Has anyone else stumbled across this post? http://caelumetterra.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/is-natural-family-planning-really-natural/
Quite a bit more negative in the NFP department than I normally see, and probably not the most healthy thread for me to read, but it was fascinating (and long!). It just had a revival a few weeks ago. I'm not sure what I think of it yet...any thoughts?
November
It seems like some of the comments are creating a "NFP doesn't work" party ... here's my story why it doesn't work ...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to best express to those people to give them a change of heart, since I'm the opposite of a "fertile jack-rabbit" (as one person put it). All I can think is that perhaps they need a refresher course? The instructor we had was just a one-on-one course with us, as her only couple. It was nice (and less pressure) than sharing awkward questions with other couples. I'd sure recommend a few private sessions to some of those couples before throwing in the towel.
(by the "here's my story why it doesn't work", I'm not talking about MY point of view, but of the comments posted. :-) That wasn't very clear.)
ReplyDeleteHaha, no I get what you mean. And I know for some people just switching methods is all it takes. As my sister often points out to me, I am a very principled person so I often get caught in the impossible cases (like this woman will die if she gets pregnant cases) when thinking about morality.
DeleteWe've never encountered extreme difficulties like those in the comments here, and so far NFP has been quite effective both for avoiding and conceiving. But I thought it was quite an interesting read, especially reading the stories of those who have more years of marriage under their belts than A and I.
November
I didn't read very far, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. The issue that the blogger seems to be raising is that it's not "natural" to abstain from sex, especially when the couple is really, well, excited to have sex.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of funny to me that it's similar to what some other people say about abstaining from sex, except those folks normally use that as justification to use contraception or have sex outside of marriage. Come on, we all know that the "natural" in natural family planning means not using chemical or barrier means.
Yes, abstaining can strain your relationship. Back when we were bothering to use NFP to avoid instead of achieve pregnancy (hahaha), we'd often fight more during the weeks that we were abstaining. I can absolutely see that this would be a problem for your marriage, especially if you're not both on the same page about how to handle things. The statistics about marriage/divorce that the NFP promoters use do seem kind of like a reach. Though, I can also see that people stubborn enough to stick with abstaining even when it's hard are people who might also stick with marriage when when it's hard.
Obviously, I'm rarely abstaining these days, so people probably would be less likely to buy what I'm selling as far as talking about abstaining and NFP. It's not going with your natural insticts, maybe, to abstain, but I don't see how it makes it unnatural.