Is ABC a mortal sin?

[Khalid]

No wonder Anglican priests are leaving the Anglican Church in droves and are being welcomed home into the Catholic Church.

Let’s be fair here - you have to add the Continuing Anglican church, at least in North America. (Although the Continuing Anglicans allow birth control, I believe; the split was over other matters Anglicans view as more grave, such as the current moral standards of Episcopalianism.) And those in the opposite direction are welcomed by Spong and his Disciples into the Episcopal Intentional Ecumenical Ecclesial Community.

 

[Newbie2]

I personally have no issue with the fact that the Catholic Church has changed some doctrines, such as the salvation issue mentioned above, obligatory fasting and confession (which got shaved down to being necessary only once a year), the declaration that nuns only needed to wear modest clothes and not habits, the mass in the vernacular, the acceptability of slavery and the sin of ursury, etc. I just wish it would admit it. There is no shame in changing doctrine as our understanding of God’s will continues to deepen.

Tell me one teaching that has changed.

I’ve listed several above. You’re either deliberately ignoring them or are using a sort of mental gymnastics to support some kind of belief that going from accepting slavery of non-Christians to condemning all slavery is really the same consistent thing. Or that condemning charging interest is the same thing as later saying hey, if banks do it it’s cool.

Question restated: Tell us about one doctrinal (not a discipline change) change that has occured in the Roman Catholic Church…and I mean a reversal of doctrine rather than a development of doctrine. The RCC position of slavery is an example of a doctrine that has been developed over time and over various cultures.

I think Nabooru is confused about the difference in “doctrine” and “discipline”. Doctrine does not change i.e. Jesus is the son of God. Discipline matters could be changed i.e. married clergy.

 

[Newsy]

I’ve listed several above. You’re either deliberately ignoring them or are using a sort of mental gymnastics to support some kind of belief that going from accepting slavery of non-Christians to condemning all slavery is really the same consistent thing. Or that condemning charging interest is the same thing as later saying hey, if banks do it it’s cool.

Personally I feel at this point the only thing stopping the RCC from admitting ABC is the embarrassment it will suffer if it does. They would have poured millions of dollars and much more hours of effort to smear birth control and its proponents. If it were to permit the use of birth control later, it would be admitting that perhaps earlier it had been mistaken. In the past, this would be quietly ignored - bringing up a previous position would result in a stare and a response of “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we’ve always taught this”, but now the issue has been so thoroughly publicized as to make it impossible to allow ABC without a little admission of error.

I don’t hate the Catholic Church. Not at all. I would so be a member, in an instant, but for this insistence on this issue which I feel is misplaced. I cannot in my conscience, after the obligatory reflection, say that ABC is wrong. I simply cannot convince myself of that, though I have tried. And, even if I were to admit it were a sin, I couldn’t see it as any other than a venial one. There are far worse sins to commit.

So… Why did God strike down Onan? You have conveniently ignored my post, in favor of a rant that should be the topic of another thread. You claim that there is no Biblical grounds for the Church’s teaching on ABC’s, so I ask again, why did God kill Onan in Genesis 38?

As far as other, “far worse sins”, is abortion wrong? It is the deliberate killing of an unborn child. Many times in the use of ABC’s, a fertilized egg is destroyed. This seems to be the same, intentional killing of an unborn life. I think killing an unborn child is wrong, whether months along, weeks along or hours along in the gestation period. Life begins at conception.

Is the “morning after pill” wrong? Same intention as an abortion. Same method as hormonal birth control. I’m just asking.

 

[choose_to_love]

Q: Is ABC a sin?

A: No, the Church fully supports the alphabet.

HT to GuitarPlayer for that line.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=484616&page=5 #68

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

I personally have no issue with the fact that the Catholic Church has changed some doctrines, such as the salvation issue mentioned above, obligatory fasting and confession (which got shaved down to being necessary only once a year), the declaration that nuns only needed to wear modest clothes and not habits, the mass in the vernacular, the acceptability of slavery and the sin of ursury, etc. I just wish it would admit it. There is no shame in changing doctrine as our understanding of God’s will continues to deepen.

I personally feel at the end of the day that conscience generally trumps all. It seems to me that many Catholics say, “Your conscience should always be paramount, as long as it agrees with the Church.” The church was complicit in the enslavement of non-Christians during the Middle Ages. A clause against slavery was not put into Canon Law until 1917. Renaissance Pope Nicolas V even issued bulls permitting the practice of slavery and colonization. Were Catholics who opposed slavery at that time sinners in the eyes of God for not agreeing with the church?

Umm…confession for the most part in recent history (even before Vatican II), Confession was still only required by Church precept once a year during the Easter season. It just so happened that in the past people were actually concerned about sin. Now the idea of sin and confession have been watered down by liberal catholics. Sin and Hell still exist, and the Church still teaches that if you die with one unconfessed mortal sin, you will go to Hell for eternity. Since we don’t know when we’re going to die, and because as Catholics were expected to become saints, we should be going to confession frequently.