This topic was mentioned way back as something it could be interesting to discuss. So I begin the discussion! The following is the introduction from this website titled What A Woman Should Know About Birth Control:
All methods of birth control are efforts to separate sexual intercourse from procreation. This separation supports sexual relationships that are much weaker than traditional marriage—hooking up, cohabitation, adultery, and serial monogamy. These relationships erode society by leading to divorce, unexpected pregnancy, abortion, single parent households, abuse, and poverty. The consequences of birth control clearly demonstrate an unhealthy, anti-culture and anti-life, impact that raises major ethical concerns. Use of birth control is like intentionally eating unhealthy, nutrition-less, food just for the pleasure of eating. A steady diet will kill you. In much the same way, a steady diet of birth control kills relationships.
While I definitely know it is a personal choice and no one should be "guilt-ed" into not using contraception since it is one of those biblical "grey areas," the arguments of the Catholic church that contraception is largely responsible for the moral decay of society are extremely compelling (as hinted at in the above quote). I'd love to loan a CD to anyone interested that goes into the arguments in depth. Or I can post summaries here.
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ReplyDeleteI would say that the most compelling argument against hormonal birth control, within the context of this blog-discussion and marriage, such as the 'pill' is: "It is estimated that a sexually active woman will experience at least one very early abortion every year that she is on the Pill." not "moral decay" as stated in the introduction. Truthfully, arguing that birth control is the cause of the moral decay of the society is academic at best for at least two reasons 1) we cannot stop anyone from using birth control nor will we ever stop them by convincing them that it is the cause of moral decay in our society and 2) society decays, that's the very nature of it, thanks to in large that it is made up of human being with a sin nature.
ReplyDeleteThe abortion stat however, now that's something that can ring some bells.
I have thought a lot about Natural Family Planning (NFP) in the past, because I was never quite comfortable with the possibility of fertilized eggs (i.e. HUMANS) being ejected from the uterus. This is the same reason that I think people should think twice before seeking certain fertility treatments.
Thank you for bringing this article to our attention, I really appreciate it any time my dusty old values that have been stored in a closet somewhere deep in my heart can get a good cleaning and little sunlight on them again.
-scott
I agree with Scott (I think) in that the idea that birth control is responsible for eroding society is ridiculous. People have been using birth control for thousands of years(even as far back as ancient Egypt!), and society has somehow managed to survive. Anything that keeps the sperm and egg from joining is okay in my book, and I must admit I've never heard anything about fetus being ejected through birth control pill usage.
ReplyDeleteBesides the fact that little blurb mischaracterizes an important group of birth control users: married couples! Anna and I cannot afford to have a child right now so we do what we can to prevent it. We are married and certainly allowed to have intercourse. We're not degrading society. I'll be first in line to say premarital sex is bad, but attacking birth control as the problem? People are the problem, and they be having sex anyway even if there wasn't an entire indusrty availble to keep them from having kids. Heck, I know many guys who don't use any sort of birth control anyway!
Besides, the LAST place I want to go for Biblical guidance is the Catholic Church.
The tidbit I posted definitely sweeps with broad strokes saying birth control is largely responsible for society’s moral decline. It has to—it is a single paragraph leading into an article about the cons of contraception. Its purpose is not to focus on specific examples of how contraception has led to moral decay. I’ll do that in a separate post to see if it is a more convincing accusation once fleshed out. For now I want to address a few comments that have been made so far.
ReplyDelete~ “We cannot stop anyone from using birth control nor will we ever stop them by convincing them that it is the cause of moral decay in our society.” One could just as easily replace the phrase “using birth control” in that sentence with “being selfish” or even “sinning.” So should preachers save their breath? (I am not equating birth control and sinning per se, just demonstrating the logic isn’t air-tight.)
~ “Society decays, that’s the very nature of it.” So should no one strive to improve it?
~Package inserts of hormonal birth control explain that the way they work is three-fold: they prevent ovulation, inhibit sperm movement, and thin the uterine lining; so (in case of accidental ovulation and fertilization) the newly created human cannot implant and is thus aborted. Be informed and act accordingly!
~ “People have been using birth control for thousands of years.” Are you really saying the quality and quantity of birth control has always been as it is now? Because that is totally false. Of course people have always taken measures to separate intercourse and procreation. But, till the 1960s, contraceptives were far from reliable and they were illegal because it was generally accepted they were a bad idea since they’d lead to sexual license, something morally upright societies would ban.
~ “People…would be having sex anyway…” Yes, but nowhere near as much because the fear of pregnancy outside a secure marriage situation would be much greater. In 1960 6% of white babies were born out of wedlock—in 1992 22% of babies were born out of wedlock. In 1960 22% of black babies were born out of wedlock—in 1992 68% of black babies were born out of wedlock. These statistics show that the number of out of wedlock births have skyrocketed during the same years as reliable birth control use. Why? Causation and correlation are always tricky with statistics, of course. I’m certainly open to considering other explanations for the correlation. The following seems to make sense, however: in a society where babies and bonding are not expected (nor welcomed) outcomes of intercourse, you get a society where sex outside of marriage is the norm because, after all, it is only for pleasure. And since contraception fails, pregnancies result. As do abortions. Birth control guarantees the existence of abortion, as “plan B.”
