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Either Stop Contraception or Destroy the Family
http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Family/Family_007.htm ^ | unknown | Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Posted on 03/29/2009 3:25:06 PM PDT by stfassisi

God in His mercy allows evil that greater good may come as a result of the evil. He has allowed contraception to plague the modern world so that we may repent and return to our Father’s house.

I have deliberately stated the title of this conference in uncompromising language: “Either we stop contraception or we destroy the family.” This is a warning to all of us, married and single, the laity and the clergy, bishops, priests, deacons, and religious, parents and children.

Why do I say this? Because, in greater or less measure, it has been the infidelity of so many professed Catholics in every state of life, which has contributed to the disappearance of the family in once Christian cultures of the modern world.

My plan, therefore, is to cover several aspects of this historic subject. There will be a series of statements followed by clear explanations and then what I hope will be an uncompromising conclusion.

Since the Incarnation, Christianity is the Foundation of the Family.

Contraception undermines the Foundation of the Family.

To preserve the Family, Christianity must be restored in the modern world.

Since the Incarnation, Christianity is the Foundation of the Family It may seem strange to say that “Since the Incarnation, Christianity is the foundation of the family.”

What makes it sound strange is that the coming of Christ is so widely underestimated. When God became Man, He did more than die on the Cross to redeem a sinful world.

By His Incarnation, the God-man revealed to the whole human race such truths of faith and morality as had never been known before since the beginning of the world.

Among these truths which the Son of God revealed, the central truth was the truth of love.

That God is Love; the eternal Love of the Holy Trinity.

That out of love, God created man out of nothing.

That out of love, God gives us a free will to express our love for Him and thereby reach our heavenly destiny.

That out of love, God put other people into our lives, so that by loving them we might prove our love for Him.

That out of love, God became Man to die for us and gives us the privilege of dying to ourselves out of love for those whom He places into our lives. It was not coincidental but divinely ordained that, when God became Man, He became a member of a family.

It was divinely ordained that, the Incarnate God made monogamy binding on all His married followers; one man with one woman, faithful to each other in marital chastity until death.

It was divinely ordained that, Christ should have instituted the vocation of celibacy or consecrated chastity. Why? To show His married followers the power of divine grace in controlling the desires of the flesh.

It was not coincidental but divinely ordained that His followers would master even their disorderly thoughts and sexually perverse desires.

So far from taking back the Old Testament precept to, “Increase and multiply,” the Savior told His followers to, “Let the children come unto me, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God.” Indeed, we adults need children to inspire us to become as little ones in humility, and thus enter the Kingdom of heaven.

How, then, is Christianity the foundation of the family? It is the foundation of the family in teaching and providing grace for the practice of selfless love. Without love, the family either does not exist; or if it exists, it will be destroyed.

Contraception Undermines the Foundation of the Family Those who practice contraception can be militant in their claim that contraception does not undermine the foundation of the family.

They will give every conceivable reason for practicing artificial birth control:

the pressure of conformity to the practice of married people in today’s society.

the economic pressure of keeping up one’s standard of living with each additional child.

the social pressure of being told by other married people, “What, another child?” as though the pregnancy of a wife was something out of order, or motherhood a liability on society.

the political system of a nation, which discourages larger families and penalizes those who have children. In Russia, during the 70 years of Communist occupation, the average number of abortions each year was 16 million, and houses were built like prison cells, to house no more than two children per couple. Now in Red China, the law forbids a woman having more than one child.

the social structure of a nation, which favors feminism, discourages women from having children so they can be “productive for the people”. Thus in our country, the majority of employed persons in every sector of business and industry. This works havoc with even wanting a family. It encourages late marriages with their high percentage of sterility. At the root of these factors, which undermine the family, is the contraceptive mentality.

In order to bring out in stark contrast, the teaching of Christ on selfless charity and the selfish philosophy of the contraceptive mentality, it will be worth looking at each with absolute frankness and sincerity.

