I've included some links for further research on the bc/Pill connection. Ladies: read these studies and share their results with women whom you love. Refuse to be complicit in the destruction of a generation, and for God's sake ask QUESTIONS in your doctor's office.
http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/med_avoid/pill.htm
http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/online/2009/05/Oral_contraceptives_and_breast_cancer.html
http://www.pregnantpause.org/safe/pillcanc.htm
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Study_Birth_Control_Pills_Increase_Breast_Cancer_Risk.asp
http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2007may12_m275512.html
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/354/3/270?ck=nck
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8656904?dopt=Abstract
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/search?author1=Lesley+Andrews&sortspec=date&submit=Submit
Thursday, October 29, 2009
How We Get Down
20 inches of snow in October and all's well....It'll be 65 degrees by Sunday. I love this state!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Truer Words...
"As an American I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, but that America gave him the White House based on the same credentials." - - Newt Gingrich
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
"Natural" Contraception
I spoke at the Colorado School of Mines last night on Green Sex, and had the smartest most engaged audience thus far. The questions were great, the students were really receptive and willing to discuss, and these kids were smart. I mean, most of them are engineers and probably even took calculus in high school. That kind of smart. (Luckily, I didn't let on to them that I have to use my cell phone's calculator function before I check out at Target to get a decent idea of the total damage. Or that I once - or maybe twice - got lost on my way to work. 9 months into a familiar commute which involves 4 left turns.)
So, they were awesome, and it was awesome to be there speaking to the target demographic for contraceptive manufacturers... and to disabuse them of some commonly-held misconceptions about their bodies, their girlfriend's bodies, the Church's funny holdout against technology, and the fact that there is no such thing as "Catholic" birth control.
But the idea is deeply, deeply ingrained in our cultural consciousness. The notion that conception=bad and "protection"= good has made it necessary to explain the natural good of pregnancy, of the creation of a new person, of our very existence. There just isn't much of a concept of the goodness of life in a culture where our young people have come of age always knowing that they - and everyone else around them - were disposable.
The pro-abortion side of the aisle has done a great job advancing the notion of pregnancy as a "disease" and a "traumatic event." My current favorite lovetohateit advertising campaign is a sign in bubbly pink letters proclaiming (on a bus terminal) "Freaked you'll get pregnant?! Call today for cheap (or free!) birth control!"
Classy.
So I'm talking to these young men and women, loving their questions and level of participation and inherent desire to discover the truth... but I have to keep refuting a term frequently misspoken in their questions: the idea of "natural" contraception.
It was unfathomable to some of them that the Church's teachings on family life and sexual love do not leave room for some kind of "loophole" whereby, if you play by the rules, you can somehow contracept "naturally," in a way that is neither harmful to the body or to the environment, and would therefore be acceptable by the Church's standards.
Contraception has so long been sold as an ultimate good, an incredible blessing which has freed us from the slavery of fertility. This is all we've known, my reality tv generation, and to suggest otherwise is to venture into totally unfamiliar territory for most of us.
We scratch our heads, wondering what the big deal about the Pill is ... and then once we discover the consequences, we logically look for a safer alternative... not stopping to think that the method and means are as disordered as the concept itself.
To want to "contra-cept" (which roughly translates to "against" "the beginning") is to desire to prevent life. It is the opposite of love, which is always seeking to expand and to fill.
It is the desire to divorce the unitive from the procreative element of the sexual act... and it is all the rage in our culture of selfish, pleasure-oriented gratification.
Pleasure is not bad, don't get me wrong. But it's not a complete "end" in itself. Pleasure is actually attached as a sort of "motivator" to things we were designed to do: eat, sleep, make babies... among a host of other items.
When something is pleasurable, it makes sense that we might mistakenly begin pursuing the pleasure as an end in itself, but our desire for satisfaction does not alter reality. Just because our reasons for seeking sex have become self-centered does not change the fact that sex is fundamentally "other-centered."
The Church teaches against contraception because it is contrary to love, not because the Church is contrary to love. Contraception is the means by which a couple makes of one another an object to be used, a means to gratification.
Yes, sex should be pleasurable. Yes, it's bonding and satisfying... but why? Sex is designed to be both the means and the result by which families are built. Our desire draws us together, unites us... and expands us, creating (if the timing is right) an "other" who wasn't there before.
