Verified answer

I can explain the position, with the caveat that I do not agree with the position. The Catholic Church (CC) believes that preventing implantation of an embryo is a sin - hence why the pill, IUD, etc are bad. The CC also believes that restricting sperm from coming into contact with the egg - using a condom - is wrong because it goes against the idea of just having sex to make babies. However, family planning is allowed because you are not preventing implantation (like the pill, etc) and the sperm has the ability to come in contact with the egg. The whole idea is, if God wants to give you a child then He still can if you use the FPM but if you use condoms, etc then he cannot give you a child because those are man-made barriers against fertility.

Note: I really disagree with this position but fully comprehend why a religious organization that follows the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas would find this to be an acceptable position.

I will attempt to give you a answer that hopefully you will understand.But as a Catholic any form of birth control where as any artificial method is used such as condoms,birth control pill and other unnatural form's it is considered equal to abortion. Where as when the womans cycle is used to prevent procreation it is natural as there was a very slight chance of procreation being completed thus there was no start of life prevented. You may not be aware of this but before 1930 all major Christian Churches held the same teaching as the Catholic Church on birth control and today only the Catholic Church has refused to Change it's teaching on it. Just as the Catholic Church has never Changed it's teaching's on the Priest Hood. One last answer to you we do not consider our belief as quibbling and we warned the world in the beginning that birth controll by the pill and other means would begat Abortion and higher divorce rates and even more sexual sins such as living together with out marriage.Accept it or not that is what allowing one sin can lead to.

I believe the Real Presence is most important why I love the Catholic Church. There is nothing I dislike particularly about the Catholic Church. I do dislike how some people even Catholics often time present the teachings of the Catholic Church. I heard a former Baptist minister state that despite the shortcomings and sometimes horrible failures of the Popes in the past the Rock has always remained. I found what I often heard from schoolmates who were Catholic in the past were simplications of their understanding of Catholic teaching. Mary was something at first I wasn't so sure about but have become more and more aware of her importance as a good friend. Actually we believe everyone in Heaven is a saint and those people can help us by their prayers on our life journey. If you feel someone is in Heaven there is no reason you can't asked them to pray for you. I have had some experiences in the past 4 of 5 years that have made me aware of a friend I have in Heaven.

What's the difference?

Fertility awareness can be used to achieve or avoid pregnancy. Artificial contraception is only to be used to avoid pregnancy.

Fertility awareness is 100% healthy for women because it does not add any chemicals to a woman's body. Hormonal forms of artificial contraception have potentially serious health risks, including cardiovascular disease, deadly blood clots, liver problems, and some forms of cancer. (The manufacturer's freely admit this -- it's on the insert in the packaging and on their web sites.)

Furthermore, women can use fertility awareness to detect ovarian and cervical cancers in their very earliest stages, when treatment is most effective. No form of contraception can be used to detect cancer.

Fertility awareness requires the couple to practice self-control (a fruit of the Holy Spirit) and self-denial, which is following in Christ's footsteps. Contraception allows a couple to be self-indulgent with no need to practice either self-control or self-denial.

Fertility awareness does not cause the death of any embryo that is formed unintentionally. Hormonal forms of contraception DO cause the deaths of these embryos by preventing implantation (the mnfctr's freely admit this).

Fertility awareness accepts the fact that God designed sex as the easiest and most pleasurable way to make a baby, recognizing that God's design is 'perfect.' Contraception seeks to take the pleasurable part and reject the baby-making part, thereby rejecting God's design as 'imperfect.'

Fertility awareness adds a "honeymoon" period each month to a married couple's sexual relationship when they have a grave enough reason to avoid pregnancy. After a 3-7 day period of well, let's call it extended foreplay, they come together with increased passion. Contraception turns sex into a "whenever I want it" thing that takes the bloom off, just like having ice cream every day makes it less exciting to eat ice cream.

Your "murder with a knife...murder with a gun" analogy is off. Couples using contraception are HAVING sex during ovulation but thwarting the conception that would occur (or messing with the woman's body and making it not ovulate). Couples using fertility awareness are NOT having sex during ovulation.

It's the difference between doing something or not doing something...such as the difference between a person dying because you've murdered him and a person dying even though you didn't murder him.

I'd be hard-pressed to make a more cogent argument than Prof. Janet Smith. The first link below is to the text of her talk about contraception. The second is a link to "Humanae Vitae", the papal encyclical which also details the Church's teaching on this and the reasoning for it.

It may interest you to know that until the mid-20th century ALL Christian churches and denominations were against artificial contraception. The Catholic Church is now the only one which still holds that position.

There are two purposes for sex - unitive and procreative. Sex is the means by which a married couple become closer emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It is also the means of bring new life into the world. Artificial birth control interferes with one of the purposes of sex.

Natural family planning does not prevent pregnancy during fertile times of the month. Natural family planning involves abstaining from sex during times of the month in which the woman might become pregnant.

Artificial birth control prevents pregnancy during the fertile time of the month while allowing a couple to have sex.

Chemical means of birth control often cause abortions, so they are ruled out.

The other types of artificial birth control separate the unitive and the procreative aspects of the marriage, so are not in keeping with the result to which matrimony is ordered.

Bottom line: The Church is a lot smarter about these things than most people think.

http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/

I'm not sure if this is as cogent and compelling an argument as you would like, but NFP is different from contraceptive sex because it involves periodic abstinence during the fertile periods. Couples who use NFP do not have sex at all during that fertile time, unlike those who use contraception during that brief window of fertility. We don't think it's unnatural or wrong to not have sex if you don't want a child.

To abstain from sex is not placing a barrier on the sexual act to inhibit life from possibly taking hold, because there is no sex going on at all.

I hope that made some sense. I'm not very good at putting my thoughts into words.

I gave up Catholicism at a young age, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of this, but I believe it's more stemming from the belief system of the church regarding sex in general. It's only begrudgingly that they allow for the family planning method, because it is more concerned with timing than complete prevention. Their view is that sex is for reproduction, and engaging in it with the intention of completely avoiding pregnancy doesn't sit well with this.

all these questions are answered excellently in the book "the Good News About Sex and Marriage" by Christopher West (based on the work of Pope John Paul II- "The Theology of the Body")

You'd actually think this question is straight out of that book.

If you genuinely want to learn the answer I hope you pick up this book at some point in your life, sooner rather than later.