Hemann: "If one has met the obligations of social justice to provide posterity, it is perfectly licit to avoid having additional children to afford material things."
What does God have to say??
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Genesis 9:1
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
Genesis 9:7
And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it."
Genesis 35:11
Also God said to him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
Etc., etc.,etc.
I have trouble seeing how avoiding children fulfills this command. Does God not open and close the womb? Is it excusable to disobey God's command in order to avoid going on welfare?? In God's view there is no such thing as "licit" or "illicit". There is only obediance or disobediance. God cares nothing about the laws of man, only His own Holy and loving commands.
BTW, I notice Biblical evidence is very sparse on this thread. Much opinion but little evidence...
First, I am thrilled to see a Protestant (you are evidently not familiar with the Catholic Church's view on Mary's immaculacy, something we are not going to debate on this thread) posting from a pro-life position on contraception.
I am not clear what exactly youe view is. I am not in full agreement with Hermann's "social obligation" theory, so to argue that you need to wait for his reply.
Generally, Catholics do not expect the teaching to necessarily come directly and quotable from the Bible. We are content to obey the Church who has an apostolic authority to teach on any matter (something, again, better left for another thread).
Lastly, the Catholic teaching on family planning never contradicts the commandment to be fruitful. Remember, it is a distortion of the teaching to view it as a contraception method. Contraception is, of course, explicitly forbidden in the Bible through the Onan episode. NFP teaches that it is OK to abstain from sex periodically, if the commandment to be fruitful is otherwise satisfied. We see many episodes from the Bible when couples abstained form sex, for example, because they traveled or went to war. We do not have an example of a couple licitly abstaining from sex in order to not have any more children, because such desire would not manifest itself in an argicultural economy where every child is a working hand in the family enterprise. (There was, I beleive, an incident of voluntary abstinence between Jacob and Leah, but it is problematic to treat that as a positive example, -- I'll check when I find time)
We have ample advice to be chaste in the Gospel, see for example, the discourse of Jesus regarding the voluntary eunuchs, numerous references to either celibacy or marital chastity in the Epistles. Let me know if you need the verse references; most people familar with the New Testament are familiar with them.
The early church practice included chaste, and often celibate priesthood and monasticism; the early Christians prided themselves on being continent in all they did. Those you may or may not be familiar with, let me know if you need patristic references.
Generally, I think it would help if you separated in your mind issues of NFP, on which, I think, you have already gotten plenty clarification, from an overall discomfort with Catholicism, which would be a distraction on this thread. I, and others, will be happy to explain the Catholic view on the Church authority, Mary, or any other matter when the thread is appropriate for such a broad topic.