What if someone were promoting the concept of sex without bonding? Of sterile, passion-less copulation between couples seeking only the physical fruit of their union: a child?
Well... ever heard of IVF?
The point is, when you attempt to redefine reality, you're going to get burned. Pope Paul IV predicted it in 1968, and we're still reaping the fruits.
So, they were awesome, and it was awesome to be there speaking to the target demographic for contraceptive manufacturers... and to disabuse them of some commonly-held misconceptions about their bodies, their girlfriend's bodies, the Church's funny holdout against technology, and the fact that there is no such thing as "Catholic" birth control.
But the idea is deeply, deeply ingrained in our cultural consciousness. The notion that conception=bad and "protection"= good has made it necessary to explain the natural good of pregnancy, of the creation of a new person, of our very existence. There just isn't much of a concept of the goodness of life in a culture where our young people have come of age always knowing that they - and everyone else around them - were disposable.
The pro-abortion side of the aisle has done a great job advancing the notion of pregnancy as a "disease" and a "traumatic event." My current favorite lovetohateit advertising campaign is a sign in bubbly pink letters proclaiming (on a bus terminal) "Freaked you'll get pregnant?! Call today for cheap (or free!) birth control!"
Classy.
So I'm talking to these young men and women, loving their questions and level of participation and inherent desire to discover the truth... but I have to keep refuting a term frequently misspoken in their questions: the idea of "natural" contraception.
It was unfathomable to some of them that the Church's teachings on family life and sexual love do not leave room for some kind of "loophole" whereby, if you play by the rules, you can somehow contracept "naturally," in a way that is neither harmful to the body or to the environment, and would therefore be acceptable by the Church's standards.
Contraception has so long been sold as an ultimate good, an incredible blessing which has freed us from the slavery of fertility. This is all we've known, my reality tv generation, and to suggest otherwise is to venture into totally unfamiliar territory for most of us.
We scratch our heads, wondering what the big deal about the Pill is ... and then once we discover the consequences, we logically look for a safer alternative... not stopping to think that the method and means are as disordered as the concept itself.
To want to "contra-cept" (which roughly translates to "against" "the beginning") is to desire to prevent life. It is the opposite of love, which is always seeking to expand and to fill.
It is the desire to divorce the unitive from the procreative element of the sexual act... and it is all the rage in our culture of selfish, pleasure-oriented gratification.
Pleasure is not bad, don't get me wrong. But it's not a complete "end" in itself. Pleasure is actually attached as a sort of "motivator" to things we were designed to do: eat, sleep, make babies... among a host of other items.
When something is pleasurable, it makes sense that we might mistakenly begin pursuing the pleasure as an end in itself, but our desire for satisfaction does not alter reality. Just because our reasons for seeking sex have become self-centered does not change the fact that sex is fundamentally "other-centered."
The Church teaches against contraception because it is contrary to love, not because the Church is contrary to love. Contraception is the means by which a couple makes of one another an object to be used, a means to gratification.
Yes, sex should be pleasurable. Yes, it's bonding and satisfying... but why? Sex is designed to be both the means and the result by which families are built. Our desire draws us together, unites us... and expands us, creating (if the timing is right) an "other" who wasn't there before.
What if someone were promoting the concept of sex without bonding? Of sterile, passion-less copulation between couples seeking only the physical fruit of their union: a child?
Well... ever heard of IVF?
The point is, when you attempt to redefine reality, you're going to get burned. Pope Paul IV predicted it in 1968, and we're still reaping the fruits.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
5 Quick Takes
1.) The word "Eden:" the original meaning = happiness. Shocking, eh? The things you learn in marriage prep...
2.) Rubbing a fresh strawberry across your teeth has a natural whitening effect AND fights plaque buildup. Yum!
3.) The March of Dimes gives to Planned Parenthood. How much does that suck? Oh, the irony of saving some babies by destroying others....
4.) White House/Black Market has some of the BEST clearance sales on earth. Go here. Bring your Visa. Don't say I didn't warn you....
5.) In ancient Hebrew tradition, the bestowal of a name by the child's father was, in effect, the conference of paternal permission to live. So when God instructed Adam to name the animals, he wasn't merely filling in nameplates at the zoo. Adam's conference of a name upon each creature effectively caused it to become what it was, whether a dog or a tiger or an alligator. Amazing.
