RE: Ask a Catholic
June 2, 2015 at 6:42 pm
(This post was last modified: June 2, 2015 at 6:50 pm by Randy Carson.)
(June 2, 2015 at 6:11 pm)rexbeccarox Wrote: So... then what's the point of teaching not to use a condom?
Would you agree that God made...oops...sorry, forgot...okay, would you agree that there are times of the month when a woman is fertile (a really small window, actually), and other times when she is not?
Now, God...can you just bear with me on this for a moment for the sake of the discussion? Now, God made the infertile time just as much as He made the fertile time. Having sex during the infertile time is perfectly permissable...as is sex during the fertile time, of course.
Now, if you have "unprotected sex" during the fertile time, then you know that you're "open to life" because sex is procreative. If you choose to have sex and have kids, then you have respected and used your sexuality in one of the ways that God intended it to be used.
Alternatively, you may have sex during the infertile time, and you know that you're still "open to life" (even though conception is not possible), since nothing prevents the seed from seeking out its counterpart (which won't be present, of course). If you choose to have sex in this way, you have also respected and used your sexuality in another way that God intended it because sex is highly unitive. You have taken advantage of God's design to enjoy the unitive aspect of sex without the possibility of the procreative aspect coming into play.
Now, if a couple chooses to have sex during the fertile phase (and frankly, that's when all kinds of hormones and pheromones are doing their thing) AND use contraception, then they are NOT open to life and they are not using sex as God intended it to be used: as procreative and unitive. The latter, sure, but only at the expense of working against God's design by contraception, and second, barrier methods prevent the woman from receiving the full gift of the man (and there are hormonal benefits that the woman does not receive if a barrier is used - but that's another discussion). So, the couple has chosen to go against God's design by blocking contraception instead of working with God's design by abstaining during fertile phases (if that is the goal). Worse, there are birth control methods which are abortifacients, so a life is ended with their use.
But what of the couple which decides not the have children and uses NFP instead of contraception? Well, again, there are some valid reasons for not having children or more children depending upon the circumstances. Age, health, ability to raise a(nother) child, etc. But the couple which chooses NFP to prevent pregnancy without just cause has also sinned against God's design for marriage and sex. IOW, they have done no better (though at least there was not abortion).