Sometime in the late 1900's people decided that it would be fun to sleep with as many people as possible without the "consequences", and this mentality resulted from the mass acceptance of the innovation of "The Pill" and the passage of the right-to-kill-your-infant laws.
Sadly, some Catholic clerics outright rejected Pope Paul IV's Encyclical, Humanae Vitae, yet we've seen that his words are prophetic.
17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.
Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.
Yup, that's happened. What woman hasn't had the experience of being out on a date with some guy who gets "overly friendly" and when his near-assault is met with resistance, he askes, "But you're on the Pill, right?" or "Are you a virgin?" (this latter translating as: you're a whore so why can't I have some?). The former question can be translated to mean, "If you're on the pill, then I should be able to gratuitously inflict my testosterone upon you because you're a convenient receptical."
Yup. Women have become objects of desire, and we're actually EXPECTED to "give it up" upon demand or risk facing a life of "lonliness". Sadly, I remember a girl in college who didn't really want to sleep with her boyfriend, but she felt like she had to. This she expressed by saying, "If he doesn't get it from me he'll get it from someone else."
Thanks, rabid feminism. You're "sexual revolution" has made us slaves to the very thing you said we'd be liberated from. How uplifting to know that we're expected to spend our nights on our backs with anyone who finds us attractive. We're all assumed to be a bunch of whores.
And never mind those consequences; what about the health and spiritual consequences?
The FDA makes the pill manufacturers publish info about blood clots, strokes, and other things, a "warning" that comes as an afterthought of every commercial. By then they've build up the product to such a degree of "carefree living" that no one is even listening anymore.
But the FDA won't force them to warn women of the later consequences; that of actual infertility resulting from the use of artificial hormones for years and years. The consequence of moral questions such as mine and that of thousands of other women; could I have killed my baby?
This is information that doesn't get out very much, but the Pill does, in fact, cause abortions. Yup.
You say that you support the use of the pill but you're against abortion? Hypocrite! Get thee to a medical tome and educate the ignorance out of yourself!
The Pill works first by suppressing ovulation. Should a woman ovulate in spite of the unnatural hormones which have been inflicted upon her, the secondary "safety" of the pill is to think the uterine lining, making it uninhabitable for the newly-formed life. Thus that tiny life is just flushed away, and only God knew he or she had been sent into the world and rejected. It's like a tiny Jesus, rejected in complete brutality.
Thousands upon thousands of woman are unknowingly and uncomprehendingly flushing their children down the toilet. Many of these woman do not believe in abortion and would be horrified at this thought, and well they should be.
And then there's the affect upon marriage; when you stand before God and proclaim your vows, you are saying that this is a reflection of God that you intend to live out; it is a sacrament of sacrificial love, which is all-giving to the other. It is a mutual self-giving, for love is not love without actual sacrifice and suffering on behalf on another. And just as love is givng, it is receptive. This is how we are designed; this is how God created us to be and to live.
Yet when we use barriers such as contraception, what we are saying is, "I give myself to you...except that which will make us whole." It rejects the love and designs of God in favor of self-fulfilling pleasure, it rejects life in favor of recreation. It does not unite a couple; it creates an artificial union in which there is no true sacrifice.
No wonder so many marriages fall apart; when even married men and women reject each other in their most intimate moments, how can they possibly remain in each other's company?
Contraception is not about love; it is the antithesis of love.
And it just gets worse; no one will talk about abstinence to teens who have been taught to be "free" - to even suggest it is worth nothing more than a derisive laugh. They have gone so far as to try to legislate a required vaccination against HPV, which is a sexually transmitted disease. This is not like measles, cholera, or any other commmunicable illness; HPV requires action on the part of the person who gets it in order to get it! It involves at risk behavior!
We have all these organizations formed to help victims of at-risk behavior, but none of them consider actually suggesting that the at-risk behavior stop. Oh, no, we can't do that; we can't suggest that someone change their lifestyle and give up their lusty habits.
We demand that people stop smoking, we demand that they stop drinking, using drugs, what have you. But there is no greater cause of suffering in our modern world than irresponsible sex, which is, by definition, any sexual union outside of the context of marriage.
Instead of addressing bad behavior, we address how to enable bad behavior and redefine the behavior as "good".
And now we come full circle and we see and experience the consequences of this behavior; and in no way can we call it "good."
When will people wake up out of their self-induced hypnotism of denial and realize that the consequences of their actions are far greater than what they can see?
When will women everywhere wake up and realize that they are killing their children?
11 comments:
Adoro,
this is a touchy subject. In reality, people, most people, do not know what happens when you take the pill. I know I didnt for a long time. But in the end, you dont know for sure you killed a person. At a very bad time in my life last summer I took the Plan B pill, but there was no way of knowing if anything actually happened. Yes people need to be more educated, but theres no way of that happening unless we get some better doctors, scientists whatever discussing the issue.
Bethski ~ see my previous post, a few down.
No, we can't ever know for certain, and that's the issue, isn't it? Because there's a chance we MIGHT be killing our children, and people like me are one day realizing this very fact.
That's why I brought it up.
We should not stick our heads in the sand and decide "we can't know" and then look the other way.
There's a reason the Church teaches against Contraception - and that's the reason.
You are of course, entirely right on.
