question

[blortog]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

 

[Eleve]

Read the section of the Catechism on the fecundity of marriage, starting at paragraph 2366 here.

 

[oneGODoneCHURCH]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

The reason for the stance against abortion is easy to cite. It the killing on a innocent human life, and that is wrong.

As for contraception : for man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall be come one, by the use of contraception the person is obstructing that union.

 

[twopekinguys]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

Contraception interferes with God’s will. God wants us to procreate, but yet contraception prevents that, and obviously abortion does too.

Assuming the individuals are married, then natural family planning is an option. This option ultimately leaves the outcome in God’s hands.

If they are not married, then they shouldn’t be having sex to begin with.

 

[promethius]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from?

It’s called the sin of Onan, it is biblical. Onan was actually struck dead for violating God’s will RE: conception of children.

It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion.

The answer if you don’t want or aren’t ready for a child is not contraception, it’s abstinace. There is nothing counter productive about two strictures which BOTH are important to God’s will.

I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

This is not the only reason for God’s will to be thus, but even if it were the simple response would be: so what? Part of the truth of Christian doctrine is that it correlates to a direct, positive, social effect on humanity. As a result, following the strictures of divine morality will produce a stronger and more robust society which stands up to assaults of the world. As such, if God’s plan includes something that ensures that we don’t end up sterilizing ourselves out of existance (vis a vis the fall of rome, which occured because of reproductive immorality), then I say good for God’s plan because it is obviously right.

 

[blortog]

an interesting point of view on the subject. I don’t think it’s very realistic , but in a perfect world teaching abstinence would be the way to go. It would do the world a major favor if the Catholic church endorsed contraception though. Less abortion, less AIDS, less unwanted children.

 

[Eleve]

Well, this is where orthodox Catholics are going to disagree with you, because they consider contraception to be an evil in and of itself. Doing something evil as a means to some other ends isn’t justified.

 

[promethius]

an interesting point of view on the subject. I don’t think it’s very realistic , but in a perfect world teaching abstinence would be the way to go. It would do the world a major favor if the Catholic church endorsed contraception though. Less abortion, less AIDS, less unwanted children.

Eleve beat me to it. You can’t authorize an evil to prevent other evils. That’s not the way the system works. Unfortunately the idea of “lesser of two evils” does not exist: God does not force us to do intrinsically immoral acts just to avoid doing other immoral things.

However, if a person is, say, a sex addict (vis a mental disorder) and can’t resist temptation, then also KNOWS that if they were to become pregnant they would have an abortion, then there may be SOME argument that in their minds they may have erroneously arrived at the conclusion that use of contraception is somehow justified in preventing need of an abortion later. We do not know exactly how such invincible ignorance might affect culpability for sin, but it MAY have SOME effect… that, of course, would be between the sinner and God.

 

[Spirithound]

an interesting point of view on the subject. I don’t think it’s very realistic , but in a perfect world teaching abstinence would be the way to go. It would do the world a major favor if the Catholic church endorsed contraception though. Less abortion, less AIDS, less unwanted children.

Hi blortog,
“The world” has tried your solution, and it has failed. Abortion and AIDS are where they are now because people have used contraception, used it somewhat successfully, felt more secure, and kept using it in riskier situations until it failed. And, when it fails, it fails catastrophically.

The Church is not here to lead us into an ok position. The Church is here to lead us to Heaven. We don’t get to Heaven by adopting a series of progressively less-bad stances, we get there by shooting for the stars, then picking ourselves up when we fail, receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and trying again.

 

[TheWhoFreak]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

Well, actually the reason is because it defeats the purpose of Holy Matrimony. See, the purpose of marriage is to bring forth children into the world. Contraception obviously stops that from happening. What you are left with is people selfishly having intercourse only for the physical pleasure of it, and not the procreative part of it. It’s also prideful, is sends the message that you, not God, know what’s best for you.

 

[phoenix3212]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

Marriage is a covenant, involving an exchange of persons. Every covenant has an act whereby it is renewed, remembered and restored (ex. Jesus: “this is the blood of the new covenant… do this in remembrance of me”). Using contraception is basically preventing the renewing act of the marital covenant from coming to its proper conclusion, something akin to receiving the Eucharist and violently spitting it on the ground.

That isn’t to say that Catholics don’t believe that couples shouldn’t plan out their children. Instead, the Church endorses a natural and non-contraceptive method of family planning called NFP.

 

[bpbasilphx]

I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

---

**That’s rather puerile reasoning, don’t you think?

Classical Protestants were against birth control too, once upon a time.**

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

I’m a former Protestant, but the church’s position on contraception, as opposed to abortion, in my opinion is bunkum. I think the contraceptive pill was given at the very time population pressures were becoming a real problem in some parts of the world. Go and tell the Chinese and Indians they should all have large families. But while you’re at it, if you’re going to be equally ethical, also tell them how to feed, educate, house and employ them, without starting an environmental catastrophe. The pill had Catholic researchers partly responsible for it.

The church’s main argument is that the pill often causes fertilised ova to be flushed out of the uterus. What it doesn’t tell you is that God’s own natural system, designed by the Almighty Himself, flushed out at least a half of all fertilised ova itself, whether contraceptives are used or not. In my opinion He’s given us a precedent. If anything the church’s ruling on the pill gives abortionists more power, not less.

The church is flogging a dead horse on this one. It’s patently obvious that in educated societies, most Catholic families are using contraception. The large catholic families of yesteryear are a byword. And don’t tell me they’re all using the rhythm method.

