Thanks for posting the articles by May, Guevin/Rhonheimer, and Gormally. It was great to see how Rhonheimer tried to justify his thinking. Gormally's article was excellent, but to all readers of these articles I would add this additional thought as to why use of the condom by infertile couples is wrong and renders the act a non-marital act. Let's consider Sarah and Elizabeth in the bible. Both these women were past the age of conceiving a child, yet God made it possible for them to conceive because it was His will that they have the children He wanted them to have. I submit that their children would not have been conceived had Sarah and Elizabeth not engaged in normal acts of intercourse with their husbands. My point is this--a couple may be deemed infertile because of age, or physical problem, or a past intentional sterilization, but God can choose to intervene and make conception possible if such couples engage in non-contraceptive acts of intercourse. I am now past menopause but I know that if God so chose I could become pregnant. I do not expect that to happen, but I remain open to God's will. Use of a condom by infertile couples (supposedly without contraceptive intentions) makes the act a non-marital act and despite their supposed infertility carries a contraceptive element because it denies God the power to use that act as He did in Sarah and Elizabeth's situations.
csc | 04.26.06 - 7:19 pm | #