Birth Control & Self-Hatred

[Ice_nine]

I know I'm all over the place with this post, but if someone can confirm I'm not crazy/on acid that would be FABULOUS.

It's so hard within the culture we live in to openly oppose birth control. People will look at you like you are smoking the best stuff out there! It's tricky when a modern-day philosophical system has permeated into the mainstream to the point where people at large tend to accept its premises and implications without thinking twice about it. Trying to explain that to an "non-intellectual" (not implying that I'm a super-intellectual or any elitist bull ish like that, just that your average joe doesn't pay much attention to philosophy) is an arduous task. It's even hard to configure in my own head let alone put it into intelligible people-speak.

So let's just say that most people agree that causing direct harm to another human being is wrong, whether or not their philosophy they employ (most likely unknowingly so) to figure out rightness and wrongness is consistent. Yes this person is even willing to concede that abortion does harm a human life, even spontaneous abortions spurred by chemical contraceptives, but the person just can't see how using a condom thereby preventing any life from forming in the first place. How do you explain it to that person? I used to think, hey if a husband and wife want to be intimate with one another but have legitimate reasons to avoid child-bearing, what's wrong with a condom? At this point [i]I[/i] understand why it's wrong now, but as the ever-inconsistent dictatorship of relativism (great term by the way big ups to the Pope) runs rampant, almost invisibly to most, how do you get the breakthrough.

For me it seems rather overwhelming. It's not a matter of forming an argument with internal consistency because modern philosophy as such a flighty foundation and with it's mercurial nature it's able to slither out of the most compelling argument using it's own fallacious litmus test. Does that make any sense?

Does a person need to accept the idea of God in order to see contraception as wrong? Because many people don't assent to the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient God understand that stabbing a neighbor 47 times because he looked at you funny, is WRONG with no gray area. And they can come to this conclusion outside of Catholicism whether it be evangelical Christianity, agnosticism, some lazy Deism and even Atheism. It is possible to come to the right conclusion with the wrong methodology. I would reason that most people recognize visible and gruesome cruelty as wrong because it destroys interpersonal relationships necessary for survival (i.e. you kill a child's father); it robs one of the freedom of life, liberty, and happiness; it desecrated the sacredness of life; and perhaps a myriad of other reasons why murder is wrong ALL rooted in the reality of a Creator who, is not simply one of many competing causes, but rather THE Source through which all goodness and Truth flow.

Ultimately all reality is rooted in God yes but even a non-theist could come to reasons why murder is immoral without having to consciously assent to the idea of a Creator. To me it's more consistent to say "I know that every human being has inherent value because they were created in the likeness of an omni-etc Creator Who had the super-intellect to create all the cosmos yet chose to give human creatures a spirit and eternal soul therefore . . ." than to say "morality is a concept birthed by human ingenuity and a evolutionary sense of collective self-preservation . . ."

gurglegargleblegh. I just think the foundation of modernism and relativism is incredible flimsy, yet elusive and ironically dominant. I just think arguing against birth-control in this atmosphere is an uphill battle, even more so than with abortion. I mean how HOW can the argument be won without ripping out the slithery foundation of today's philosophy?

[Archaeology cat]

Another reason it's hard to oppose birth control is because it's so often prescribed for menstrual issues. I got into a big disagreement with my sister with me talking about how the pill shouldn't be prescribed, and her getting upset because she'd been put on it for endometriosis. the pill didn't fix her endo, and she actually ended up with a hysterectomy. Now she's on HRT, but her doc actually checks her hormone levels and tailors her hormones to what she needs. That isn't something I have a problem with - if there's a true hormonal problem, then fixing it in that way seems to make sense, but trying to convince your body that you're pregnant with a one-size-fits-all dose of hormones isn't.

[Papist]

[font="Arial"][size="2"]Great post. We can't give men a pass. Men in our culture are TOO indifferent. I think many would be converted if they learned how much these birth control chemicals were damaging their wife's body[not to mention father's allowing their daughters to take these pills]. I ran into a guy at a friend's party and abortion came up in the conversation. He supported it and said it is a woman's right to make that decision with no intrusion. I asked him if he had children. He said yes. I asked him does he love his children. He said YES. I asked him if his wife would have wanted to get an abortion would he have objected. He said that was a dumb question and walked away.[/size][/font]

Edited April 12, 2011 by Papist

[Chamomile]

[url="http://www.thepillkills.com/"]The Pill Kills[/url]

This website has information on how the Pill harms babies, women, the environment, and marriage (different public campaigns for each year since '08).

Edited April 12, 2011 by Chamomile

[Luthien]

I find it ironic that women will take BC, because they don't want their bodies to be "used" as a baby making machine. Well, I would propose to them, how are you not being used as a mere tool of pleasure for man by taking BC therefore rending yourself nothing but a vessel of sexual gratification and nothing more?

[Ice_nine]

[quote name='Luthien' timestamp='1302883178' post='2228928']
I find it ironic that women will take BC, because they don't want their bodies to be "used" as a baby making machine. Well, I would propose to them, how are you not being used as a mere tool of pleasure for man by taking BC therefore rending yourself nothing but a vessel of sexual gratification and nothing more?
[/quote]

I would venture that such a person might retort with something about sexual gratification for themselves so that somehow negates themselves being used. People don't understand that it's not OK to use people even if that person consents to being used. But hey consent rules the day here so if one wants to use a person simply to get off and vice-versa then apparently it's all hunkey dorey.

I agree with you doe

[Sarah147]

[quote name='Chamomile' timestamp='1302371487' post='2227095']

[size="2"][b]As long as we hate ourselves, we can't love others perfectly.[/b] If women - who are created to be the heart of human society - continue to willingly inflict such harm on themselves, love and peace (those things so "embraced" in the sexual revolution) will never be a real part of our society.[/size]

[size="2"]Thank you for listening to me rant.[/size]
[/quote]


It's so sad. You can't love that child, you can't love yourself, you can't love God, you can't love neighbor...

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

+JMJ

Just read a news story that states that about 98% of Catholic women in the US use contraception (in it's various forms). I posted in the news phorum if anyone wants to read it.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1302392614' post='2227131']
Are you talking about "[url="http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/sexuality/se0002.html"]Contraception: Why Not[/url]"? Great paper.
[/quote]
thanks for linking that!!!!

It is bookmarked now!!!

[Cherie]

[quote name='Piccoli Fiori JMJ' timestamp='1303140562' post='2229790']
+JMJ

Just read a news story that states that about 98% of Catholic women in the US use contraception (in it's various forms). I posted in the news phorum if anyone wants to read it.
[/quote]

I think someone pointed out on a blog I frequent that that particular statistic was that 98% of Catholic non-virgins have used contraception [i]at one point in their life.[/i] So, 2% of Catholic non-virgins have never once used any form of artificial contraception ever. That makes a little more sense, since I'm sure a lot of Catholics have only had a "conversion" after they were married or after they (unfortunately) became sexually active before they were married.

Pretty amazing to be in that 2% Regarding the other 98%, though: there but for the grace of God go I!

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='MIkolbe' timestamp='1303222921' post='2230158']
thanks for linking that!!!!

It is bookmarked now!!!
[/quote]

Bookmark the MP3, too. http://catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2007/07/janet-smith-contraception-why-not.html

~Sternhauser