The Teaching of Christ. The words of God became Man could not be plainer:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

“Greater love than this has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

“These things I command you, that you have love for one another.” (John 15:17). By this, He tells us, shall all men know that we are Christ’s disciples, if we have love for one another.

So literally did the early Christians take Christ’s teaching that this selfless love which they had for one another was the single principal reason for the marvelous conversion of so many pagans to Christianity.

One thing should be added, however, the selfless love of the early Christians was especially manifest in their strong family life.

Do I say strong family life? There was no family life until Christianity began to convert the Roman Empire.

As Christianity took root, not only contraception disappeared among the followers of Christ, but abortion, and divorce, and infanticide.

The verdict of history is absolutely clear. As Christianity, true, honest-to- Christ Christianity takes root among a people, contraception and its allied evils are removed.

Why? Because, as Christ tells us, there can be no compromise between Him and the world. We either accept Him and reject the contraceptive selfishness of the world; or we give in to the seductions of the world and write books defending contraception as just another moral option. For anyone who really believes in Jesus Christ, contraception is a mortal sin.

The Contraceptive Mentality. In contradiction to the teaching of Christ, the contraceptive mentality sees nothing wrong in artificial birth control.

Once Christianity was established in the Mediterranean world, the practice of contraception - along with abortion and infanticide - ceased among believing Christians. This for the best of reasons: because from the first century of Christianity, already by the year 90 A.D., contraception was denounced by the Church as a grave sin against God.

For the next 1,800 years, even among those separated from Rome, contraception was generally forbidden until the present century.

Then two things happened. A chemical means of preventing conception was discovered, and the Protestant Church of England approved contraception for its members.

Given the tremendous influence of Anglican Protestantism on Anglo-Saxons Catholics, before long many Catholics began to practice contraception.

By 1968, the situation became so grave that Pope Paul VI issued in July of that year his historic encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemning contraception.

This was right after the close of the Second Vatican Council. Dissenters from the Church’s teaching erroneously used the council to support the idea of bishops being independent of the Pope.

When Humanae Vitae was published, the bishop’s conferences of most countries throughout the world met to vote on the binding character of Humanae Vitae. About half the bishops supported the Pope, while another half did not. Among the countries whose bishops left contraception open to the consciences of the people were the United States, Canada, France and Germany.

Inevitably the faithful in large parts of the Catholic world were confused.

All of this is part of the history of what we are calling “the contraceptive mentality”.

As might have been expected, at the Cairo meeting of the United Nations, the agents of evil were almost unanimous in their claims that:

the world is becoming overpopulated.

the alleged underdeveloped countries must be kept from growing in numbers by contraception, sterilization, and abortion. The only world representative at Cairo to oppose this contraceptive-homicidal plot was the Vatican.

Christianity Must Be Restored All that we have said so far leads to a sobering conclusion. The propagation of Christ’s teaching in today’s world is imperative as never before.

What am I saying? I am saying that the day is gone when we can think of evangelization as something merely good. Oh no! Evangelization of the world, including our own American world, is a dire necessity.

God is not mocked. When He became Man, He did not leave us the pleasant option of either proclaiming His Gospel or not. He said, in the imperative mood, “Proclaim the Gospel to all nations … Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

With the spread of the contraceptive plague, and its murderous consequences, we see something more evil taking place in our day than ever before. We see whole nations losing their grip on sound morality, and even the rudiments of the natural law.

Whole countries are going morally insane and crazed in their ethical thinking, as seen in the irrational laws they make to bind their people contrary to the most elementary prescriptions of the living God.

In the early Church, Christianity was given a name that is all the more meaningful today.

“Christians,” it was said, “are the soul of the world.” In Latin, “Christiani sunt anima mundi.” So we are. And we had better wake up to our God-given responsibility.

What the human soul is to the body, giving it life and rational power, we Christians are to the world in which we live.

In a deeper sense than we can fathom, because it is a mystery, the world without Christianity is a cadaver.