It’s just that they’ve got common horse sense which unmarried popes, bishops and priests haven’t, but since it doesn’t pay to confess it to a priest, they don’t. The pope, bishops and priests aren’t going to feed, house, educate, clothe, provide the infrastructure, or clothe a single child.

 

[promethius]

The pill had Catholic researchers partly responsible for it.

The fact that a few catholics may have committed an immorality in their research is not really relevant to the product suddenly becoming moral.

The church’s main argument is that the pill often causes fertilised ova to be flushed out of the uterus.

No, that is not “the main” argument by the church. The main argument by the church is that contraceptives are contrary to the will of God. What you listed is a secondary argument at best which is a nice ho-hum addition, but isn’t central at all to the moral condemnation of contraceptives as a whole.

What it doesn’t tell you is that God’s own natural system, designed by the Almighty Himself, flushed out at least a half of all fertilised ova itself, whether contraceptives are used or not.

Irrelevant. What God chooses to allow in a baby’s life is His will, and we should not interfere.

The church is flogging a dead horse on this one. It’s patently obvious that in educated societies, most Catholic families are using contraception. The large catholic families of yesteryear are a byword. And don’t tell me they’re all using the rhythm method.

Likewise irrelevant. Even if every catholic were violating morality RE: contraception still would not make it right. Morality is a divine command absolute, not a majority rules democracy.

It’s just that they’ve got common horse sense which unmarried popes, bishops and priests haven’t, but since it doesn’t pay to confess it to a priest, they don’t.

I’d rather be saved than be a common horse.

The pope, bishops and priests aren’t going to feed, house, educate, clothe, provide the infrastructure, or clothe a single child.

chuckle. I really, really, really hope you meant that to be as humorous as it was…

 

[phoenix3212]

I’m a former Protestant, but the church’s position on contraception, as opposed to abortion, in my opinion is bunkum. I think the contraceptive pill was given at the very time population pressures were becoming a real problem in some parts of the world. Go and tell the Chinese and Indians they should all have large families. But while you’re at it, if you’re going to be equally ethical, also tell them how to feed, educate, house and employ them, without starting an environmental catastrophe. The pill had Catholic researchers partly responsible for it.

The church’s main argument is that the pill often causes fertilised ova to be flushed out of the uterus. What it doesn’t tell you is that God’s own natural system, designed by the Almighty Himself, flushed out at least a half of all fertilised ova itself, whether contraceptives are used or not. In my opinion He’s given us a precedent. If anything the church’s ruling on the pill gives abortionists more power, not less.

The church is flogging a dead horse on this one. It’s patently obvious that in educated societies, most Catholic families are using contraception. The large catholic families of yesteryear are a byword. And don’t tell me they’re all using the rhythm method.

It’s just that they’ve got common horse sense which unmarried popes, bishops and priests haven’t, but since it doesn’t pay to confess it to a priest, they don’t. The pope, bishops and priests aren’t going to feed, house, educate, clothe, provide the infrastructure, or clothe a single child.

It’s like spitting the Eucharist on the ground.

Preventing the renewal act of the marital covenant from coming to it’s proper conclusion is essentially lying with the body. A married person says to his spouse through the marital act, “I give myself to you completely,” but puts a piece of rubber or some drugs in between themselves. Go read about the Theology of the Body.

 

[Charlie_Zeaiter]

I’m curious to know why Catholics believe that contraception is wrong? Where does this line of thinking come from? It seems to me that It’s counter productive to the stance the Church has on abortion. I have always looked at the Catholic church as not wanting people to use birth control or get abortions so that more followers will be born into the church since effectively that’s what happens when you don’t use birth control or get abortions.

Hello blortog,

The Groom, Christ, gave His body completely - to the point of death - to His Bride, The Church.

And so we should give our bodies completely to our spouses, and not contracept them.

 

[blortog]

But if God doesn’t want us to masturbate, why did he make our arms so long?

 

[SHW]

I’d rather be saved than be a common horse.

 

[kalt]

an interesting point of view on the subject. I don’t think it’s very realistic , but in a perfect world teaching abstinence would be the way to go. It would do the world a major favor if the Catholic church endorsed contraception though. Less abortion, less AIDS, less unwanted children.

Are there any reliable stats on this?

 

[kalt]

I’m a former Protestant, but the church’s position on contraception, as opposed to abortion, in my opinion is bunkum. I think the contraceptive pill was given at the very time population pressures were becoming a real problem in some parts of the world. Go and tell the Chinese and Indians they should all have large families. But while you’re at it, if you’re going to be equally ethical, also tell them how to feed, educate, house and employ them, without starting an environmental catastrophe. The pill had Catholic researchers partly responsible for it.

The church’s main argument is that the pill often causes fertilised ova to be flushed out of the uterus. What it doesn’t tell you is that God’s own natural system, designed by the Almighty Himself, flushed out at least a half of all fertilised ova itself, whether contraceptives are used or not. In my opinion He’s given us a precedent. If anything the church’s ruling on the pill gives abortionists more power, not less.

The church is flogging a dead horse on this one. It’s patently obvious that in educated societies, most Catholic families are using contraception. The large catholic families of yesteryear are a byword. And don’t tell me they’re all using the rhythm method.

It’s just that they’ve got common horse sense which unmarried popes, bishops and priests haven’t, but since it doesn’t pay to confess it to a priest, they don’t. The pope, bishops and priests aren’t going to feed, house, educate, clothe, provide the infrastructure, or clothe a single child.

And I suppose you’ll also conclude that natural death is a precedent for murder.