Posted on 10/23/2010 1:50:52 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
Until the Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930 no Christian denomination had ever said that contraception could ever be objectively right. The Washington Post, in an editorial on March 22, 1931, said of the Federal Council of Churches' endorsement of Lambeth:
It is impossible to reconcile the doctrine of the divine institution of marriage with any modernistic plan for the mechanical regulation of or suppression of human life. The Church must either reject the plain teachings of the Bible or reject schemes for the scientific production of human souls.
Carried to its logical conclusion, the committees report, if carried into effect, would sound the death knell of marriage as a holy institution by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality. The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be careful and restrained is preposterous.
And the question was... *How do you know WHY they’re childless?*
Seems to me that there is a lot of judgment going on unless you somehow know that to be a fact. Either you asked them or they volunteered the information to you. You can’t tell just by looking.
And considering that some people are childless because of infertility, it’d be a pretty crass thing to go up and ask them.
Well, then, they're totally screwed by your theology because there's no way of getting out of that condition.
Jesus said that if you look at a woman to lust after her in your heart, you've committed adultery with her already. That's no different in principle, because divorce also causes people to commit adultery.
This is what the works based religion of Catholicism will get you. Hell with no mercy from God.
FWIW, please provide Scripture verses to show where God distinguishes between mortal sin and venial sin.
You must be from another era. I was married in 2001. Today they have Viagra, Prep H, and the pill advertised everywhere. They have explicit sex acts on TV for children to see. Public figures publish daily "their bedroom habits". Nobodies volunteer "their bedroom habits" on Facebook, pictures and all. Today, people telling you that they use contraceptives is no longer considered "volunteering their bedroom habits".
Say hello to 2010, welcome to the chaos!
I don't either. It never comes up in any of the discussions I've ever had with people.
People who are infertile admit to that and people who use birth control don't announce it because of people like verdugo.
And you know what, verdugo, it's between them and God. It's nobody else's business. Not mine. Not goat granny's. And certainly not yours.
Who put you in place of God anyway? Instead of judging them, why don't you pray for them? They need that more by your judgment.
Protestants teach that everyone should read the Bible and interpret it for himself. As a result, they do not even agree within their own ranks as to just what is to be believed.
The truth is there is no such religion as Protestant, as each "Protestant" is just one person making up their own religion as they go along, they're all winging it, to themselves they are more infallible than a pope, they are their own god.
No point in discussing anything about the true Faith with a Protestant. If I were to correct the misunderstanding in ONE person for ONE question of life, there would still be millions of other errors to deal with in that ONE person.
Ones Protestants beliefs are unique to him, as Protestantism has no beliefs that require adherence, each Protestant basically invents his own church of one. That is not the case with Catholics. The Catholic Church has doctrines that are unchangeable, and a Catholic MUST believe them, or he is not a Catholic. PERIOD.
A Protestant can call themselves a Christian in a state of grace with a direct line to the Holy Ghost, even if they don't believe Christ is God.
A Catholic is a heretic if he denies one dogma. A Catholic who dies with one mortal sin (heresy is a mortal sin) goes to hell.
Protestantism is like a body care system that teaches that one must eat and exercise to live better. But they leave it up to the person to figure out the rest.
Catholicism is like a body care system that tells you that you must eat good food, what foods to eat, and in what quantities, and what foods MUST NEVER be eaten. It says that you must exercise, how much to exercise, and exactly what exercises to do, and which you MUST never do. And if you don't follow the most important teachings which are vital to your survival, you are no longer a Catholic.
He's not alone.
It's the only possible explanation of how you'd know such personal information about someone to judge them on it.
Actually, that one is pretty basic, and was accepted by all of Christianity for 1500 years:
"If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray."All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
See WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO MORTAL SIN?
For instance, St. Paul in Galatians (5:19-21) asserted, "It is obvious what proceeds from the flesh: lewd conduct, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outbursts of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I have warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!" (Cf. Rom 1:28-32; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Eph 4:3-8) Therefore, sacred Scripture explicitly identifies certain sins which kill the grace of God in our soul and deprive a person of eternal salvation.
See my PM.
We know lots of big families. You would be shocked how many “Christians” offer large families advice on family planning, unasked for. Including comments like, “We could never handle that many kids, that’s why we (fill in the blank - i.e., use the pill, got tubes tied, got “snipped,” etc.)”