2.) Rubbing a fresh strawberry across your teeth has a natural whitening effect AND fights plaque buildup. Yum!
3.) The March of Dimes gives to Planned Parenthood. How much does that suck? Oh, the irony of saving some babies by destroying others....
4.) White House/Black Market has some of the BEST clearance sales on earth. Go here. Bring your Visa. Don't say I didn't warn you....
5.) In ancient Hebrew tradition, the bestowal of a name by the child's father was, in effect, the conference of paternal permission to live. So when God instructed Adam to name the animals, he wasn't merely filling in nameplates at the zoo. Adam's conference of a name upon each creature effectively caused it to become what it was, whether a dog or a tiger or an alligator. Amazing.
Monday, October 19, 2009
You Draw Me Closer to Love
33 days to go...
Dress? Check.
Shoes? Check, check.
Best friend for a groom? CHECK.
Dress? Check.
Shoes? Check, check.
Best friend for a groom? CHECK.
Can't wait... please pray for us!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Don't Think, Wear Pink!
I've been visually assaulted this month by proliferation of pink popping up... everywhere. The grocery store, the gym, my favorite coffee shop... I swear, if I get a pink-foil wrapped burrito at Chipotle, my head is going to explode.
Now pink is my very favorite color, it's true. So why the rage? Why did the mere sight of that blushing, bubbly white-zinfandel colored wrist band on the NFL ref during last week's Broncos game cause my blood pressure to spike?
Well, for the same reason that other women are experiencing elevated levels of blood pressure. And increased risk of strokes and heart disease. And skyrocketing risk rates for breast cancer:
The Pill.
The very same Pill that so many of these merchants tout as the panacea to the problems of the modern world, particularly to those faced by members of the fairer sex. The Pill, our culture proclaims from every magazine spread, television broadcast and billboard, is the answer to our over-populated, under-sexed and insufficiently satiated appetite for more.
But it's delivered a whole lot more than we could have expected. Which brings me back to the infuriating "think pink" campaign which has somehow replaced our collective conscience for the time being, (giving the tiresome 'go green' mantra a break) and opened up a marketing opportunity for everyone from Safeway to Starbucks to the National Football League to show how much they care.
Except, they don't.
At least, not enough to stop marketing or manufacturing that very same substance which is largely to blame for the skyrocketing increase in breast cancer rates over the past several decades.
Breast cancer is a terrible scourge, a vicious disease. It is heartless in its selection of victims, aggressive in its course, and cruelly demanding of its victims.
But what is far more terrible and in fact much more insidious is the idea of a collaboration of industries whose monetary interests far outweigh their humanitarian concerns.
But when you've got companies like Subaru and Wells Fargo funding Planned Parenthood, when you've got Ortho and Depo and Yaz and the like being pushed over the counter at Kroger's to teens and middle aged mommies alike... you start to wonder. How much do these companies actually care about those customers of theirs - girls and women like you and me?
Sure, there are races for the cure, posters saluting fallen heroines who lost their battles, pink sleeves for coffee cups to show that one stands "against" breast cancer.
Because doing something, anything, in the face of overwhelming evil feels better than doing nothing at all. But the funny thing is, after all those dollars are collected at the checkout counter, after all the fundraisers and campaigns for a cure are safely in November's rearview mirror... will those same companies and indiviudals who proclaim their concern so conspicuously still be speaking out? Will they continue to let their wallets talk for them, reconsidering purchases which might benefit the manufacturers of the Pill in an effort to "fight the good fight?"
Or will this be sufficient? Is it enough to wear a little pink for 30 days? Is no further action required to curtail the epidemic that is stalking our generation? Are we not, in fact, compelled by justice to inform women honestly about the risks associated with consumable, injectible and insertable hormonal contraceptives?
Such an inconvenient truth, this link between cancer and the Pill. It couldn't possibly be true, could it? No, no... it's little more than a "right wing scare tactic" or a "dogmatic religious falsehood," a pro-life "myth"... that's what the media continually reassures us in soothing tones.
So rethink pink, my friends. And ask yourselves who the real losers are when lies become so oft- repeated they become the truth.
Now pink is my very favorite color, it's true. So why the rage? Why did the mere sight of that blushing, bubbly white-zinfandel colored wrist band on the NFL ref during last week's Broncos game cause my blood pressure to spike?