~ “Heck, I know many guys who don't use any sort of birth control anyway!” The guys may not be, but you can bet your last nickel that the females they hook up with are! So why would the guy need to?! (Or that the guy thinks she is, at least, because “everybody” is. So “everybody” is “available” in a way. Available to be objectified, used and abused because hey—at least we won’t end up with a baby because of it!)
~I’ll address married use of contraceptives in another post. A sneak-preview of that post would be “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.”
~ “The LAST place I want to go for Biblical guidance is the Catholic Church.” I have a feeling many people will be shocked to see who is and isn’t in heaven when they get there. Do you really believe there is nothing that can be learned from the original Christian church? Besides, teachings against contraception were not just a Catholic thing until the 1930s. Up to that point, ALL Christian churches agreed they were bad for the same reason society did (they would lead to sexual license).
Looks like I have a few posts to write! I’ll get to them as soon as I can.
I have nothing profound to say on this topic, but here are my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWhen Matt and I decided to get married, I decided to start birth control. I talked to my doctor and asked many many questions as to what affects it will have. She said nothing about the possibility of an abortion. Maybe she does not know, I have no idea. I have never completely researched it to find out, but I guess I will now. I can look in medical books/research rather than taking another person's word for it, and I do think that the origical church can give great insight to things, but I would not go to the Catholic church for information simply because there are many things that I do not believe that they do. Since the post, I have prayed, and have no conviction to discontinue it's use. I do not believe I am sinning, and cannot have a baby at this time in our life. From my knowledge of NFP, there is a regularity that is required, but what if that is not present in a woman? Some of us are not as 'in tune' with body changes as are others.I read a little bit about it recently, and there are classes that can be taken, or a doctor can help you. For us, we don't have money to spend on doctors or classes.
As for the morality of society issue, I think as Christians we are responsible to try to win as many people to the Lord as we can, and we need to try to turn our country back to the Lord, but as much as we try, I think it's important to know that society will continue to worsen until Christ comes. Did birth control cause more downfall? I have no idea, but it probably led people to think they could have sex without worries. Anyway, to me it's an issue between us and God. I don't mind talking about it with people, but unless God convicts me, I will most likely continue to use it.
Andrea - My point wasn't that pastors (or even us) shouldn't try to talk to people about birth control and the affect the use of it has on society, as much as that within the context of this discussion, if you are trying to argue for NFP, that societal degradation isn't your strongest argument. Because two people, within the context of marriage can't, by having sex for pleasure while using BC, degrade society. It takes a society to do that. BUT if you could possibly be having an abortion as many times as once a year! That is a strong argument. Again, within the context of WeNBiS.
ReplyDeleteAnna - Conviction isn't always the best measure of weather or not you should stop doing something that may or may not be sinful or destructive. Many Christian men develop addictions to pornography over the course of YEARS with no conviction at all; almost everyone I know continues to gossip on a regular basis, with no sense of conviction (for a couple of examples). If it's wrong, it's wrong, it doesn't matter if you feel bad about it or not... that being said, the "the pill causes abortions" argument isn't quite as clear as that. Statistically is probable, over the course of years of use, that you will eliminate at least one child. I strongly encourage you to do A LOT of research on this, the findings will surprise you. Most doctors don't even consider a fertilized egg anything, until it's at least 28 day old, so it wouldn't be anything that most doctors would even think to mention.
Thanks for the clarification, Scott. I see your point and appreciate you taking the time to help me out--especially since you're leaving for Ghana so soon! I was sure you wouldn't have a chance to comment again till you got back. :-)
ReplyDeleteLet me just reiterate that I don't condemn anyone who uses contraception--God has humbled me to the point where we do now use barriers when my signs indicate I'm fertile. It IS a personal choice and nobody has a right to tell others what to do--only the Holy Spirit can do that. My purpose in bringing up this whole topic is to get everybody thinking, which it appears I have!
Does NFP require regularity? Not if that means "consistent 28 day cycles." It requires learning about your body, which God has designed pretty amazingly! The beauty of NFP is that it DOESN'T require that regularity--just knowing what the fertility signs are telling you from day to day, and if you use the restroom regularly no "extra" time is needed. It isn't any "harder" than remembering to take a pill every day (which I definitely forgot sometimes when I was taking the antidepressant!) I have had cycles from 27-47 days long and have most always been able to tell where I am any given day. (The 47-day one I admit we wondered, but it turned out to just be really long, we were not pregnant!)
There are home-study courses available (that's how we've learned so far) that are a one-time purchase and include instructor support via mail and phone. Ours was $159 but you might not want the one we use since it is unapologetically Catholic. We don't agree with everything they say on the topic, but are able to look past it to the stuff we do agree with and have appreciated their assistance in the learning process.
This site (http://www.fwhc.org/birth-control/fam.htm) is not affiliated with any religious body and seems to have a lot of the same technical information for free (but no instructors for assistance). There are probably discussion groups out there of people helping each other out with it all. Not sure though. Speaking of money, without insurance I wonder what birth control costs? Or do you get it through the VA or something?
Anyway...more food for thought!
Hi there, I thought I'd weigh in with a source of information:
ReplyDeleteAt abort73.com they have a page on birth control methods, which ones can cause abortions, which ones can't, and which ones there's debate over, with links to more information.
http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/which_birth_control_methods_cause_abortion/