"Sex, when it becomes an end in itself, will become disordered."
Is there theological support for this statement? What exactly is disordered about it? If food is consumed for pleasure rather than nutrition, does it become disordered?
"Sex has become selfish, greedy, and consumptive. We now use the bodies of others for our own erotic pleasure."
How does oral sex and masturbation fit into this framework?
Most Catholics are using "natural family planning". Although the word natural is there it's really an unnatural discipline involving charts and thermometers.
Humane Vitae came out of an ecclesiastical system made up solely of celibate males which chose to ignore the report of a commission that included married couples. Like much of Catholic teaching it was philosophically correct and pastorally disastrous.
I get the liberation and utilitarian ethical arcs. What is unfortunate, however, is how we really cannot conceive of what natural law is. The definition given here shows how far afield we’ve drifted. “nature is too ambiguous’ You can see this dim view of truth at play. What is human? What does it mean to be man or woman? What is sex? We want to squirm away from what seems too monolithic or too contrived, yet we end up rebelling against what is.
We want to think of contraception as a tool in the same way that contact lenses help vision—but this is a bizarre analogy. A more apt analogy for contraception would be from the Hunger Games when at one point they visit the Capital and they see at parties they drink some concoction which makes them throw up allowing them to eat more food. It’s not a perfect analogy but you get the idea that the telos of the stomach is for eating and sustenance. Sure eating is enjoyable, why not have a techne that allows us that enjoyment without actually eating?
To paraphrase Chesterton, birth control is a misnomer as it is really about less birth and less control. We’ve always had birth control but in erstwhile times it was called self-control.
"Sex, when it becomes an end in itself, will become disordered."
Is there theological support for this statement? What exactly is disordered about it? If food is consumed for pleasure rather than nutrition, does it become disordered?
"Sex has become selfish, greedy, and consumptive. We now use the bodies of others for our own erotic pleasure."
How does oral sex and masturbation fit into this framework?
Great questions. I’ll have to think about them. I know traditional Catholic teaching opposes all non coital sex.
Most Catholics are using "natural family planning". Although the word natural is there it's really an unnatural discipline involving charts and thermometers.
Humane Vitae came out of an ecclesiastical system made up solely of celibate males which chose to ignore the report of a commission that included married couples. Like much of Catholic teaching it was philosophically correct and pastorally disastrous.
Well said…
I get the liberation and utilitarian ethical arcs. What is unfortunate, however, is how we really cannot conceive of what natural law is. The definition given here shows how far afield we’ve drifted. “nature is too ambiguous’ You can see this dim view of truth at play. What is human? What does it mean to be man or woman? What is sex? We want to squirm away from what seems too monolithic or too contrived, yet we end up rebelling against what is.
We want to think of contraception as a tool in the same way that contact lenses help vision—but this is a bizarre analogy. A more apt analogy for contraception would be from the Hunger Games when at one point they visit the Capital and they see at parties they drink some concoction which makes them throw up allowing them to eat more food. It’s not a perfect analogy but you get the idea that the telos of the stomach is for eating and sustenance. Sure eating is enjoyable, why not have a techne that allows us that enjoyment without actually eating?
To paraphrase Chesterton, birth control is a misnomer as it is really about less birth and less control. We’ve always had birth control but in erstwhile times it was called self-control.
Superb post, Richard!