Is sex transforming itself into a drug?

[thirdworld19 0]

Ok - so sex transforming into a drug is not the main point of the article, so why even include that statement?

My question: Is human life really losing value through the use of artificial insemination or artificial birth control?


VATICAN CITY, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican's teaching against birth control was difficult as he praised a 1968 Church document that condemned contraception.

Pope Benedict expressed concern that human life risks losing its value in today's culture.

In a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the document, Benedict reiterated the Church's ban against artificial birth control as well as more recent teaching against using artificial procreation methods.

Pope Paul VI's 1968 "Humanae vitae" ("On Human Life") encyclical prohibits Catholics from using artificial birth control.

"The teaching laid out in the 'Humanae vitae' encyclical isn't easy," Benedict said.

"What was true yesterday remains true even today. The truth expressed in 'Humanae vitae' doesn't change; on the contrary, in the light of new scientific discoveries, it is ever more up to date," the pope added.

Benedict appeared to be referring to artificial procreation methods, which in the Church's view offend the dignity of life and go against Vatican teaching that the only way to conceive a child is through intercourse between husband and wife.

"No mechanical technique can substitute the act of love that two married people exchange as a sign of a greater mystery," Benedict said.

Benedict expressed concern that human life risks losing its value in today's culture and worried that sex could "transform itself into a drug" that one partner had to have even against the will of the other.

"What must be defended is not only the true concept of life but above all the dignity of the very person," the pope added.

Paul VI was said to have agonized over whether to allow artificial conception in preparing the encyclical. Benedict described Paul's decision as the fruit of much suffering and the document as "a significant gesture of courage."

"Forty years after its publication, that teaching not only shows itself to be unchanged in its truth, but it reveals the farsightedness with which the problem was tackled," the pope said.

[jakee 1,257]

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My question: Is human life really losing value through the use of artificial insemination or artificial birth control?

No.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Shotgun 1]

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My question: Is human life really losing value through the use of artificial insemination or artificial birth control?

No. I don't see how reducing the number of unwanted children in the world would cause a reduction in the value of human life. If anything, I think the opposite would be true. (Though I think I would personally choose adoption over artificial insemination, but anyone who is willing to go through either process probably really wants to have children.)

And in today's world, preaching against birth control seems pretty irresponsible to me.

[nerdgirl 0]

I found a profound dissonance in what he was saying and the connections trying to assert.

I can think of a very long list of affronts against human dignity;
birth control &/or artificial insemination aren’t anywhere in the top 100 (if at all).

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[Pope] Benedict expressed concern that human life risks losing its value in today's culture and worried that sex could "transform itself into a drug" that one partner had to have even against the will of the other.

"What must be defended is not only the true concept of life but above all the dignity of the very person," the pope added.

Reading that commentary, to me it doesn’t sound like he’s talking about birth control or artificial insemination. Rape, molestation, sexual abuse, forced prostitution/sexual slavery, forcing a 15 yo girl to marry a 45 yo man (whether a second cousin in northern Arizona or in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan), or that guy in Austria who raped and imprisoned his daughter and grandchildren/children for 20 years sound much more appropriate for the rhetoric applied.

It also doesn’t seem that birth control or artificial insemination were required for sex to become a motivator – a metaphorical “drug” – prompting humans to act in ways that cause loss of dignity, e.g., former Governor Spitzer, Senator Craig, or former President Bill Clinton.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Royd 0]

They say that mastrubation is good for the prostate, but what would I know.

[kallend 1,635]

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They say that mastrubation is good for the prostate, but what would I know.

No way yet, but you'll find out if your efforts were worth it when you get into your 60s.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Lindsey 0]

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They say that mastrubation is good for the prostate, but what would I know.

No way yet, but you'll find out if your efforts were worth it when you get into your 60s.

Yeah....but masturbation when you're 40 doesn't help your prostate when you're 60 NEARLY as much as masturbation (or better yet some actually nookie) when you're 60. :)

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[rynodigsmusic 0]

And in today's world, preaching against birth control seems pretty irresponsible to me.

[kallend 1,635]

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They say that mastrubation is good for the prostate, but what would I know.

No way yet, but you'll find out if your efforts were worth it when you get into your 60s.

Yeah....but masturbation when you're 40 doesn't help your prostate when you're 60 NEARLY as much as masturbation (or better yet some actually nookie) when you're 60. :)

linz

Apparently not. The Australian research suggests it's most beneficial if done in the teens and twenties.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[pirana 0]

"Love is the drug that I'm thinking of"

- Roxy Music

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley