Posted on 05/25/2006 9:14:50 PM PDT by nrfcmedia
"Birth Control Is Selfish" ... The Message Society Doesn't Want To Hear
This past weekend graduates of Saint Thomas University were treated to a surprising speech by 21-year-old graduating student Ben Kessler. Some graduates walked out, many jeered, and others spewed profanities in response to his speech.
Just what did he speak of which caused such an outcry? The War in Iraq? Border control? NSA spying? None of the above.
So, what exactly did Mr. Kessler do wrong? He touched society's third rail: contraception. Mr. Kessler had the audacity to call the use of birth control "an act of selfishness."
One would have expected some encouraging applause from the audience, after all St. Thomas is a Catholic institution. The reality is that many of these Catholic students and family members are themselves using contraception, and Mr. Kessler confronted their lifestyle and the use of contraception.
Mr. Kessler dared to speak about this issue and people didn't want to hear his message. What happened to the exchange of ideas universities are famous for? Where were all of the supposed "open minds" at during this speech? Instead of listening to his speech with an open mind, it seems that they were too busy keeping themselves ignorant by jeering and ridiculing him.
Society has a lust affair with birth control to the point of not being able to think outside of the box. We live in a contraception "matrix" where it's impossible to believe that there are any harmful effects on marriage, society, and the health of women.
This "contraception deception" is the primary force behind the attacks against the contra-contraception message.
For the most part, society doesn't want to hear the message. This message is that, in our culture, contraception leads to increases in abortion, teenage sex, affairs (and subsequent divorce), health problems, and statutory rape. These facts are apparent by simply comparing statistics.
Why are people willfully preserving their ignorance? For the past century, people have lived in a society that endorses the practice of a contraceptive lifestyle of easy, commitment free, and on-demand sex without challenging them to question possible adverse effects.
Mr. Kessler could have spoke about the start of a career, the discernment of a vocation, the undertaking of new responsibilities, or many other subjects related to graduation. But hopefully his bold message will help to his classmates to question the force-fed information they have heard all their lives concerning human sexuality and contraception and arrive at a more natural, healthier view of human sexuality.
The contraception debate is long overdue, and it is people like Mr. Kessler who are breaking down the walls of ignorance, selfishness, and deception. Society may be resistant to this message, but over time the truth will prevail.
your going to need a better sales pitch than that!
This is America, few parents deliberately raise paupers.
I don't think it is selfish for to use birth control (depending on the type used, of course). I do think people should abstain from having sex until they are married. I'm sure that would have gotten jeers as well.
That's either a lie you've been taught or a misconception on your part. As you can see below, this passage from Proverbs is saying:
1) Sexual intercourse isn't just for procreation, it's for pleasure within the confines of marriage.
2) It's not wholly about pleasure either, and you should be responsible about it.
3) Promiscuity is alway damaging. Sex-on-demand just doesn't hold up to the real-deal. It's a pale parody/shadow of something much greater.
Proverbs 5:18-20 (King James Version)
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Yep. It's also a personal or religious decision to proclaim using birth control to be selfish.
On-demand sex is ONE problem. Irresponsible childbearing is another problem. Selfish deliberate sterility is yet another problem. And we could go on and on.
I give the speaker credit for taking on any or all of them. People won't "get it," though, if they don't have a positive ideal of marital sexual love.
The "thou shalt nots" are like pickets in a picket fence. They look mean-spirited and meaningless unless people see what's INSIDE the fence: what it is which is so precious, so beautiful, so necessary and so valuable, which we are trying to protect.
By "individual choice" I hope you mean married couple choice.
If NFP really works, then why do the calls for more children focus on artifical contraception? Even if people turned away from using artifical contraception in favor of NFP, wouldn't we have the same population problem in the West?
OK, but I don't join in that kind of meddling. If that's where the train is going, I'll jump off. :~D
Ben Kessler, 21, of Janesville, Wis., was invited to speak at Saturday's commencement because he received the 2006 Tommie Award, which is given to a distinguished senior by a vote of students, staff and faculty. Kessler is an academic All-America football player who plans to be a priest.
So he was picked by a vote to give the talk. They evidently invited him to address whatever he thought was most important.
The one part that doesn't make sense to me is that (according to the Chicago Sun-Times) he later apologized to all those who were offended. He must have known people would be offended before he decided on his topics. In the light of that, an apology seems kind of lame.
I imagine it's because underage girls are more likely to have condom-ized sex with older guys: they think they're not facing the risk of unintended pregnancy. What with the slip-rip-and-drip factor, they all too often end up infected and pregnant too. False sense of invulnerability = more risk-taking. Bad situation all around.
Why?
Did Kessler say trhat? Did anybody on FR say that? Did anyone imply that? Does it follow logically?
Or is that what we can call a straw-man argument?
LOL
"1964 called. It wants it's argument back."
It also wants its reduced crime rate, reduced divorce rate, and higher rate of married parents back too.
Ahhh, the good old days, when people actually got married BEFORE starting a family, if at all, and then actually stayed together! When I wouldn't have been afraid to let my let my daughter ride her bike or take a walk around the block. Ya know what, I wasn't even born in 1964 yet, but man do I feel like I got jipped. Call me old fashioned, but I sure feel like I was born in the twilight zone. Even when I was a little girl, we didn't have to be afraid of all the things we have to MAKE our children afraid of today. I wish my daughter could have a worry free childhood, one without predators, and god knows what else is out there, and shes only 9. Just wait until she's older! It's really a shame!
I think underage girls today are more likely to have unprotected sex. Girls today are becoming more and more ignorant. We are ending up with so many unintended pregnancies and the STD rate has skyrocketed. It is such a shame, but these girls are started to have the mentality that "it won't happen to me". It's a really scary attidude to have, especially in todays world.
you can't tell fourteen yearolds to keep it zipped up, and you want to try that with married couples?
It's sad that in your strange little world any disagreement is instantly taken as a personal attack.
There. Fixed it...
Antoninus, Pyro, LJ: All very good Points!!! 8^)
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