NFP & Birth Control

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My husband and I have been practicing NFP from day 1 of our marriage. I know that the Catholic church is 100% against the use of birth control, which is why we practice NFP.

But … can someone please help me understand better the differences between Natural Family Planning (NFP) and birth control? I have listened to some tapes by Kimberly Hahn, who is great at explaining issues such as these. But I would just like more enlightenment and support. Scriptural references will be highly appreciated.

Thank you & God Bless you! 😃
 
JK's Mommy:
But … can someone please help me understand better the differences between Natural Family Planning (NFP) and birth control?
Ok, first let’s get some terminology down. Birth control is just the spacing & planning of children.

So, NFP and contraception are both methods of birth control. The Church does not teach birth control is immoral. The Church teaches that contraception is an immoral means of birth control. Big difference.

OK, so why?

Each marriage act (act of sexual intercourse) must be unaltered before, during, or after the act. No action may taken to alter the act because each act must be objectively unitive and procreative in order to be authentic and properly ordered as God designed.

Subjectively that particular act may or may not be procreative. For example, if someone is naturally infertile due to time of the month, post-menopause, already pregnant, etc, then an unaltered act of intercourse is objectively procreative but subjectively does not result in conception.

**How does NFP meet this criteria? ** In NFP each marital act is objectively unitive and procreative. If you have reason to avoid pregnancy you do not engage in the act. That respects the objective elements that must be present in every act.

**How does contraception fail to meet this criteria? ** When contracepting a couple engages in the marital act while simultaneously altering the act to nullify it’s procreative element-- either before, during, or after the act. Before-- sterilization, Pill, sponge, diaphram, condom, IUD. During-- withdrawal, masterbatory acts that don’t culminate in intercourse. After- morning after pill, abortion. All of these things alter the act either in anticipation of, during, or after.

NFP says: Don’t want to become pregnant at that time? Abstain and respect the act as God created it because we and the act serve God. Engage in the act when the woman is naturally infertile and never alter the act.

Contraception says: Don’t want to become pregnant? Have sex and mutilate the act because the act serves us.

NFP is not an alterative to contraception, it’s an alternative to complete abstinence.

For more, go to www.omsoul.com and pick up some of their resources, especially the *Contraception Why Not * CD by Janet Smith.
 
JK's Mommy:
Scriptural references will be highly appreciated.
Anytime you want the Biblical basis for Church doctrine, this is the place to look: Scripture Catholic I would encourage you to look at the site. I had to cut out some verses to fit into the word limit.

Gen 1:28, 9:1,7; 35:11 - from the beginning, the Lord commands us to be fruitful (“fertile”) and multiply. A husband and wife fulfill God’s plan for marriage in the bringing forth of new life, for God is life itself.

Gen. 38:8-10 - Onan is killed by God for practicing contraception (in this case, withdrawal) and spilling his semen on the ground.

Gen. 38:11-26 - Judah, like Onan, also rejected God’s command to keep up the family lineage, but he was not killed.

Deut. 25:7-10 - the penalty for refusing to keep up a family lineage is not death, like Onan received. Onan was killed for wasting seed.

Gen. 38:9 - also, the author’s usage of the graphic word “seed,” which is very uncharacteristic for Hebrew writing, further highlights the reason for Onan’s death.

Lev.18:22-23;20:13 - wasting seed with non-generative sexual acts warrants death. Many Protestant churches, which have all strayed from the Catholic Church, reject this fundamental truth (few Protestants and Catholics realize that contraception was condemned by all of Christianity - and other religions - until the Anglican church permitted it in certain cases at the Lambeth conference in 1930. This opened the floodgates of error).

Lev. 21:17,20 - crushed testicles are called a defect and a blemish before God. God reveals that deliberate sterilization and any other methods which prevent conception are intrinsically evil.

Deut. 23:1 - whoever has crushed testicles or is castrated cannot enter the assembly. Contraception is objectively sinful and contrary, not only to God’s Revelation, but the moral and natural law.

Deut. 25:11-12 - there is punishment for potential damage to the testicles, for such damage puts new life at risk. It, of course, follows that vasectomies, which are done with willful consent, are gravely contrary to the natural law.

