Making the case that the Catholic Church said something some years ago as an argument isn't really going to work for evangelicals. I don't understand why RCC and EO keep going to this well. Saying it is due to Western culture is just silly at this point. Of course I disagree with you on this.The Banned said:BusterAg said:
Thank you for this post. It was insightful.
I generally agree with the sentiment that it is better to trust God and not ourselves. But, I don't see contraceptives as sin. I'm not going to say anything bad about those that take the "I'll trust God" approach on kids, either, though.
I will say that there are people that I think shouldn't be bringing kids into the world, but, hey.
One interesting note is that the idea of having kids as being charitable has some ties to the beatitudes. The phrase in English we use "poor in spirit" has some ties in arameic to people who love God enough to have more children, even though that will split up the birthright of each child.
All I'll say is this: whatever denomination you are (or if non-denom, what denom your group split from) your Christian heritage called it a sin. It was universal. I advise every Christian to deeply consider that, pray on it and understand that there's a very good chance your view of contraception is influenced more by modernity than your faith, and you probably don't even know it. From the beginning of Christianity to the 1930s, this view was rejected completely. You can find writings on the subject all along the way. And you can have sex, have a reasonable shot at avoiding children and not use contraceptives. The difference is that you are relying on your passions, your intellect and the random chance of untimed fertility instead of artificial hormones that sterilize the woman, and a surgery to sterilize the man. One still cooperates with the nature God gave us. The other intentionally thwarts what He created.
And to tie both of your posts into one: I'm a child of divorce. I know it sucks. We have had to abstain many times in our own marriage. That also sucks. Sex is in marriage is great and everyone should do it a lot. I think a lot of wives are poorly formed in the importance of sex in a marriage, and that can cause marital strife. But not using contraception does not equal don't have sex. You work together on it. Like I said earlier, even atheists and agnostics in Europe are coming around to this, albeit for health reasons.
