Not *that* Army. . . I joined the Knights of Columbus today. It’s a great organization, and hopefully I can jump in with both feet to help my community and my Church.
Other than this piece of news, I’ve been very busy with my new job and with both of my boys playing sports. I’m gonna have to make them take turns every year so that I can have my sanity.
It’s been quite a while since I blogged about Introduction to Christianity. Although I’m eagerly awaiting Pope Benedict’s new book, Jesus of Nazareth, I have to make it through this one before I order. It’s not that it’s a hard read. It really isn’t. However, my life has changed recently, and my free time isn’t quite as free as it used to be. On to the blog.
In the chapter titled, “Belief in the Triune God,” Cardinal Ratzinger writes:
The doctrine of the Trinity would . . . be essentially negative – the only remaining way to reject all attempts to fathom the subject, a sort of cipher for the insolubility of the mystery of God. It would become questionable if, for its part, it were to result in a simple, positive desire for knowledge. If the painful history of the human and Christian striving for God proves anything, it surely proves this: that any attempt to reduce God to the scope of our own comprehension leads to the absurd.
Those who don’t understand (not that I do) Catholic theology and those who don’t try (I at least try) tend to dismiss it as exactly what Cardinal Ratzinger rails against: an attempt to ‘reduce God to the scope of our own comprehension’. Many create a nice little strawman, complete with the Catholic theologian meticulously plotting out the paths of God’s grace. These critics are simply ignorant. And sadly missing out on wonderful teaching found in the ‘evil’ West. This book is only one more example. I’m almost positive that the Pope’s next work will be as well.
I chose the article (found here) on Natural Family Planning (NFP) as a starting point rather than an ending point. It would be easy to start with the ‘wrongs’ of artificial birth control (ABC), but I’d rather start with what I believe is the ‘right’ way to regulate the birth of children. And, yes, I believe that there are times when it is justly done. Now on to the article.
The real decision, therefore, that couples with the gravest of reasons to avoid pregnancy need to come to is whether they actually require absolute certainty that they will not conceive – in which case total abstinence is the only true option – or whether the small degree of uncertainty that will remain, no matter what they do, if they continue to be sexually active is something that they can entrust to God.
This is the conclusion of the author’s first point. It’s a good beginning for my purposes. The Catholic Church doesn’t teach that NFP should be practiced lightly. It should be done with the right intentions and hopefully with spiritual direction. The last sentence of this paragraph is the essence of the debate for me. Can I trust God? As I’ve pointed out in the thread on contraception in the Eccesiology sub-forum, my wife and I recently stopped using artificial birth control. She’s not Catholic, and it’s not a topic I’ve brought up in almost three years. She approached me, and I gladly (and thankfully) agreed to her request. I can already see a drastic change in how we relate to each other, especially when it comes to intimacy. The creative potential of the act is embraced (for those who would dispute that NFP negates this as well, I’ll deal with this objection later). The unitive aspect of the act is embraced. There are no barriers other than our God-given choice to abstain or partake. To give or to withhold. And there are times to withhold. And there are times to give. And in all of this, there is a beautiful trusting in the providence of God.
cont.
I figured I’d write this in my blog, as the discussions tend to get pretty heated in the forums. You can write about any number of things, but for the love of Pete, don’t discuss the possibility that artificial birth control is contrary to the will of God! I’ve found this out quite quickly. I recently posted a video in the Ecclesiology sub-forum, mainly because I felt I was playing to a friendly audience. After all, it was an Eastern Orthodox pamphlet that introduced me to the concept of Natural Family Planning, and it was Eastern Orthodox writing that led me to question the use of artificial birth control in the first place. Boy, was I surprised when the main opponents of the video were Orthodox Christians.
So, rather than post this in a forum, where the volume and vitriol will drown it out, I simply want to write on this topic – mainly to flesh out my own convictions concerning the use of ABC. I want to start this by linking to this article on Natural Family Planning. In the thread on contraception, the argument essentially became, “Well, I don’t see the difference between NFP and ABC. One’s just as wrong as the other.” Of course, hardly anyone really wanted to step up and say that Christians should never actually practice neither. That would conflict with current practice, you see. In the next couple of posts, I want to examine this article I referenced in greater detail. I hope that anyone who reads this will take the time to read it as well.
