The Case Against Contraception

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Isn’t it funny that they do that? I have seen that before as well… saying natural has nothing to do with it and then when it is shown both have the same exact end and mentality behind them they resort to natural vs. unnatural.
Well, “natural” in the sense of “occurring in nature” has nothing to do with it. “Natural” in the sense of “according to the nature of something” does.

Again, if there’s a flaw in the logic related in the OP – especially one egregious enough to justify rebellion against the Church’s teachings – it ought to be relatively easy to point out…
 
Well, yes. It is natural (that is, consistent with the nature of the human sexual faculty) to avoid conception by exploiting the natural periods of infertility which the human sexual faculty requires. It is not natural (that is, contrary to the nature of the human sexual faculty) to avoid conception by intentionally and deliberately acting to subvert the procreative potential of the sexual faculty. As has been pointed out before, the question of moral licitness here is less of the end (avoiding conception is a perfectly licit end unless one has an illicit reason for wishing to do so) than of the means.

But in any event, what you are saying is only that, if NFP is identical to contraception, then NFP is morally illicit too – the argument still, in no way, legitimates the use of contraception.

You’ve said before that the Church is in error on this teaching; in fact you are so confident that the Church is in error that you don’t feel it constitutes desecration of the Eucharist to take communion. Surely if the Church’s error is that profound it is a relatively simple matter to point out the flaw in its logic?

Surely, too, it would be easy to explain how that error does not invalidate the rest of the Church’s teachings on sexual morality, which follow from the same logical source?
This is a very good point. We can debate NFP in another thread if someone wishes. Whether NFP is contraception or not, there has still yet to be anything said to legitimize contraception.
 
Isn’t it funny that they do that? I have seen that before as well… saying natural has nothing to do with it and then when it is shown both have the same exact end and mentality behind them they resort to natural vs. unnatural.
This is because the term “natural” gets thrown around for all sorts of things today. The meaning of the term is explained in the argument and therefore the word suffices its purpose which is to relay a meaning. The real question that you need to answer instead of trying to dodge the discussion and come up with excuses is “Do things have an inherent nature to them?”
 
Honestly, I feel like it’s kinda giving off the same idea - that it is ok to avoid children by using knowledge of the cycle, but not ok to avoid children by using a condom because one is natural and the other is not. it’s kind of a more fancy was of saying it though, but I think the bottom line is the same.

… And I’ve heard this argument before too, ironically by the same people who had prior claimed that natural vs artificial has nothing to do with the immorality of contraception.

So I don’t know. 🤷

If you want more feedback, I guess you could ask other folks around here who struggle with understanding this issue and see if it was a convincing enough argument for them.
On the one hand you get to experience the pleasure of sex while avoiding children and on the other you do not during each act. Contraception is like a con game with God.
 
Honestly, I feel like it’s kinda giving off the same idea - that it is ok to avoid children by using knowledge of the cycle, but not ok to avoid children by using a condom because one is natural and the other is not. it’s kind of a more fancy was of saying it though, but I think the bottom line is the same.

… And I’ve heard this argument before too, ironically by the same people who had prior claimed that natural vs artificial has nothing to do with the immorality of contraception.

So I don’t know. 🤷

If you want more feedback, I guess you could ask other folks around here who struggle with understanding this issue and see if it was a convincing enough argument for them.
On the one hand you get to experience the pleasure of sex while avoiding children and on the other you do not during each act. Contraception is like a con game with God. Its like when you give your kids rules to follow and they go to every extent possible to stretch the rules. “yeah I’m open to procreation during this act God…don’t worry about this condom…” The question of being open to children in a marriage as a whole and being open to children in each act of sexual intercourse are two distinct questions that contraception proponents love to skew together.
 
Isn’t it funny that they do that? I have seen that before as well… saying natural has nothing to do with it and then when it is shown both have the same exact end and mentality behind them they resort to natural vs. unnatural.
Yup… and from there is starts all over again. Eventually it just goes in circles without actually getting anywhere. I have seen this happen A LOT.
 
The question of being open to children in a marriage as a whole and being open to children in each act of sexual intercourse are two distinct questions that contraception proponents love to skew together.
This is a whole interesting discussion in and of itself. What if the couple didn’t want have children on their own, but chose to adopt and foster? Obviously, their only choice is to have a Josephite marriage, since because they choice not to procreate naturally they must throw the unitive aspect of sex out the window also.

We don’t love to “skew” them together; we simply observe reality for what it is.
 
Yup… and from there is starts all over again. Eventually it just goes in circles without actually getting anywhere. I have seen this happen A LOT.
Perhaps the discussion is going nowhere because you are not addressing the salient issues.

Do you have a response to the points I made here and here? If so, I look forward to hearing them.
This is a whole interesting discussion in and of itself. What if the couple didn’t want have children on their own, but chose to adopt and foster? Obviously, their only choice is to have a Josephite marriage, since because they choice not to procreate naturally they must throw the unitive aspect of sex out the window also.

We don’t love to “skew” them together; we simply observe reality for what it is.
Errr, no… again,
Therefore, goodness consists in using this faculty in a manner consistent with its end (i.e., intravaginal ejaculation) and sin/disorder in using it in a manner contrary to that end.
Procreation doesn’t have to result every time. It doesn’t even have to be able to result for that particular couple, either at that particular point in time (due to natural infertility) or at all (due to chronic infertility). It is merely the case that the couple must have sex in a manner consistent with the end of procreation – what the Church calls an act “open to life” – whether or not life results.
 
