God's one long no...or...yes ???
Recently, I read a very good article by Ertelt & Bilger entitled "Black Lives Matter? 35% of Aborted Babies are Black Even Though Blacks are 13% of the Population" (See http://www.lifenew.com/2016/11/28/black-lives-matter-35-of-aborted-babies-are-black-ven-though-blacks-are-13-of-the-population)The article begins with "As LifeNews.com reported last week, a new Centers for Disease Control report shows good news across the country as abortions and abortion rates continue to drop" and amongst the first critiques I heard was concern that abortions are down because of the morning after pill.
Research is research, I guess, and yet it is a valid concern that the morning after pill is gathering such support as to become the new abortifacient of choice these days.
I guess its one step at a time.
I think the real issue always has been getting folks to truly practice their faith in all aspects of their lives. If they were, there’d be no need for such pharmaceuticals. I think there’s now more of ‘chastity education’, but it takes time for such roots to take hold. Birth control pills are gonna be the last to go as chastity education and natural family planning efforts begin to blossom.
Learning that we as a people need to give God control over our fertility is scary to those who rely on a pill instead. Have a cold? Take a pill. Allergies? Take a pill. Headache? There's a pill for that. Bodyache? Pills. Stomachache? Pill. Gas? Pill. Pain? Pill. And on and on it goes....
To this day, the virtue concept gets characterized as “God’s one long ‘no'” to the marital act. NFP is just a repackaged version of the ineffective ‘rhythm method’ – also characterized as ineffective as the so-called impossibility of teaching teens to be chaste, because they’re just gonna go out and do it anyway.
These knocks on the matter cannot be further from the truth. When properly taught, they work and they work well. They have no chemical side effects or long term problems. They build strong character and even stronger faith lives that offer much more to society as a whole than a pill ever could.
And it starts with evangelism and the subsequent catechism that follows. And folks need be shown how it needs be constantly fed, not just one class and you’re done. We all need reminders. But if abortions at abortion mills are down, that is a good thing.
The concern over the morning after pill usage is valid, and I think the idea becomes to make it less and less in demand as folks practice their faith. And learning the body’s own rhythms and what it really means to give over one’s fertility to God ought to eventually be enough to dry up demand for such repugnant drugs.
We need to practice all the virtues. Chastity works so much more effectively when practiced in connections with, say kindness, and patience and the rest. Chastity becomes one long 'yes' to God and His will for us; same for patience, kindness and the rest. It really is one long 'yes', a concept so much more appealing than the old, outdated and incorrect interpretation of them being "God's one long no."
When we ask Him, it goes that He says either, 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe later' or any of many other similar manifestations that attempt to explain why an immediate yes is not forthcoming. To me, this makes prayer nothing more than a guessing game, or a spiritual dart game. And if that's all it is, then revert to giving into all manner of animal pleasures for any reason or none at all, right?
Practicing the faith is more than just going to church once a week on Sunday. Nor am I saying that it needs become preaching in the street with a constant yell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Think about it in a marriage context. How appealing would it be for a young man or woman to tell their intended "Hey, how about it? You? Me? Let's give each other just an hour a week together for the rest of our lives?"
Marriage is more than just all about the marital act. Practicing the faith is more than being all about where folks go for an 60 to 90 minutes out of their week.In addition to all the other things that faith offers, the virtues become an extension of what is shared at whatever place of worship we go to on Sunday.
And we need be free to do it, too. To practice what we've learned. To share our faith without fear of recriminations.
And to enjoy the gifts that God so openly shares with us, especially the virtues; those long "yes's" we have received from Him so freely. Sharing them with others is the only way we can keep them.
-Patrick Michael Thomas 'Wolf Whispering Thunder Owl' Butler