That is why God became Man, as St. John tells us. He is the Light of the world. He is the Life of the world. He is the Truth, without whom the world is walking in darkness and the shadow of death.

But Christ tells us that we are to bring His light to the world. We are to provide His life for the world.

If we do, and in the measure that we do, we shall restore stability and peaceful unity not only to our families, but to our parishes and dioceses as well.

Where a person stands on contraception is a good test of his (or her) authenticity as a Catholic.

The reason, as we have seen, is that at the root of the evil of contraception is selfishness. But the foundation of Christianity is the love of others out of love for God.

I am almost finished, but not quite. All of us, young and old, bishops, priests, clerics, religious and the laity have one basic obligation in life: to grow in the likeness of Christ by following His example of selfless charity.

But selfless charity is impossible without the Cross. Love and pain go together as condition and consequence. If I really love someone, including the unborn children that I can bring into the world, I am willing to pay the price of my love, which is pain.

That is why, over the years, I have come to define paganism as “Christianity without the Cross.”

We are truly followers of Christ, as genuine disciples of His Gospel, as really in love with Him - as we love the Crosses He puts into our lives, which generally have people’s names!

Prayer Lord Jesus, teach us the hardest lesson in life we have to learn, to love others as you have loved us. This means that we accept suffering for others, even as you chose to suffer for us.

If we live, in this way, dear Jesus, we shall expiate the crimes of abortion and infanticide, whose roots are selfish contraception. We shall obtain for families the graces they need to live together in stable harmony and peaceful love. All of this we ask through your Mother, the Mother of the Holy Family and the spiritual Mother of the human family. Amen.


TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: birthrate; catholic; contraception; prolife
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To: stfassisi

I’m ambivalent.

Using contraception to space or delay childbearing is not destroying the family. As a Catholic I would prefer my patients to use natural methods, but most of my patients weren’t Catholic, and alas there was no “couple to couple” league in the US to teach them natural family planning.

But the “culture of contraception” that sees children as a burden to be eliminated and sees sex as an activity that has no moral strings attached is what is killing the family.


81 posted on 03/30/2009 4:19:51 PM PDT by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
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To: LadyDoc
sing contraception to space or delay childbearing is not destroying the family. As a Catholic I would prefer my patients to use natural methods, but most of my patients weren’t Catholic, and alas there was no “couple to couple” league in the US to teach them natural family planning

Why do you elevate your own opinion above the dogmatic teaching of the Church on contraception?

Dogmatic teaching means it was given to us by Christ,so when you tell other to use contraception you are saying Christ is wrong and teaching others to do the same

82 posted on 03/30/2009 5:02:50 PM PDT by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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To: vladimir998

Vlad - if you want to be taken seriously you won’t be so cryptic about what “kind” of work you do that lends itself to your being so in the know about these supposedly small numbers of people that do not have medical reasons for using birth control.

I would submit to you that it is much, much larger than you think.

The bottom line is I do not think contraception is sinful.

And you are right, I do get emotional about arguments like this. There is nothing wrong with passion and passion makes one emotional.

As for your claim that my friend with MS is not relevant to this exchange, she absolutely is, because she is exactly the type of individual who falls into the category of people that you believe is so minute.

I am not avoiding any point here. As for outwardly intelligent, I am claiming no such thing. My friends know who I am and my qualities, regarding intelligence, charity, loyalty, and whatever qualities that would involve my character. You, on the otherhand, are claiming a form of righteousness by declaring that “contraception is a sin. period.” I bet people just flock to be around you when you spout all your beliefs.

While I assume you don’t follow the sinful practice of “contraception,” I wonder if you think the overt sins you do commit, or the sins you commit by omission, are somewhow less egregious than the evils of using birth control.

I am not pretending that you are less a Christian than I am only that YOU are taking a superior position over Christians who do not believe it is a sin.

Comments such as “I’m sure I know more than you do” are hilarious on sites such as this where you can pretend whatever fantasy you want. I’m sure you also have model good looks and have a body toned to perfection as well and have the voice of angels, 20/20 vision, etc. etc.


