again birth control can and does fail. Both birth control and natural family planning seek to avoid pregnancy, only the method differs. Whats so hard about that?
i guess its like the whole divorce annulment thing. Catholics dont see the hypocrisy in that one either.
Either seeking to avoid pregnancy is bad, in which case the method does not matter, or it is not.
A couple may be abstaining from sex, particularly around fertile times of month for very legitimate reasons. Maybe one of the partners is sick for example. The why behind it and the how matter.
It may seem subtle but there is a difference between adjusting ones behavior around the workings of nature and around the rhythms of our bodies and fertility as designed by God.
Versus making nature bend to our desires and will for whatever reason. Forcing nature to go against itself. To revolve around OUR pleasures and behavior. Installing an artificial device or drug to block what our bodies were created to do.
Natural family planning still keeps GOD at the altar. Artificial birth control puts SELF.
And annulment is a huge thing because marriage is more than a legal contract. It is a sacramental covenant made before God. A spiritual union was formed. Hence why its dissolution requires more than a few signed papers and money thrown around.
Sad how de-spiritualized so much of the Western world has become. And we wonder why there is so little contrast between the lives of non-believers and those of faith.
You are correct to point out the disconnect in what is allowed and what is not. My feeling is that children are a blessing from God - HE is who opens and closes the womb (Isa. 66:9). But, He expects us to act responsibly. There are many types of birth control that cause abortion (hormones and IUD) and some that don't (barrier methods, NPF, sterilization) though as you correctly said, they all have a chance of failure. My dad had a vasectomy after fathering five children but afterward he fathered two more!
I think ALL abortifacients SHOULD be rejected because they can cause a fertilized egg to not implant to the uterine wall and be expelled - the woman has no idea when it occurs - which cheapens the value of human life and blurs the line between it and abortion.