On the one hand you get to experience the pleasure of sex while avoiding children and on the other you do not during each act. Contraception is like a con game with God.
but there is no contraception that is 100 percent effective, other then abstince. i know a family who had 3 kids all while on the pill. so you cant play a con game with God, if he wants you to have kids you will. you cant trick him or sneak around his plans. so if the only reason contraception is bad is because your not letting God give you kids that doesnt make any sence
 
but there is no contraception that is 100 percent effective, other then abstince. i know a family who had 3 kids all while on the pill. so you cant play a con game with God, if he wants you to have kids you will. you cant trick him or sneak around his plans. so if the only reason contraception is bad is because your not letting God give you kids that doesnt make any sence
Note that the argument as I presented it is entirely secular; it makes no mention of God.

But let’s for a moment consider the religious aspect. Are we free to flout God’s will any time we wish, simply because He was the power to bring about whatever end His will was intended to?
 
If I refuse to drive Toyotas, is my ability to drive “partially impede[d]”? Of course not; there are other things I can drive. Likewise, dietary fat is not the sole source of nutrition, so it is perfectly licit to restrict one’s fat intake, either by dieting or medicine, provided it is confined to reasonable and healthy limits and the individual’s will is not disordered.
Refusing to drive a Toyota is analogous, not to eating fat and taking an Orlistat, but to abstaining from eating fat.
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sw85:
I’ve never heard of anyone inducing a sneeze for the sake of pleasure; personally I find them quite annoying. But yes, in general, if you elevate the consequence of a thing above the thing’s purpose (i.e., treating sexual pleasure as an end in itself when it, in fact, is in service to the end of procreation), you’re probably indulging in sin.
Since I don’t think inducing a sneeze for pleasure is sinful, this is for me a reductio of the argument.
 
Refusing to drive a Toyota is analogous, not to eating fat and taking an Orlistat, but to abstaining from eating fat.
Yes, the analogy is rough, but you see my point. In any event I suspect the proscription would be that taking Orlistat for illicit reasons (i.e., so you can gorge on fatty foods without consequence or starve yourself into a stick figure for vanity’s sake) is sinful but for legitimate medical reasons is not.

Medication is tricky, anyway, because it is less easy to nail down its telos. Many over-the-counter sleep-aids, for instance, are really just antihistamines.
Since I don’t think inducing a sneeze for pleasure is sinful, this is for me a reductio of the argument.
Well, again, I have no idea what snuff is. I’m assuming, since it appears to be a tobacco product, that people take it for pleasure and the sneeze just happens to result; ergo, nothing about sneezing would be sinful in that case.
Err, yes.

Thanks for your response.😃
That is an assertion, not an argument. Do you have anything to say to defend your outlandish claim that adopting couples must never have sex against what natural law *actually *teaches?
 
That is an assertion, not an argument. Do you have anything to say to defend your outlandish claim that adopting couples must never have sex against what natural law *actually *teaches?
If they don’t want to have their own children, obviously sex (including NFP) is out of the question, otherwise they run the risk of having their own children. There is no way around it.

So if a generous couple chooses to raise abandoned children, rather than their own, they’ll have to keep their pants on.🙂
 
If they don’t want to have their own children, obviously sex (including NFP) is out of the question, otherwise they run the risk of having their own children. There is no way around it.

So if a generous couple chooses to raise abandoned children, rather than their own, they’ll have to keep their pants on.🙂
So, If they choose not to have children and choose not to have sex in order to avoid children 100%, and instead adopt children, how does that fit into you position that contraception is not contrary to natural law?

Maybe I’m not understanding what you are saying? Are you trying to argue that contraception isn’t contrary to nature and using your above statement to justify that?
 
Nevermind…IMHO, the whole discussion is pointless, as are most discussions on this forum, since it starts with a foregone conclusion and reasoning be damned. I’ve got better things to do rather than obsess on sex organs, such as raise a family. Later.
 
Nevermind…IMHO, the whole discussion is pointless, as are most discussions on this forum, since it starts with a foregone conclusion and reasoning be damned. I’ve got better things to do rather than obsess on sex organs, such as raise a family. Later.
One ought to be in possession of the truth if one is to raise a family successfully.

The moral use of ones sexually is one such truth.
 
If they don’t want to have their own children, obviously sex (including NFP) is out of the question, otherwise they run the risk of having their own children. There is no way around it.

So if a generous couple chooses to raise abandoned children, rather than their own, they’ll have to keep their pants on.🙂
OK, fair enough; I understood you as saying that natural law forbids couples from having sex unless they intend to procreate.

As has been pointed out, I don’t see what that implies with re: to contraception.
Nevermind…IMHO, the whole discussion is pointless, as are most discussions on this forum, since it starts with a foregone conclusion and reasoning be damned. I’ve got better things to do rather than obsess on sex organs, such as raise a family. Later.
:confused:

The entire point of this post is that you can arrive at an anti-contraception position purely through reasoning. Where is the “foregone conclusion”? Did you even read the argument?

The irony here is that your judgment that the argument is wrong is itself a “foregone conclusion” made without any reasoning – as witnessed by the fact that you cannot articulate a response to the argument.

I admit I’m rather annoyed with the quality of posts by the dissenters here. I had hoped those who openly rebel against Church teachings would have at least something substantive on which to base their rebellion.
 
Perhaps the discussion is going nowhere because you are not addressing the salient issues.

Do you have a response to the points I made here and here? If so, I look forward to hearing them.
If I understand correctly, you are asking me to point out a flaw in the logic against contraception?

The logic here pretty much is saying that using a condom to avoid/postpone pregnancy is illicit because it is not natural, while using NFP to do the exact same thing is licit because it IS natural.

The flaw in this logic stems from the fact that other things that are man made and artificial are not illicit. So the argument holds no water.
 
One ought to be in possession of the truth if one is to raise a family successfully.

The moral use of ones sexually is one such truth.
I’m sure Warrior is a wonderful father and husband.
 
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