83 posted on 03/30/2009 5:32:11 PM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: vladimir998

Okay - so you know all about it, Vlad. Post some hard stats and fact to support your position. I know you won’t b/c you don’t have them, just like you refuse to say what “you do.”


84 posted on 03/30/2009 5:34:53 PM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: stfassisi

Helen Burnett, my Mama and a Baptist preacher’s wife, was adamant in reminding us that the Lord will never give us more burdens than we can bear. But — Jesus fervently prayed that the “cup” that He knew He would bear be lifted, And He sure didn’t harm Himself or climb up on the cross and drive in the first nail.

As I said, God is love. He is not pain.


85 posted on 03/30/2009 5:48:08 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: vladimir998

Good teachers that I trust because their own history of rightly dividing the word - by not the church - as well as my own reading, has led me to disagree with your interpretation. For one thing, you equate the Lord’s blessing with His command to the animals.


86 posted on 03/30/2009 5:58:15 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: Campion
Innovation, pure and simple.

I have never disagreed with anything you've said as much as I disagree with this post, K. You are not defending the faith of the Fathers, nor the faith of the ancient church. You are defending a modern innovation and a derogation from the true Christian doctrine concerning sex.

Ummm . . .

No. Better not.

87 posted on 03/30/2009 6:07:10 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Hinneh 'Anokhi sholeach lakhem 'et 'Eliyyah HaNavi'; lifney bo' Yom HaShem HaGadol veHaNora'.)
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To: Paved Paradise

You wrote:

“Vlad - if you want to be taken seriously you won’t be so cryptic about what “kind” of work you do that lends itself to your being so in the know about these supposedly small numbers of people that do not have medical reasons for using birth control.”

Whether or not you take me seriously because I choose to protect my privacy, is not important to me. I don’t ask people here what they do, where they live, their real names, or addresses or anything else like that. I honor the privacy of people. Honor mine or move on.

“I would submit to you that it is much, much larger than you think.”

That would be, “much larger than you KNOW” and you’re still wrong.

“The bottom line is I do not think contraception is sinful.”

Christianity disagrees.

“And you are right, I do get emotional about arguments like this. There is nothing wrong with passion and passion makes one emotional.”

Incorrect. Passion does not necessitate the absence or loss of reason. When someone gets emotional they lose their reason. Be as passionate as you want. Being emotional is not being passionate. Being emotional is being uncontrolled.

“As for your claim that my friend with MS is not relevant to this exchange, she absolutely is, because she is exactly the type of individual who falls into the category of people that you believe is so minute.”

No. In post #56 I wrote this: “I didn’t mention it because it was completely irrelevant to what I was addressing.”

You’re whinning that I didn’t address you’re completely irrelevant comment about your friend. You wrote (now): “...because she is exactly the type of individual who falls into the category of people that you believe is so minute.”

Here is what I said in post #55: “Yeah, but only a small number at best, however. Most women use birth control BECAUSE it’s birth control.”

You original point was this: “Some people use contraception b/c the mother’s health is already in jeopardy (e.g. my friend with MS).”

In other words, I was absolutely correct and still am. Your friend’s choice to use birth control is ONE case and does nothing to disprove “Yeah, but only a small number at best, however. Most women use birth control BECAUSE it’s birth control.”

Again, it’s irrelevant.

“I am not avoiding any point here. As for outwardly intelligent, I am claiming no such thing. My friends know who I am and my qualities, regarding intelligence, charity, loyalty, and whatever qualities that would involve my character. You, on the otherhand, are claiming a form of righteousness by declaring that “contraception is a sin. period.””

No. CHRISTIANITY has always declared contraception to be sinful. I pointed that out earlier and even mentioned a book that makes that abundantly clear - a book you of course have never read and never heard of either. All you have on this issue is a friend with MS whose situation you mistakenly want to extrapolate to many more than actually exist.

“I bet people just flock to be around you when you spout all your beliefs.”

