Charry lyn

V.

Dimalnat

BSA- 4

REL ED 008

DISCUSSION PAPER

CHURCH TEACHINGS ON CONTRACEPTION Pro-abortionists frequently attempt to use Scripture verses out of context to "prove" that God neither condemned abortion nor contraception. Regarding contraception, they say that God slew Onan, not because he practiced birth control (in the form of withdrawal), but instead because Onan was merely disobedient. To begin with, this is a ridiculous argument, which is obvious even to people who are not familiar at all with the Bible. If God killed people merely because they were disobedient, why did he not kill Adam and Eve and exterminate the human race several times over in Scripture, instead of just once? As far as the Scripture verses regarding Onan are concerned, they tell us that Judah and two of his sons, Onan and his brother, were all found guilty by God of having violated an ancient law called the Law of the Levirate. Judah admitted his guilt in Genesis 38:26, and the punishment for violating this law in the smallest degree was very mild, as described in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. By contrast, God slew Onan, not because he was disobedient, but because he practiced contraception in this case, by using withdrawal, or "spilling his seed." (Genesis 38:9-10). This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that the only application of capital punishment in the New Testament to sinners was against Ananias and Saphira, who went through the motions of giving but instead defrauded (Acts 5:1-11). The Catholic View. The Catholic Church has always allowed the use of infertile periods to space children for serious reasons. Pope Pius XI, in his December 31, 1930 Encyclical on Christian Marriage (Casti Connubii), states that there are only three conditions for which a couple may consciously limit the number of children they have; (1) life-threatening health conditions that would be seriously aggravated by pregnancy; (2) inadequate finances at the present time (which would lead to malnutrition or other very serious damage); and

(3) if a married couple already have as many children as they can properly care for. Some people may equate these exceptions to those that justify artificial contraception and even abortion. However, married couples who take the time and trouble to learn natural family planning only to practice a contraceptive, anti-baby lifestyle are extremely rare. If it is the couple's intent to contraception, the artificial means are much easier to use. Why do many say that NFP is such a good thing? Several reasons. Firstly, they take the stand that married couples today are going to practice some kind of family planning or birth regulation regardless of the fact that it is usually against the law of God. Therefore, to make them avoid artificial contraception which is condemned, they widely promote NFP as the answer. Also, they claim that a couple's marital relationship is strengthened by the use of NFP. They even state that most couples claim it has a positive effect on their marriages. However, we often find benefits for the things we want to have Many religious people of all faiths believe that all contraception (even natural family planning) is the first step towards giving in to the "contraceptive mentality." This means that people who use contraception take the critical first step of classifying unplanned pregnancies as "contraceptive failures." When a child who is by his very nature an infinitely valuable gift from God is looked upon as a failure, the natural impulse is to remedy the failure with abortion. This is, of course, the important psychological link between contraception and abortion.