Well, for the same reason that other women are experiencing elevated levels of blood pressure. And increased risk of strokes and heart disease. And skyrocketing risk rates for breast cancer:
The Pill.
The very same Pill that so many of these merchants tout as the panacea to the problems of the modern world, particularly to those faced by members of the fairer sex. The Pill, our culture proclaims from every magazine spread, television broadcast and billboard, is the answer to our over-populated, under-sexed and insufficiently satiated appetite for more.
But it's delivered a whole lot more than we could have expected. Which brings me back to the infuriating "think pink" campaign which has somehow replaced our collective conscience for the time being, (giving the tiresome 'go green' mantra a break) and opened up a marketing opportunity for everyone from Safeway to Starbucks to the National Football League to show how much they care.
Except, they don't.
At least, not enough to stop marketing or manufacturing that very same substance which is largely to blame for the skyrocketing increase in breast cancer rates over the past several decades.
Breast cancer is a terrible scourge, a vicious disease. It is heartless in its selection of victims, aggressive in its course, and cruelly demanding of its victims.
But what is far more terrible and in fact much more insidious is the idea of a collaboration of industries whose monetary interests far outweigh their humanitarian concerns.
But when you've got companies like Subaru and Wells Fargo funding Planned Parenthood, when you've got Ortho and Depo and Yaz and the like being pushed over the counter at Kroger's to teens and middle aged mommies alike... you start to wonder. How much do these companies actually care about those customers of theirs - girls and women like you and me?
Sure, there are races for the cure, posters saluting fallen heroines who lost their battles, pink sleeves for coffee cups to show that one stands "against" breast cancer.
Because doing something, anything, in the face of overwhelming evil feels better than doing nothing at all. But the funny thing is, after all those dollars are collected at the checkout counter, after all the fundraisers and campaigns for a cure are safely in November's rearview mirror... will those same companies and indiviudals who proclaim their concern so conspicuously still be speaking out? Will they continue to let their wallets talk for them, reconsidering purchases which might benefit the manufacturers of the Pill in an effort to "fight the good fight?"
Or will this be sufficient? Is it enough to wear a little pink for 30 days? Is no further action required to curtail the epidemic that is stalking our generation? Are we not, in fact, compelled by justice to inform women honestly about the risks associated with consumable, injectible and insertable hormonal contraceptives?
Such an inconvenient truth, this link between cancer and the Pill. It couldn't possibly be true, could it? No, no... it's little more than a "right wing scare tactic" or a "dogmatic religious falsehood," a pro-life "myth"... that's what the media continually reassures us in soothing tones.
"Don't worry, nobody's going to take your contraception away. You don't have to fret; there are no consequences, and nobody is going to get hurt. Here, put on this pink hat. Affix this bumper sticker to your vehicle. Shhhh, now, doesn't that feel better?"I'd argue, no.
So rethink pink, my friends. And ask yourselves who the real losers are when lies become so oft- repeated they become the truth.
Monday, October 12, 2009
October? Really?
In honor of respect life month, I've elected to go 40 days without blogging in solidarity for those whose voices are never to be heard.
Okay, actually, while the above is a noble thought, I'm actually just too busy to write!
But here's a rundown of the latest:
Please pray for two talks this month, one at the University of Denver and one at the Colorado School of Mines. The topic for both evenings is "Green Sex" and this will be my first attempt of such in front of a secular audience, so pray for open hearts, open minds, and a smooth and un-flustered delivery from yours truly. I'm really praying that I don't get in the way of this message!
also... I'm getting married in 39 days! Please pray for Dave and me during these last few weeks of engagement, and for the 10,000 little details that could distract us but don't necessarily matter....
I'll write soon, peace to you all!
Okay, actually, while the above is a noble thought, I'm actually just too busy to write!
But here's a rundown of the latest:
Please pray for two talks this month, one at the University of Denver and one at the Colorado School of Mines. The topic for both evenings is "Green Sex" and this will be my first attempt of such in front of a secular audience, so pray for open hearts, open minds, and a smooth and un-flustered delivery from yours truly. I'm really praying that I don't get in the way of this message!
also... I'm getting married in 39 days! Please pray for Dave and me during these last few weeks of engagement, and for the 10,000 little details that could distract us but don't necessarily matter....
I'll write soon, peace to you all!
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