I suppose it comes to which is more sinful...to allow fallen, failing human beings in marriage (no comment on those outside of marriage--or the Church) to use forms of contraception, at the risk of Onanism (btw, it\'s an English word too), to keep from producing too many children if they cannot govern their sexual passions...or, to allow them to produce too many children to support? Arguing \'standards of living\' can go on all day--much like those secular lawyers you pointed out--but at the end of the day, you have to live where God had you be born. Do I think that Americans, in particular, have too much? Yes, I do. But I also know that to function in the world (which, let\'s remember, we all have to live and function in the world--even the monks!), and in particular, in the world we are born in, we have to play by its rules to a large extent. Our Lord teaches us this when he says \"render unto Caesar what is Caesar\'s, and unto God what is God\'s.\" We do what we have to do in the world, while remembering that we are not OF the world. Children are a great treasure, and we should never forget that; physical intimacy is a great gift, and we should not abuse it. But in the course of human life, a call has to be made in the life of individual Christians, and with their spiritual Father; frankly, its no one else\'s business what advice a spiritual Father gives to his spiritual children. Let\'s keep in mind that God loves us, and exercises that love toward us through the Church, in order to lead us back to him. Believing that everyone can be expected to follow all the \"rules\" all the time, and that that will bring them to salvation, is a great spiritual tragedy. There is an old horse trainer\'s adage about putting to much weight on a young back--and it is totally applicable to those who are young in faith, young in marriage, etc. The Church has always met us where we are...picks us up and walks us back to the Way. Slamming doors on people\'s toes is no way to go about leading them to salvation. Far more damaging to what Orthodoxy is (i.e. a discipline of spiritual therapy) is importing Western, legal-code thinking into it (rule book religion).
In other words, let\'s leave decisions on \"yes\" or \"no\" to things like contraception where they belong--case by case bases for couples under the loving care of a spiritual father.
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