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Uncertaindrummer,
[quote:rlhd90mv]You say you dont’ see why a moral issue such as contraception is necessary to be resolved? Hmmm… because it is a MORAL issue?[/quote:rlhd90mv]
I think the problem is that my Orthodox friend here has allowed his understanding of the Orthodox teaching to be confused by that of the Roman Catholic Church. The two are distinct, separate, and involve different assumptions.
The reality is, that the Orthodox Church does have a position on this – you’ll see it being materially the same anywhere you look. It’s not the one the Roman Catholic Church eventually adopted, but that is of little consequence to us.
[quote:rlhd90mv]That is what the Church is there for, correct?[/quote:rlhd90mv]
I thought the Church was in the business of saving sinners – a “hospital of the sick”.
[quote:rlhd90mv]The only time in the Bible that someone ever contracepts, God KILLS him for it.[/quote:rlhd90mv]
Of course, you can’t let context get in your way. The story of Onan, involved a man who owed the [i:rlhd90mv]Leverite debt[/i:rlhd90mv] to his dead brother. In ancien semitic/tribal custom, if a man’s brother died without leaving a son, it was the job of his living brother to take his widow into his own house, and have relations with her until a child is conceived – and that child is not to be credited as his, but as the dead brother’s.
Onan’s crime, was that he took his brother’s widow, but purposelly “spilled his seed” so that this woman wouldn’t conceive a son who would not be counted as his own (and who he would benefit from.) Thus, his sin was [b:rlhd90mv]defrauding his dead brother.[/b:rlhd90mv]
Now unless the Orthodox Church is endorsing shacking up with your dead brother’s widow, “gettin down” with her, but defrauding her (and your dead childless brother) of a baby boy…well, you get the idea.
[quote:rlhd90mv]Now surely that is good enough reason to at least think their might be something wrong with it.[/quote:rlhd90mv]
I want you to tell me, in your own words, [i:rlhd90mv]why[/i:rlhd90mv] contraceptives in every circumstance are immoral.
Also tell me, on the other hand, why “natural family planning” is [i:rlhd90mv]not[/i:rlhd90mv] “immoral” for those same reasons.