I’ve witnessed it and been told about it too many times to just shrug it off. On this count, unfortunately, verdugo is absolutely right, even if his methods of sharing these truths may be counterproductive on a thread like this.
On the other hand, God only sent my wife and I three children. We always wanted a large family, so it is a cross we must bear. We know trad Catholics that just assume others with small families or no children contracept, and that is a sinful, judgmental assumption on their part.
The fertility police can be either well-meaning or downright rude. An encounter with them can be as simple as a shake of the head or as complex as lengthy inquiries about the proximity of the children's birthdays or unsolicited advice about the most effective methods of contraception.
One place where I frequently run into the fertility police is the grocery store. There, one woman called me crazy. Another nearly fainted in the soup aisle while I was shopping with my daughter Kathleen, then a month old. This distraught woman insisted on telling me what it was like to be the mother of not only a newborn but also of a three-year-old boy (the "curse" of the human race, as she put it). When I told her I also had a three-year-old son and six children in all, she started muttering to herself, "Six children, six children, six children...," and made a beeline away from me. She did not utter a peep to me in the cereal aisle.
Being open to new life and not cooperating with the contraceptive mentality of today's culture makes a Catholic parent a walking sign of contradiction. Apparently, seeing a family with more than two children causes a searing jab in the consciences of some people who had considered the issue of whether to have more children moot. Why else would complete strangers tell me their darkest secrets about using birth control, along with their reasons for avoiding having another child, some even graphically describing "cutting and burning those tubes"?
I think its no one’s business except for the people involved and really too personal a question to ask of a stranger...but at over 70, I don’t have a dog in this fight.. :O)
I hope that where your at the weather is as great as it is today in Michigan...perfect Indian summer..soon to become a grey nasty fall and winter....Michigan weather is not the best in the country.....some say we have 4 seasons, June, July, August and winter....others say we have 2 seasons, winter and road repairs.....GG
re: I think its no ones business except for the people involved and really too personal a question to ask of a stranger...but at over 70, I dont have a dog in this fight..
I agree with you, that’s why I don’t ask them. It is they who volunteer the information, as:
A) they see nothing wrong with using contraceptives
& think we are oddballs for having so many children
and others because
C) regret not having had more children, and are remorsefull of what they did, and want to talk to us about it.
I know this because the above is what they TELL US.
By the way, I’m a man.
The ads for erectile dysfunction are in bad taste but so were the ads for feminine hygiene products. At least now they call them feminine hygiene. Years back you were bombarded with Tampax, Kotex and new sanitary napkins and they were "for that time of month". BC pills were not advertised back when I was a young woman. They were new but we knew about it without having to watch it on TV.
Have a great day, the weather in Michigan right now is beautiful....GG
Hi again, you asked me about my thought on BC, a qustion that again is personal and no ones business....so thats why I didn’t answer, at my age I don’t have a dog in the BC debate, lucky me...:O)
INDEED.
I had my kids fairly close as we didn’t have the opportunity to start a family until our early thirties. (had to get married FIRST)
I could not believe the unbelievable rude comments made to me by perfect strangers during my third pregnancy about not knowing what causes “that” (meaning pregnancy).
We have early winter, mid-winter, late winter, and construction.
It was nice today and is supposed to be for a few more. We’re just a couple days behind you in weather since most of it comes from the west.
“majority of Christians”? Do even the majority of Catholics in the U.S. reject contraception?
As the father of 7 I can attest that alnmost every time I meet somebody new while with my children (or if discussion of chilkdren comes up as small talk) that person makes an overt remark about how many children I have. Most often the remarks are due to their surprise - and delight or disappointment that anyone would or could have such a large family. So I do understand - its a bit like seeing someone in a wheelchair in that people are simply not used to that reality and don’t know how to react.
The remarks fall into 2 attitudes:
1. Why do you have so many kids - why don’t you use birth control?
2. Wow that is wonderful, I have __ kids. Follwed by “Wish I could have had more” or “if I had it to do again I would have had more” or something similar.
So, yes, I know for certain many people who are childless due to birth control.
Also, it is pretty obvious that taking strong hormones for 10 years or more (often starting around age 17 or 18) to shut down a perfectly healthy reproductive system is bound to have some impact on the long term health of that same system once you decide you would like it to perform as designed.
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