New Pope, Same Problem

This post waited for the period of mourning to end. Out of common decency not out of fawning respect for the late pope. While John Paul II was a revered person, he had his own flaws, mostly institutional. And the funny thing is that now there is a new pope, many people are happy he is a doctrinal conservative. Not only Catholics but other Christian denominations, because the Catholics are steadfast in their positions. These people along with Pope were crying out about the Terry Schaivo case. But the pope and the rest of these conservative "theologians" are missing the fact that by not allowing any birth control, they are spreading AIDS in Africa. Catholics are not allowed to use birth control even if it means spreading a disease as deadly as AIDS. Where are the hue and cry for these people and for this issue? An immediate response will be, "Those people should abstain from sex." That is true, but when was the last time you abstained.

Comments

[Phil]

It is always interesting when we are open enough to question faith, belief, and dogma. Before I go any further, I must admit that I am not a Catholic, not that there is anything wrong with that, and not that there is anything right with that either.

Some stances taken by different sections of the "Christian Religion" are interesting...especially when they differ. I find this so fascinating since scripture and tradition are pointed to as the reasoning for a view.

Sex for procreation only [in an attempt to curb the aids epidemic] is a stance whose roots can be traced back to some of the more ascetic sects of Judaism....(see Essenes etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes) (and beyond for that matter laterally and vertically) [also see prescribed celibacy and prescribed singleness].....and of the pre turn of the century church and pre Constantinian unification and perpetuated through learned accepted dogma [carrying on of traditions from Judaism/other] with minimal support from scriptural evidence [see argument of sola scriptura vs. church traditions].

Having said all that, it makes it hard to ask 1700 years of Constantinian Catholicism to change their view even when we can all agree that sex is wonderful and proscribed abstinence is something not only infeasible, but incorrect to ask for from those who are not designating their lives in the same way as those who choose it for spiritual reasons.
Also, I believe, and it can show in scripture later if anyone is interested, that sex is for more than procreation, but for enjoyment between husband and wife. (Not getting into the homosexual topic at this point and not in this post)

So, to ask celibacy to take the place of contraception is insufficient and debatable on every level.

Long live sex.

[Eddie Zyglis]

Here is where I come out on this (and maybe sex itself was not meant to be the focal point of your post Joe, but it is, in & of itself, a hard word to ignore in topics both serious & playful) but, those of us who believe in God the Father believe that he made us who & what we are. He created us in HIS likeness. Sexual desire is not a learned trait, it is a natural one. When you are an 11 year old boy trying to figure out why your penis just got bigger, that has nothing to do with learned traits, it is a natural occurence.

If God made our nature in that way, why would he frown upon sex? Surely it cannot be solely for the purpose of reproduction because I don't know about anyone else here but I have been "roughin up my suspect" since long before I could actually ejaculate. Now I grant you, I don't think that he wants us cruisin around & bangin everything in site. I think that he wishes for us to express some responsible judgement where sexual conquests are concerned, but I believe that he gave us those natural desires to build a stronger relationship with the person that we love. That is just my take on that.

As for Africa & their AIDS epidemic, I did some studying of some tribes in Africa for a class in school (Human Sexuality) and I did not find too many of them that held Christian beliefs. Many of them believe, even today, that if you have sex with a virgin female you cannot pass your disease along to them and that they could not possibly have a disease (passed from parents, piercings and tatooing) because they are a virgin.

Furthermore, many of them also believe that they cannot impregnate a virgin female and that if she does get pregnant, she must not have been a virgin. Many tribes also believe that certain sexual acts are a part of their spirituality. In one particular tribe they believe that once a boy is 11 years old, he must fellate an elder tribesman & swallow his semen so that the elder's semen will plant itself in the boy allowing the boy to have semen of his own to pass along. I just got done hearing that you can indeed contract the HIV virus from swallowing semen in my Principles for Healthful Living class.

The point of all of this random information is that, in many of the areas where these problems are most rampant, they do not share the same beliefs as the Christian faith & certainly not the Catholic church. That being said, I don't know how much of an influence the Catholic church could be even if they wanted to be. One thing that many of these tribes DO have in common is the idea that birth control is against their religious & spiritual beliefs.

In closing, and I only bring this up because Phil did just a little bit, I would love to actually hear the views of the people on this site where it regards homosexuality/marriage/religion. However, DO NOT reply to me here, I would like for all of us to wait until Joe puts up a piece on that topic.

[Phil]

Good commenting Ed. I didnt even go into the whole cultural differences, I am glad you tackled some of that.

To clarify in my post earlier...I was on a tear cause I was at work and had a short break...The Essense and Judaism did not proscribe ceibacy to curb the aids epidemic, but did proscribe celibacy to their leaders. Much of where the debate of 1 Timothy 3 comes into play. Celibacy etc...

Anyways...

Good topic Joe...good responses so far also.

I like your board...glad to be here.