NFP a Sin???

[Allen537]

My question is, at what point does the practice of Natural Family Planning become a sin? I ask this because one of the main objectives for a married couple is to have children and raise them in the faith. But, if a couple is having sex only during the woman’s “off” periods, and doing so only to avoid conceiving child, when does it become a sin? At what point does NFP become no better than using a contraceptive?

 

[Shiann]

Allen537:

My question is, at what point does the practice of Natural Family Planning become a sin? I ask this because one of the main objectives for a married couple is to have children and raise them in the faith. But, if a couple is having sex only during the woman’s “off” periods, and doing so only to avoid conceiving child, when does it become a sin? At what point does NFP become no better than using a contraceptive?

• When a couple uses it to indefinately postpone pregnancy for no good reason. (The ‘good’ in this sentence is the sticking point for many… What is defined as ‘good’? Finances, Health, etc. all make good arguments.)
• When a couple uses it that month without seriously discerning their ability to be open to more children. The use of NFP and fertility discernment go hand in hand.

I’m sure you will get other very specific and great answers. These are mine in a nutshell.

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

NFP cannot, in and of itself, be a sin. That is like saying that TV is a sin. The occassion to sin comes in how we use the method and our reasons for it.

If we use NFP to prevent pregnancy for absolutely no reason other than we don’t want children, then our sin would be something having to do with not being open to life. But the sin cannot be using NFP because nothing about the method is or can be sinful.

Charting our fertility is not sinful, Abstaining from sex is not sinful, etc.

Malia

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Feanaro's Wife:

NFP cannot, in and of itself, be a sin. That is like saying that TV is a sin. The occassion to sin comes in how we use the method and our reasons for it.

If we use NFP to prevent pregnancy for absolutely no reason other than we don’t want children, then our sin would be something having to do with not being open to life. But the sin cannot be using NFP because nothing about the method is or can be sinful.

Charting our fertility is not sinful, Abstaining from sex is not sinful, etc.

Malia

Right. NFP only provides knowledge. What one does with that knowledge is were the goodness or badness comes into play.

Scott

 

[Shiann]

Feanaro's Wife:

NFP cannot, in and of itself, be a sin. That is like saying that TV is a sin. The occassion to sin comes in how we use the method and our reasons for it.

If we use NFP to prevent pregnancy for absolutely no reason other than we don’t want children, then our sin would be something having to do with not being open to life. But the sin cannot be using NFP because nothing about the method is or can be sinful.

Charting our fertility is not sinful, Abstaining from sex is not sinful, etc.

Malia

So true,

Thanks for that concise clarification

 

[manualman]

If Paul VI deliberately left ‘serious reasons’ as vague as that in his encyclical, why should any of us think that WE have the ability to narrow it down?

It is one of those things that cannot be boiled down to a printed list. It must be genuinely discerned in prayer.

 

[Firebug]

Aha, Now I have something to tell my brother. He thinks that NFP is sinful because it’s “avoiding the responsibility of having kids”. I tell him it’s not when you use it in the right manners.