Hosea 9:11; Jer. 18:21 - God punishes Israel by preventing pregnancy. Contraception is a curse, and married couples who use contraception are putting themselves under the same curse.

Mal. 2:14 - marriage is not a contract (which is a mere exchange of property or services). It is a covenant, which means a supernatural exchange of persons. Just as God is three in one, so are a husband and wife, who become one flesh and bring forth new life, three in one. Marital love is a reflection of the Blessed Trinity.

Matt. 19:5-6 - Jesus said a husband and wife shall become one. They are no longer two, but one, just as God is three persons, yet one. The expression of authentic marital love reintegrates our bodies and souls to God, and restores us to our original virginal state (perfect integration of body and soul) before God.

Matt. 19:6; Eph. 5:31 - contraception prevents God’s ability to “join” together. Just as Christ’s love for the Church is selfless and sacrificial, and a husband and wife reflect this union, so a husband and wife’s love for each other must also be selfless and sacrificial. This means being open to new life.

Acts 5:1-11 - Ananias and Sapphira were slain because they withheld part of a gift. Fertility is a gift from God and cannot be withheld.

Rom.1:26-27 - sexual acts without the possibility of procreation is sinful. Self-giving love is life-giving love, or the love is a lie. The unitive and procreative elements of marital love can never be divided, or the marital love is also divided, and God is left out of the marriage.

1 Cor. 7:5 - this verse supports the practice of natural family planning (“NFP”). Married couples should not refuse each other except perhaps by agreement for a season, naturally.

Gal. 6:7-8 - God is not mocked for what a man sows. If to the flesh, corruption. If to the Spirit, eternal life.

Deut. 22:13-21 – these verses also show that God condemns pre-marital intercourse. The living expression of God’s creative love is reserved for a sacramental marriage between one man and one woman.

Rev. 9:21; 21:8; 22:15; Gal. 5:20 - these verses mention the word “sorcery.” The Greek word is “pharmakeia” which includes abortifacient potions such as birth control pills. These pharmakeia are mortally sinful. Moreover, chemical contraception does not necessarily prevent conception, but may actually kill the child in the womb after conception has occurred (by preventing the baby from attaching to the uterine wall). Contraception is a lie that has deceived millions, but the Church is holding her arms open wide to welcome back her children who have strayed from the truth.
 
Thanks, Aaron, for the scripture references website and for your list. 🙂 Very helpful! 👍

Blessings to you! 😃
 
Thanks to all who have posted so far. I appreciate the links, references, etc. 😃

Blessings to you all …
 
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1ke:
Ok, first let’s get some terminology down. Birth control is just the spacing & planning of children.

navy Thanks for the clarification.

If you have reason to avoid pregnancy .
Can you explain this a little further? What is considered “reason” to avoid pregnancy?

Thanks and blessings to you …
 
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1ke:
Ok, first let’s get some terminology down. Birth control is just the spacing & planning of children.

THANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION 🙂

** If you have reason to avoid pregnancy you do not engage in the act.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THIS A LITTLE FURTHER? WHAT IS CONSIDERED “REASON” TO AVOID PREGNANCY?

{QUOTE]

Thanks! & Blessings to you!**
 
1ke,

Thanks for the clarification of terms. Also, you mentioned the following:

“If you have reason to avoid pregnancy you do not engage in the act.”

Can you explain that a little further? What does the church consider as “reasons” to avoid a pregnancy?

Thanks! and blessings to you 🙂
 
JK's Mommy:
But … can someone please help me understand better the differences between Natural Family Planning (NFP) and birth control?
A couple on any particular night is as fertile as they are that night. Also, they may have relations that night or not. NFP involves working within that structure, either having or not having relations on a particular night.

Common methods used in society involve *direct choosing to reduce *the fertility, either before, during, or after an instance of relations. It, too, involves having relations or not on any particular night, but there is that difference of how they impact their fertilty.

The underlying motive is often near identical in both methods. I think this is a source of confusion. Also, a couple could possibly have a heart set upon the wrong things, and still be periodically abstaining as part of their plan to obtain them. (that would be wrong).
 
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