You would be surprised. And again, we see is personal attacks from you.

“While I assume you don’t follow the sinful practice of “contraception,” I wonder if you think the overt sins you do commit, or the sins you commit by omission, are somewhow less egregious than the evils of using birth control.”

Some are, some aren’t. In no case, however, do I claim that sin is not sin just because I want to excuse my own sinfulness. That’s what you’re doing. I’m far from perfect. My imperfection doesn’t keep me from recognizing or acknowledging the truth.

“I am not pretending that you are less a Christian than I am only that YOU are taking a superior position over Christians who do not believe it is a sin.”

No. CHRISTIANITY says it is sinful. There is no superiority on anyone’s part to simply state that truth. Up is still up. Down is still down. See, you repeatedly make this about your feelings. I told you you were emotional about this and you’re proving it. When you say something like “YOU are taking a superior position over Christians who do not believe it is a sin” you make yourself sound like a hurt child hiding a corner. Grow up! Christianity says birth control is wrong. Period. It always has and it always will. Period. Only those sects who have deviated from orthodox Christianity teach or think differently and that’s usually because of purely subjective, emotionally driven, convenience seeking, FEELINGS.

“Comments such as “I’m sure I know more than you do” are hilarious on sites such as this where you can pretend whatever fantasy you want.”

Let’s try again, then. Have you read Provan’s book? No, you never heard of it, right? Did you know ALL Christian groups - everywhere in the world - of any notable size and standing all condemned contraception AND THAT INCLUDES PROTESTANTS until just a few decades ago? No, apparently you knew none of that. I have researched this issue since l995. How about you? Have you read even a single book on it? Even one? No, apparently not.

“I’m sure you also have model good looks and have a body toned to perfection as well and have the voice of angels, 20/20 vision, etc. etc.”

I wish I did. In reality I don’t expect to be on this earth for too much longer with my health the way it is - maybe I will have the voice of an angel soon by default! What I do have is a great deal of knowledge and an active interaction with many people everyday (in real life I mean, not online) about some of the most challenging issues of the day: life, death, birth, out of wedlock pregnancies, divorces, problem kids who got that way because of divorce, atheism, Obama supporters, agnostics, fervant Christians, converts, backsliders, etc., etc. If you find it offensive that I am not afraid to admit I know more than you obviously do on this subject, well, too bad. Get used to it.

Talk about something I know nothing about instead. I know NOTHING about the television show Gossip Girl. Why don’t you talk about that somewhere around here?


88 posted on 03/30/2009 6:22:37 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: Paved Paradise

You wrote:

“Okay - so you know all about it, Vlad. Post some hard stats and fact to support your position.”

Why don’t you post some hard stats that disprove what I said? Again, if only two or three percent of abortions are for medical reasons what does that tell you?

“I know you won’t b/c you don’t have them, just like you refuse to say what “you do.””

I NEVER tell anyone what I do, or where I live, or my age, or any other personal information. If you don’t like it, too bad. Get used to it.


89 posted on 03/30/2009 6:25:06 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: hocndoc

“dividing the word, *but* not the church.”


90 posted on 03/30/2009 6:25:20 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: hocndoc

You wrote:

“Good teachers that I trust because their own history of rightly dividing the word - by not the church - as well as my own reading, has led me to disagree with your interpretation. For one thing, you equate the Lord’s blessing with His command to the animals.”

The word is an imperative. Imperatives are commands. End of story. No good teacher would tell you an imperative is NOT a command. Only someone who wanted you to be ignorant of the truth would tell you that.

You can’t rightly divide the word by ignoring what it actually says. I like how the Stone Edition of The Chumash puts it, “Later (v.28), with relation to Man, it was also a commandment that he engage in procreation.” (page 7).


91 posted on 03/30/2009 6:31:15 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: stfassisi

The Billions of Orthodox, Baptist and others who practice contraception but would never consider abortion or infidelty disprove your opinion.
Orthodoxy is arguably older and practicing closer to way of the early church.


