“Forty years I loathed that generation; I said: "This people's heart goes astray; they do not know my ways.” Therefore I swore in my anger: "They shall never enter my rest."” – Psalm 95
We have now reached forty years since Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical “Humanae Vitae” upholding the Church’s consistent teaching on the sinful nature of contraception. However, this encyclical has been largely ignored as surveys indicate that 80 percent of Catholics practice some form of contraception within their marriage.
How did we arrive at this juncture where so many people dissent from Church teaching on this matter? You may be surprised when you consider that prior to 1930, contraception had been uniformly condemned by every Christian denomination in the world since the death of Christ. This fact is very important! This includes all Protestants. Keep in mind they hold to the belief that the Bible is the infallible word of God and the sole authority. They had historically validated that scripture condemns the act of contraception and therefore it is sinful and offensive to God. Again, this teaching was universally taught by every Christian denomination! Then a change that came about in 1930 that rocked the Christian world. The Anglicans decided at their conference in Lambeth England that contraception was not sinful if utilized within marriage and only under grave extenuating circumstances. Soon other denominations quickly followed suit in lifting the ban on contraception. Now today contraception is largely accepted as the norm without any stipulations required for its practice.
Now where has this wrought us? In the aftermath of universally accepting contraception we now have greater acceptance of other evils such as: abortion, homosexuality, pornography, immodest dress, cohabitation, divorce, and remarriage. Has your church in any way accepted these things in part or in whole?
In his 1989 essay, “The Body’s Grace”, Dr Rowan Williams; Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury argued that the Church’s acceptance of contraception meant that it acknowledged the validity of non-procreative sex. He stated “This could be taken as a green light for gay sex.”
Something to think about; couldn't homosexual sex be considered the ultimate form of contraception?
What about abortion? The United States Supreme Court links contraception to Abortion. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the recent Supreme Court decision that confirmed Roe v. Wade, stated, "in some critical respects abortion is of the same character as the decision to use contraception . . . . for two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail."
Would the ancient Christians recognize the modern church today since their long held beliefs do not align with modern thought? The ancient Romans were pagans and in the first 300 years of Church history they persecuted the Christians. As pagans the Romans practiced homosexuality, abortion, contraception and polygamy - divorce and remarriage. The Christians did not. These were big issues separating the two factions and the Christians were often martyred for holding to these beliefs. More and more protestant churches today have abandoned early Christian dogmas and have accepted many of those pagan practices. Whether it be in part or in whole these practices were never reconcilable with Christianity.
How bad is the practice of contraception on your marriage? Consider what Fr. Gordon Knight said in his book “Rational Theology: Marriage”:
"One of the worst features about the use of contraceptive means of birth is that the one who is willing to use such means may be requiring his partner to cooperate in an act which is wrong. He may be leaving his partner only a choice between offending God or offending him. He may be leaving his partner no possibility of a happy marriage, for no one can be happily married who lives in fear of what he deserves from God or who lives in fear of estranging her partner by refusing to do as he requests. Marriage dose not make improper intercourse permissible, for nothing can make what is improper, proper. And improper intercourse is fatal to a happy marriage."
Marriage is a covenant and not a contract. It is a covenant formed between the spouses and God. God will provide us with His grace to help us throughout our marriages. If we think that we can make it on our own without His grace we are severely fooling ourselves. However, one cannot offend God within the marriage while asking Him for marital blessings at the same time.
