Well, that kind of rules out NFP, doesn’t it?
Funny, when God pronounced the curse on Adam and Eve, He said that Eve's conception would greatly increase. IOW, before the fall, most of sex would NOT have been for the purpose of having children.
All the versions other than King James reads increase your pain of childbirth. Doesn’t have anything to so with the frequency of conception or whether the sex was primarily recreational vs reproductive.
**Well, that kind of rules out NFP, doesn’t it?** No it doesn’t. Please read up on Natural Family Planning.
Throughout history, Catholics have made better art than Protestants especially where the beauty and celebration of the human body is involved. Both clothed and nude. - Tour through Europe and bask in the reverent merging of the sensual and the sacred in the greatest works of Western art. Sistine Chapel anyone?
Catholic cultures also tend to be more comfortable with dance, touch, and affection (both romantic and platonic) in ways that Puritanical cultures to their detriment are not.
You don’t need to be Catholic to hold a pro-life view on sex. I know of Protestants with beautiful marriages and families who do.
In fact, Protestants historically held the SAME stance with regard to artificial contraception. It was not until the 1931 Lambeth Conference for example, that the Church of England changed its doctrine on the matter — as the Western world embarked upon its slippery slope down the culture of abortion and sexual chaos.
Make no mistake, the contraceptive mentality is spiritual poison and is at the *root* of the sexual brokenness, gender identity crises, and dysfunction plaguing much of modern society. The papal encyclical “Humanae Vitae” explains why in philosophical and logical terms. Even just physically speaking, the pill has wreaked havoc on so many women’s bodies and mental health.
At heart this is an issue of “faith alone” in “God alone.” I find it strange Protestants apply this to something as overwhelmingly encompassing as salvation, but then put a caveat with regard to sex.
Do we entrust God with our sex lives or not. Do we trust God with our wombs or not. The pill, the condom, these are all designed as buffers against God.
Is it not *sexier* to take the leap of faith than to plan children out like financial line items spread out over an Excel spread sheet? (I was at a Bible study and this was how a newlywed couple’s perspective on their future children sounded like. Just a bunch of bills. “Planned parenthood” in its truest sense: a long term secular life insurance policy with some children thrown in. Nil mention of what God may want.)
So unsexy.
::Facepalm:: That's not what it means at all.
It means originally the gestation period was very short. According to the midrash, Adam and Eve had sex twice on the day they were created leading, first to Cain and a twin sister, then to Abel and two "twin" sisters.
The punishment was pain in childbirth and the long gestation period we now know.
People really should learn to read the Bible before making such comments. The Bible--not a translation.
So children really are a punishment for God? The Fall ended recreational sex, apparently, so impregnation’s heightened likelihood was part of the punishment.
Funny, when God pronounced the curse on Adam and Eve, He said that Eve’s conception would greatly increase. IOW, before the fall, most of sex would NOT have been for the purpose of having children.
HMMMmmm…
Genesis 3:16
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
And; it is still true today!
1 Corinthians 7:5-9 NIV
5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.