By Jim J. McCrea
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There is an incident in my own life that might explain why I am so adamant about defending Catholic Church teaching to the letter.
In 1987 I was aware of the great controversy surrounding the contraception issue and the fact that most Catholics rejected Church teaching on that point.
At that point, a thought dawned on me that perhaps the Church was wrong on that teaching and should soften and compromise. I then said to myself that the Church should change Her teaching on this and allow contraception for married couples. They should do this to catch up to modern thinking (I was illicitly positing public pressure as some sort of Magisterium which is highly illogical when you think of it. Truth is still truth even if 100% of the people reject it).
What happened after that was that I asked: "What if Christ never founded a Church?" "He didn't." I said "He just founded Christianity in general."
Then I said: "What if Jesus is not God?" "No He isn't. There is no proof that He is" (which is actually wrong).
Then I said: "There is no proof that God is a Trinity so I can't accept that"
Then I declared: "God does not exist because the laws of nature explain everything"
What happened was that I completely lost the Faith and fell into a state of complete apostasy.
For three days my mind was in a murky darkness justifying all that the secular world holds in opposition to Christianity. I was not thinking according to reason, but according to my passions. This is because the supernatural light of faith that comes from God was completely withdrawn from me.
But on the third day, I felt myself being sucked into a black hole. An ultimate despair and disintegration was taking hold of me.
I then cried out: "Jesus help me! I believe!"
Instantly I was rescued. My mind then had restored the clear light in which the truth could be seen and in which peace abides.
The point is, that all started when I denied Catholic Church teaching on a single point which was Her doctrine on the forbiddance of contraception. Everything else quickly fell like dominoes. What was played out in me is the principle that if one rejects one point of Church teaching, one rejects them all, and hence rejects God. This is because If one rejects even one point, one is saying that God is not to be believed or that the Catholic Church does not have a commission from God to teach the truth. You just have to cut the little rope holding the boat to the dock and it will drift away.
The teaching of the Catholic Church on contraception is the "fuse link" in the Catholic Christian structure. If that blows, everything else goes. It is a testing point that God has given us to determine whether we will obey Him or not. Rationalizations that contraception should be allowed to avoid this that and the other evil in personal lives and society are just that - rationalizations. They are temptations from the evil one. These rationalizations are not based on true logic but a form of pseudo-logic. They always have fallacies concealed within them. For example, it is argued that contraception should be allowed because overpopulation is a problem and overpopulation leads to poverty, misery, violence, injustice etc. That is a false argument because those problems are not caused by many people living close together, as such, but by evil in the human heart that wishes to be unjust to one's neighbor. People living close together may indeed manifest that more. But if man did not have an unjust heart to begin with, large numbers of people living together would not be a problem. The contraceptive mentality feeds such evil in the human heart because the acceptance of contraception is a *reification* error turning a person into a thing that can be manipulated for personal pleasure (as many people now see their spouses). So the introduction of contraception to a poor and highly populated society will increase and not decrease its problems.
Contraception leads to every other moral evil in life. It has been documented that the acceptance of contraception in our society has led to the general breakdown of our society. Contraception leads to promiscuity, then abortion, then homosexuality, and then euthanasia. This is because it all starts with the principle that the other is to be used and not loved. Overpopulation arguments are based upon the fallacy that God can create life but that he cannot provide for it. That demonstrates a lack of faith and trust and a reliance on our human reason *alone.* (human reason, which is unaided and tries to stand alone, leads us right into the brambles and the rationalization of every injustice against our neighbor - such as legalized abortion. Human reason can only be used rightly if submitted to God and His law) For those who trust God, God provides beyond all our calculations. He provides miraculously when all seems hopeless and He dashes the best laid plans to pieces outside His will.
Besides, a married couple is not obliged to have as many Children as possible. Natural family planning is allowed to space children where needed. Natural family planning is resisted and falsely argued against because it means that one must submit oneself to a law higher than oneself. It is a matter of human pride trying to be God. The justification of artificial birth control against NFP is a statement that one is one's own God, completely in charge of one's own destiny, and that the true God is not to be bowed to.
The serpent said to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden that if they ate the forbidden fruit, they shall be like gods knowing (determining) good and evil. This is what many people follow today and what the false prophets of today teach others to do. That leads to misery in this life and eternal death hereafter.