Natural Family Planning

[wideawake]

Originally posted by dyermaker

I recently discovered that the church allows Natural Family Planning (timing).

 

Wow. That's a surprise. My Xwife got chewed out royal by our priest when she told him she was using the 'Rythm' method and was purposfully not having sex when she knew she was fertile.

 

This was about 10 years ago now...so obviously things have changed. For the better IMHO.

 

Sorry I'm no help, just wanted to add that comment.

[moimeme]

This is an issue that illustrates why I take all faiths, including Catholicism, with a good dose of skepticism about the way the tenets were created. For instance, how many people realize that celibacy was not a requirment for priests until the 16th Century? Prior to that, the requirement for adherence to celibacy waxed and waned over time though in the 12th C it became more common. http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/history.htm

 

Were the clerics in 1074 closer to Christ than the early priests? Did some extra benediction land on later Popes

that was denied the early ones?

 

Since the concepts of the roles of cervical mucous and body temperatures in ovulation can hardly have been around in the time of Christ, I have to wonder how NFP got its papal OK. I found allusions to early Christians rejecting chemical contraception as early as the 1st C but I didn't find a document with more specific information about why.

 

All religions, mine included, have been organized by humans who, no matter how divinely connected they may be, are still subject to error and confusion.

[quankanne]

All religions, mine included, have been organized by humans who, no matter how divinely connected they may be, are still subject to error and confusion

 

bingo! BINGO!!! The Catholic "take" on contraception, on what's permissible and what's not permissible is not perfect, but it does give followers a good set of guidelines. I have no idea if the Bible refers to natural family planning -- whether remotely or explicitly -- but somehow, somewhere, church fathers found enough cause in their readings to say contraception went against God's natural law.

 

where does God enter into it?

 

That question has potentially millions of different answers, because each person has his personal theory of what God endorses. When you have a body of believers (like a church community), even when a tenet or standard is held up, there is still going to be disagreement as to the degree of that person's support of that tenet. Even though the Catholic Church speaks out against contraception, you'll find that people (including priests and other religious) have varying opinions: some say you follow the letter of the law, others say follow the spirit of the law, still others say screw the law. But the Church still stands strong on her principles ...

 

What's really most important, in the grand scheme of things......a couple mutually deciding when they want to bring a child into the world (using whatever form of birth control they choose/that works for them), or not? … do you think that maybe his greatest concern is that children, when they do enter the world, are brought up with love and security and a good value system?

 

NFP does this! it gives a couple a better understanding how a woman's unique reproductive cycle works and empowers them with the choice to delay or act on having a family. And the men are as involved with natural family planning training as are women, because it's presented to them as a couple. Yes, it might be a woman's body that's being more closely observed, but still, the man is expected to know how that cycle works so that he's "in" on the decision to create or delay. And that, in turn, fosters a sense of respect between the two of them, because of the level of awareness that's involved.

 

No other Christian denomination, that I know of, teaches and promotes NFP. So what does that tell you?

 

that it's an untapped secret? can you imagine what a collective cow the pharmaceutical industry would have if millions of women across the globe decided to reject contraceptive devices in favor of NFP, based on economics alone?

[Bronzepen]

IMO, In the churches eye, NFP is viewed as only being performed by married couples.

 

Where as, condoms, pills and any other form of contraceptives may also be used by unmarried couples.

 

I believe their using NFP more as a tool to promote marriage.

[quankanne]

good point, bronze. I seem to recall reading that when the Pill was developed, priests pretty much went into a frenzy because that meant more unmarried (gasp!) sex taking place ...

[meanon]

Dyer I am not at all religious but found one of the two books (fiction) in which David Lodge explores Catholisism and Contraception (including family planning) fascinating. They are: Souls and Bodies (this is the one I read) and The British Museum is Falling Down.