92 posted on 03/30/2009 6:37:27 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: vladimir998

The Word explicitly reports that the Lord “blessed” them.
The rest is disputing over the form of a verb rather than the verb, itself.
It is a sad shame to call “ignorant”.


93 posted on 03/30/2009 6:50:03 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: hocndoc

You wrote:

“The Word explicitly reports that the Lord “blessed” them.”

Yep...and He commanded them too.

“The rest is disputing over the form of a verb rather than the verb, itself.”

Imperative. Means command. Period.

“It is a sad shame to call “ignorant”.”

Imperative. Remember that.


94 posted on 03/30/2009 7:17:13 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: vladimir998

Did you know that the Catholic Church didn’t believe life began until birth until just about a century ago?

Compare St Jerome with Tertullian and Augustine.

There are some strong Scriptural arguments that contraception isn’t sinful.

It is sinful to promote sexual immorality or to condone it.


95 posted on 03/30/2009 7:25:58 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: hocndoc
And He sure didn’t harm Himself or climb up on the cross and drive in the first nail.

True, that, but consider this:

Mat 26:53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?"

He knew what was coming for him, yet He went voluntarily to that end. So it might be more accurate to say that He was not a masochist. And He did know what was coming: Read Isa 53

96 posted on 03/30/2009 7:29:40 PM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
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To: markomalley

Yes, as I said, “Jesus fervently prayed that the “cup” that *He knew He would bear* be lifted”


97 posted on 03/30/2009 9:51:05 PM PDT by hocndoc (http://www.LifeEthics.org (I've got a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it.))
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To: Cvengr

You wrote:

“Did you know that the Catholic Church didn’t believe life began until birth until just about a century ago?”

You’re completely wrong. Although different men had different ideas as to when the “quickening” happened, even in the Middle Ages Catholics believed babies were alive at least 90 days in gestation.

“Compare St Jerome with Tertullian and Augustine.”

Okay: St. Jerome:

St Jerome c 342-420 said

“They drink potions to ensure sterility and are guilty of murdering a human being not yet conceived. Some, when they learn that they are with child through sin, practice abortion by the use of drugs. Frequently they die themselves and are brought before the rulers of the lower world guilty of three crimes: suicide, adultery against Christ, and murder of an unborn child.” -Letter 22:13

And your point is what?

Tertullian:

The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul, Chapter XXXVII. On the Formation and State of the Embryo, “The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being”, Grand Rapids, 1971.

And your point is what?

And that old canard about St. Augustine won’t work so don’t even try it.

“There are some strong Scriptural arguments that contraception isn’t sinful.”

Actually there are NONE. That’s why no one saw any there until the 20th century.

“It is sinful to promote sexual immorality or to condone it.”

And use of contraception as such is sexual immorality.


98 posted on 03/31/2009 3:56:04 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: hocndoc; vladimir998
“”The Billions of Orthodox, Baptist and others who practice contraception but would never consider abortion or infidelty disprove your opinion.
Orthodoxy is arguably older and practicing closer to way of the early church.””

For one thing,there are not Billions of Orthodox practicing contraception,there is around 250 million and it's ridiculous to make a statement that all of them practice contraception.

As for the early Church regarding contraception....

