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Maxirad
Guest
A guy who will remain nameless sent me an e-mail that said the following:
Can someone please help me rebut this?
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CatholicGeek1
Guest
I would say abstinence outside of marriage prevents both contraception and abortion and is completely moral. Why choose the lesser of two evils, when there is a non-evil alternative?
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1ke
Guest
Email? Seriously?
Pick up the phone or meet and have a conversation.
Pick up the phone or meet and have a conversation.
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1ke
Guest
I also did not realize it was possible to pack so many logical fallacies into such a short sentence. I do not think this person wants an honest discussion.
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mountee
Guest
Many old friends of mine who are former Catholics have said virtually the same thing to me and taken it a step further regarding woman in the Church hierarchy as well as birth control, etc. I have found that when they say you really can’t agree with all of that anymore can you, that telling them I do believe what the Church has to say on all of it ends the conversation and sometimes the friendship. We have to walk the talk no matter what happens next.
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Joe_5859
Guest
Indeed! Where to even begin?
Maxirad, I wouldn’t hold out hope for having a meaningful dialogue on these issues with this person over email. But for your own edification…
First, the Church is not “run by men.” The Church has been entrusted with the deposit of faith from Jesus and passed down through the apostles and their successors our bishops.
As such, the pope and the bishops in union with him do not sit in Rome making up arbitrary rules for us to follow just because they feel like it. They hand on what they have first received.
Second, contraception is not a “women only” issue. The procreation of the species involves both men and women. So does its inhibition.
Third, the Church’s laying out the moral laws is not the Church “telling us what to do” any more that Newton describing the law of gravity is what keeps us tethered to the earth. The Church is simply describing the way things are.
Fourth, contraception does not prevent abortion. Some contraception has abortifacient componenets. In others words, chemically aborting a baby is one of the ways it “works” to “prevent pregnancy.”
Further, there is every indication that an increase in access to contraception leads to an increase in abortion. This is because contraception encourages a mindset of sex without consequences. So when the contraception doesn’t work, abortion becomes “Plan B”.
This is just to scratch the surface of everything wrong that’s packed into those few sentences. Much more could be said, but that’s the highlight reel.
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ActingCatholic
Guest
Yes, the Church is established by Christ, and handed down by direct succession. That doesn’t change the fact that everyone in positions of power, i.e. making non-dogmatic decisions, is male. So, why is it false to say the church is “run by men”? Who is the highest ranking female (on earth
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Joe_5859
Guest
That’s not true, though. All clergy are male, but there are plenty of women in influential positions in the Church. In Religious Ed, there are many more women than men. There are women working in diocesan chanceries, Catholic universities, and even in the Vatican.Yes, the Church is established by Christ, and handed down by direct succession. That doesn’t change the fact that everyone in positions of power, i.e. making non-dogmatic decisions, is male. So, why is it false to say the church is “run by men”? Who is the highest ranking female (on earth
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ActingCatholic
Guest
And don’t all of those women answer to a male superior?
EDIT: I found this article helpful
jimmyakin.com/2012/02/who-is-the-highest-ranking-human-female-in-the-church.html
I struggle to find the statement that the church is “run by men” to be categorically false. I think someone can have all of the facts and still hold that interpretation.
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sowinskija
Guest
I would argue that they are both wrong because both are against natural law(how things are supposed to function)
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