Page 35 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 17

Health & Healing

Divorce Rates of NFP Users (top) and Contraception Users (bottom)

both represent an abuse of freedom
based on the desire to have the good
“taste” without the consequences.

Ultimately, it is clear why reject-
ing the natural ends of such basic
human goods as eating and sexuality
yields very unhealthy results, both
physically and spiritually. And using
the virtue of temperance—of not
overdoing a good thing—applies to
every way in which we satisfy our
basic human needs.

Final Thoughts
If marriage is your vocation, then
you are called to responsible parent-
hood. Sometimes this may involve
Contraception use has been associated with a divorce rate twice as using NFP to postpone having a
high as the divorce rate among NFP users child or to achieve pregnancy. The
(data from Clarifying Catholicism) vast majority of couples who use
NFP instead of birth control find
that it strengthens marriage because
it respects freedom, and couples
require a woman to be in tune with the consequences of her choices. find themselves richly rewarded for
her body, and they require good She separates the good of the taste their commitment both to God’s law
communication skills between the of food from its nutritional aspect. and to one another.
husband and wife. As we have not-
ed, couples say that this increased While most of us can see why this This resource is available as an
communication strengthens their is obviously unhealthy with regard eight-page booklet that can be or-
marriages. to food, many of us have lost that dered from our store. Order copies
intuitive understanding of why through HLI’s online store here.
5. One More Comparison… contraception is so unhealthy, even
While much more could be said though both contraception and buli-
about the differences between NFP mia are unhealthy for the same basic
and birth control, perhaps another reason. Both are very unhealthy not
simple comparison will illustrate the only physically, but because they
problem with separating the goods
that follow from our choices with
regard to basic human needs.

Most people know intuitively that
a healthy diet is better for a per-
son than bulimia—the disorder in
which one intentionally regurgitates
food in order to avoid calories. The
healthy eater uses her freedom and
self-control to choose wisely what
she eats, while the one suffering
with bulimia acts from a corrupt no-
tion of freedom that seeks to escape

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