The following is excerpted from vladimir998’s link on post 58

EARLY CHURCH RECOGNITION OF THE EVIL OF CONTRACEPTION

The historical record shows that even the very earliest Ecumenical Councils and Synods had to deal with the problem of abortion and contraception. The Fathers of those Councils were unequivocal in their condemnation, as illustrated by the following written affirmations:
“Concerning women who commit fornication, and destroy that which they have conceived, or who are employed in making drugs for abortion, a former decree excluded them until the hour of death, and to this some have assented. Nevertheless, being desirous to use somewhat greater lenity, we have ordained that they fulfill ten years [of penance], according to the prescribed degrees.” [Synod in Ancyra can. XXI (A.D. 314.)] 10
“Those who give drugs for procuring abortion, and those who receive poisons to kill the foetus, are subjected to the penalty of murder.” [Council in Trullo can. XCI. (A.D. 692)] 11
“Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years’ penance, whether the embryo were perfectly formed, or not.” [Can. II of St. Basil the Great] 12
In A.D. 191 St. Clement of Alexandria (a Greek theologian of considerable influence on the theological development of the early Church) referred to Onan’s evil act in these words:
“He broke the law of coitus.” 13 He went on to explain that “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.” 14
Origen — theologian of the early 3rd century Alexandrian Church — considered by many to be the most accomplished biblical scholar of the early church — refuted the teachings of the pagan philosopher Celsus by reference to God's people in the Old Testament:
“nor were there among them women who sold their beauty to anyone who wished to have sexual intercourse without offspring, and to cast contempt upon the nature of human generation.” 15
In the early Church it was clear that to have sexual intercourse without being open to offspring was to commit an evil act.

In A.D. 307 the Latin philosopher and apologist, Lactantius Firmianus, attested to the Christian belief that abstinence is the only licit means of limiting family size. He spoke of those who
“…complain of the scantiness of their means, and allege that they have not enough for bringing up more children, as though, in truth, their means were in [their] power... or God did not daily make the rich poor and the poor rich. Wherefore, if any one on any account of poverty shall be unable to bring up children, it is better to abstain from relations with his wife... the genital [generating] part of the body, as the name itself teaches, has been received by us for no other purpose than the generation of offspring..” 16
In A.D. 375, the Greek theologian St. Epiphanius of Salamis (who later became Bishop of Salamis) wrote against those who:
“…exercise genital acts, yet prevent the conceiving of children. Not in order to produce offspring, but to satisfy lust, are they eager for corruption.” 17
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AND OTHER GREAT CHURCH FATHERS

No Christian can challenge the moral and theological authority of the great St. John Chrysostum, the 4th century Patriarch of Constantinople. In a homily he preached in 391 A.D., this illustrious Father of the Church condemned both contraception and abortion:
“Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit, where there are medicines of sterility [oral contraceptives], where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well... Indeed, it is something worse than murder, and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gift of God and fight with his [natural] laws?... Yet such turpitude... the matter still seems indifferent to many men; even to many men having wives. In this indifference of the married men there is greater evil filth; for then poisons are prepared, not against the womb of a prostitute, but against your injured wife. Against her are these innumerable tricks”. 18
In another homily, St. John Chrysostom went on to say:
“The procreation of children in marriage is the ‘heritage’ and ‘reward’ of the Lord; a blessing of God (cf. Psalm 127:3). It is the natural result of the act of sexual intercourse in marriage, which is a sacred union through which God Himself joins the two together into ‘one flesh’ (Genesis 1-2, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Ephesians 5, et. al.). The procreation of children is not in itself the sole purpose of marriage, but a marriage without the desire for children, and the prayer to God to bear and nurture them, is contrary to the ‘sacrament of love.’” 19

99 posted on 03/31/2009 6:01:40 AM PDT by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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To: vladimir998

Hey, Vlad, we weren’t talking about abortions, contraception. So, your stats on 2-3 percent of abortions for medical reasons is meaningless in this context. I suppose now you’re going to tell me that preventing conception is abortion now.

Since you are the one trying to tell everyone they are WRONG for practicing contraception and what a terrible sin it is, I figured if you were really sincere, you’d be more than happy to show some evidence or facts.

As for never telling anyone what you do, I find that very interesting since you like telling everyone what TO do. And incidentally, nobody asked your name, your age, or where you live. Your occupation is pretty generic, unless next you’re going to tell me it’s sooo unique that just by saying what it is you do will give away some big secret clue about your identity. I am sitting here cracking up. You must be really important since just by giving away your “occupation” that provides you with so much insider medical info is going to tell us who you are.


100 posted on 03/31/2009 3:55:57 PM PDT by Paved Paradise
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