I have been thinking though, that the real evil genius of the modern position is deconstructionist/relativist moral logic. What's wrong for you isn't wrong for me, etc. Let me demonstrate.
1. Probition of sex outside of marriage arose early in human moral/cultural development, and was pervasive in all early socities, at an early evolutionary stage.
2. This taboo was picked up as part of early human cultures and as early human religions were beginning to form.
3. These taboos can be understood to be beneficial to society as a whole, because it is a risk to the health of the mother. Marriage provides for the vulnerable woman.
4. Our society can prevent a woman from becoming pregnant, and if she does become pregant, we can help her kill her baby, or we can provide welfare for her, so she does not in any way require a man, therefore Marriage is an outmoded custom, no longer required, and prohibitions on extra-marital sex are no longer required.
5. Women can now be "EQUAL" with men, by "HAVING SEX LIKE A MAN". In a pre-birth-control days, and before the advent of modern surgical procedures for abortion, sex represented a greater risk for women than for men. All the feminist agenda has done is smooth one of the road-bumps out, so that a woman can have sex like a man, without thought for consequences.
Even so, the lie in all of this becomes apparent:
1. Women must now accept that sex with a man, casual sex, can lead to them having to choose to kill their baby, or else raise a baby on their own, or give up the baby for adoption. There is no choice on this list without grave moral and emotional difficulties, and one choice amounts to murder. What started was a pretence towards equality, what ended was murder.
2. Women must throw off their dignity as women, and nullify their reproductive powers. This affront to a woman's dignity is in three parts, and you point them all out well, so I won't repeat. In short, to quote "Before Sunrise", "I get the idea feminism is just an idea that was invented by men, and sold to women, so that men can get in our pants". I can't remember the exact words, but it was pretty close. Note that this nullification is an evil, along with the evils listed above.
3. I believe that contraceptive mentalities destroy the capacity to enjoy each other in the full dignity of the sexual act, and that in fact, the contraceptive mentality, and the abandonment of the sacrament of marriage, are the two facets that in total contribute to the desensitization of the heart and the soul of a human person, such that Sex loses its meaning, its beauty and its significance. It still feels good. It still causes all the hormonal responses just so, and women still feel like cuddling afterwardds, and men still feel warm and fuzzy everywhere, and tend to drop to sleep, but somewhere, out of sight, the real depth of human sexuality has been compromised, and somewhere we KNOW it was supposed to be better than this, and so we start venturing farther and farther afield. I need not catalog the sexual perversions that people begin to experiment with after they leave behind "plain old sex" as inadequate and insuficient to satiate their desires. It does not occur to them that sex has once again become elusive, something difficult to capture in a bottle. They are slowly but surely desensitizing themselves, so that what ought to have been in and of itself a sacred and beautiful thing, full of the deepest experiences in the human emotional and spiritual range, becomes a simple thing, no longer "life altering" in the slightest.
Warren
ultracrepidarian ~ Thank you! But there's one thing you're missing from the sociological/anthropolical standpoint; marriage has always been the foundation of society. It has always been the marriage of one man and one woman who fostered society, and even when a "village" raised a child, there was always the family and provisions to be made for a disrupted family.
Well, that's gone down the tubes, hasn't it?
The Fallopian tubes...?
angela ~ What...you want me to beat someone with them? OK...
It is not just men who expect sex. Women can too. I, as a college-aged Catholic man, know that I am called to chastity. It is so very, very hard though, most especially since the girl I'm dating, whom my soul cries out for in the night, does not believe in chastity. She has said that she would understand if I chose chastity, but I truly do not know if that would mean losing her. And, if I did choose it, I know that she would "get it elsewhere," and the thought of her with another man is sickening, not least because I know that they would not treat her with the kindness, caring, and respect she deserves. It is so very hard to choose the good.
Anon ~ You bring up a really good point and one I meant to make as well. Thank you.
But you have to consider the moral consequences of your actions upon both of you. You seem to have a grasp on things and it's your girlfriend who's resisting, so I have to ask...why are you letting her force you to compromise your values? She has free will, just as you do. We are all called to live chastely, but we can't force that upon anyone else. She is forcing her lack of values upon you...is that really love?
True love is completely giving of oneself, and what you described has more to do with selfishness than anything else. Unfortunately, as you so perfectly describe, this is the "status quo" of what passes for "love" these days.
The most respectful thing you can do for this woman is to act out of true love and charity and let her make the decision; self-indulgence in sex, or a true, sacrificial relationship with you?
You are in a wonderful position to really make a difference in this girl's life and demonstrate to her what true dignity is. Don't brush this aside. Yes, it is hard, no argument from me on that!
But I've learned a long time ago that doing the right thing is also usually the difficult thing.
God bless you!
Great post!
I had no idea that the pill can abort a fertilized egg until last year.
I've been a RN for 14 years and I don't remember learning that. I honestly didn't believe it at first until I went into work and looked it up in the drug books and it's true. I then asked all the other nurses and girls at work and no one else realized that fact either.
I was so upset because I never knew that and couldn't believe the fact that they are hiding that fact from the public.
Found a blog about Contraception from a catholic perspective, courtesy of "Hermaneutic of Continuity" who found it and posted a link:
http://noroomforcontraception.com/cgi-bin/cblog/
Post a Comment