Posted on 05/01/2012 6:46:23 AM PDT by marshmallow
A powerful quote from a source that might surprise some readers:
Beneath the issue of contraception is a question about the role ideals and norms play in our communal lives. Yes, they restrict our behavior in ways that are sometimes inconvenient. Yet in doing so, they intrinsically call us and our communities toward a life that we might not otherwise choose on our own. What's more, they amplify the need for repentance and reconciliation, rather than watering down such a need through the "pragmatic" concession to the fallenness of the world. We may occasionally fail to meet them. But confronting our failures can be heroic and acknowledging our sins a moment of beauty. The only thing to be gained from lowering the expectations is greater secrecy about our sexual lives within our communities. And that, somewhat ironically, only stigmatizes unplanned pregnancies within our midst all the more by making them all the more rare.
At the same time, ideals can inspire. "The more transcendental your patriotism," Chesterton once said, "the more practical will be your politics." Communities where contraception is advocated as a solution (whether from the pulpit or in the counselors office) are communities free from the deadly burden of the cross, free from the sufferings and co-laboring that will inevitably come from caring for single mothers and their children. When I posed this idea to someone they suggested that no one would be with the single mother at 3 a.m. while the child is crying. That the possibility is ruled out before it can be considered says more about the extent to which we strive to keep our communities free from a bloodless martyrdom than it does about whether we should accept contraception.
There is no question that we need to reduce abortions, both inside the church and without.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicworldreport.com ...
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When it comes to authentic marriage lived in integrity, evangelicals are overdue for a come-to-Jesus moment. This is mostly because they want the personal emotional rush of their way of belief, but they don’t want the Cross.
I’m a Protestant who supported Rick Santorum, not because I agree with the Catholic church on contraception but because I support their freedom to hold beliefs of their choosing.
That said, I don’t want to pay for the contraception of others and I think sustenance is the best option.
Contraception was designed to limited population growth.
I wonder too, if contraception has helped change people’s behavior, and attitudes, about sex.
Young people today have grown up in a time in which it’s considered ok to have sex outside marriage, any number of partners, any gender of partners. It’s actually cool to be gay or have experimented with it among some.
Contraception plays into that, because while some people crossed the line in the old days, they knew that there were certain risks they were taking. Probably some people thought twice in the old days, so that fewer people crossed that line.
Nowadays, people talk openly about their birth control methods, as if it’s a given that of course they have sex with their boyfriends. And as we see with the recent debates about birth control in health plans, many today see access to birth control as some unalienable right.
Heck, if you even ask the question, about why a young healthy unmarried college girl needs to be on the pill in the first place, you get flamed badly, even on a conservative leaning site such as this one.
Contraceptive sex activity is fundamentally no different from homosexual activity. The only advantage heterosexuals have is that their behavior is easier to modify.
This truth has to be delivered with compassion... Or Western Civilization drives itself over a demographic cliff.
The LCMS is quietly trying to present again its old teaching on chemical birth control, but many in the pews get very angry if it is preached on Sunday.
> Contraception was designed to limited population growth.
Contraception is the same spirit as Abortion: destruction of God’s greatest blessings.
See my tag line.
By the way, God’s penultimate blessing is, “I will multiply your generations.”
God’s penultimate curse is, “I will cut off your seed.”
Many people today, even Christians, are rejecting the blessing and volunteering for the curse.
Chesterton on birth control/population control: In 1925 Chesterton wrote an introduction to Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol in which he said that The answer to anyone who talks about the surplus population is to ask him, whether he is part of the surplus population; or if not, how he knows he is not.
Yes, as a mother of five, I can attest that children are indeed blessings. Although I hear of people who get attacked for large families, this has not been my experience. To the contrary, I have had numerous people tell me that they wish they had had more children. One lady just last week told me that not having more children was her greatest regret. I seem to be a magnet for these types of confidences, even from people I barely know. It’s hard to know what to say to people who say this, as it is a regret that can’t be repaired once you get past a certain age. I guess the best thing to do is to make sure young married couples understand the joy that children bring and that they resist the culture of fear that mainstream society brings to childbearing.
Yes, so have I. And many more who feel compelled, simply by my existence, to explain why they don't have more children than they do. To the ones who talk about health issues, I respond, "I'm very fortunate to have good health," and to the ones who mention money I say, "People choose different priorities."
Those are good responses. I want to console them that one day they will have grandchildren, but that seems to be insulting to some people also! So I usually just say something like I am really happy to have a large family.
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