but it does not eliminate it. The majority of girls and women who have abortions report they used contraception. Every method of artificial birth control has a “failure rate.” A method that is 95% effective still leaves 5 pregnancies for every 100 sexually active female users per year.

It may seem counter-intuitive to you, but before the widespread acceptance and use of contraception, there were fewer out of wedlock pregnancy, fewer out of wedlock births and fewer abortion. Teenagers still faced the temptation to have sex, but fewer did. Since fewer were “doing it”, fewer got pregnant.

You brought up Adam and Eve. That Genesis reference touches on the theological problems of artificial birth control, but I’ll leave that part of the discussion for another post.

 

[Rico_S]

Have you ever seen the out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates before the widespread use and acceptance of contraception? (See the court case Griswold v. Connecticut, which was later sited in Roe v. Wade .) Have you ever seen the numbers of people who report they were virgins on their wedding night in the past compared to the present?

There is no doubt that contraception is one part of the massive change in how we view sexuality in our culture over the last 1/2 century; but as has been pointed out in many other threads, correlation does not mean causation.

 

[Ailina]

Has the whole world gone mad? We now live in a world where children are sexualized; (think Miley Cyrus with super creepy picture with dad and semi-nude photo); Men hit on their own daughters (recently dad Ryan hit on daughter Tatum O’Neil); 83 year men are canonized as cult heroes for public sleep overs with 18 year old twins; abortion is the law and encouraged under the guise of women’s healthcare and old people are going to be encouraged to “exit stage right” when they become ill through the new gov’t sponsored health care system. Moreover, homosexuality is now given the same value as traditional marriage. Excuse me but did I wake up in some distorted reality? The poles of right and wrong have been inverted. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Where will it all end? I don’t know…

But I can tell you where it all began…

Three words…
**
ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL!!!**

Worse yet, it was predicted before it began through the Pope’s encyclical. When we removed the responsibility that goes along with sex, we began down a very steep and slippery slope indeed.

It was predicted before any major denomination began condoning birth control that society in general would collapse under it’s own weight if artifical birth control became the norm.

And so here we are!! How do we back out of this mess?! Where do we go from here?!

Well…I think some of those things were happening already. People just didn’t talk about it much, but looked the other way. But I agree that a lot of people have lost their moral compass in today’s world of relativism. Cultural relativism is part of the curriculum at most colleges and universities.

 

[Norseman82]

Has the whole world gone mad? We now live in a world where children are sexualized; (think Miley Cyrus with super creepy picture with dad and semi-nude photo); Men hit on their own daughters (recently dad Ryan hit on daughter Tatum O’Neil); 83 year men are canonized as cult heroes for public sleep overs with 18 year old twins; abortion is the law and encouraged under the guise of women’s healthcare and old people are going to be encouraged to “exit stage right” when they become ill through the new gov’t sponsored health care system. Moreover, homosexuality is now given the same value as traditional marriage. Excuse me but did I wake up in some distorted reality? The poles of right and wrong have been inverted. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Where will it all end? I don’t know…

But I can tell you where it all began…

Three words…
**
ARTIFICIAL BIRTH CONTROL!!!**

Worse yet, it was predicted before it began through the Pope’s encyclical. When we removed the responsibility that goes along with sex, we began down a very steep and slippery slope indeed.

It was predicted before any major denomination began condoning birth control that society in general would collapse under it’s own weight if artifical birth control became the norm.

And so here we are!! How do we back out of this mess?! Where do we go from here?!

Well, although ABC certainly plays a big part, one cannot ignore the fact that we as a society no longer place stigmas on promiscuous behavior.

 

[RDJ]

Hi RDJ, I see you are United Methodist. Welcome to Catholic Answers. The question of “what’s wrong with artificial birth control” (ABC) is frequently discusses on these forums. We can answer your question on either theological or practical grounds. Since you brought up teenage pregnancy, I’ll address that a little in this post, and I’ll ask you a few questions first.

Have you ever seen the out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates before the widespread use and acceptance of contraception? Did you realize that contraception was even against the law of the United States in the past? (See the court case Griswold v. Connecticut, which was later sited in Roe v. Wade .) Have you ever seen the numbers of people who report they were virgins on their wedding night in the past compared to the present?

Contraception reduces the possibility of pregnancy, but it does not eliminate it. The majority of girls and women who have abortions report they used contraception. Every method of artificial birth control has a “failure rate.” A method that is 95% effective still leaves 5 pregnancies for every 100 sexually active female users per year.

It may seem counter-intuitive to you, but before the widespread acceptance and use of contraception, there were fewer out of wedlock pregnancy, fewer out of wedlock births and fewer abortion. Teenagers still faced the temptation to have sex, but fewer did. Since fewer were “doing it”, fewer got pregnant.

You brought up Adam and Eve. That Genesis reference touches on the theological problems of artificial birth control, but I’ll leave that part of the discussion for another post.

To answer your questions, no, yes, and no.

 

[JimG]

It’s true that the short but important encyclical Humanae Vitae, published by Pope Paul VI in July 1968, correctly predicted the consequences of widespread acceptance of artificial birth control. His predictions have been proven accurate.

Widespread dissent from the encyclical resulted in most Catholics disregarding this teaching. The disastrous consequences that have befallen us are the result. In fact, the actuality of those consequences has proven to be even worse than predicted.

(It might also be noted that all of Christianity–including every Protestant denomination–had the same teaching on contraception as the Catholic Church, up until 1930, when the Anglican Lambeth Conference broke ranks, allowing contraception for “serious reasons.” I doubt that they anticipated the wholesale availability of condoms to minors.)

 

[AveMaria517]

I love any post that mentions Humanae Vitae! Before reading that, I never understood the Catholic church’s stand on artificial contraceptives. I had fallen for the misconception that the Catholic church is demeaning women and trying to take away their right to equal sexuality and family planning. After reading Humanae Vitae I got a much better understanding of what the church actually feels about artificial birth control and the problems they see with it. Ironically, the church is trying to protect women and Christian families by standing against artificial birth control and yet get so much discrimination and stigmatization against them because of it.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I think it was your God who allowed/permitted evil for "a greater good’.
So, buckle up. It’s been many years of it, and still it is not the right time that no one will know but the Father, to end it all.