At 01:07 PM 8/12/2004 -0700 Deborah Harrell wrote: >> JDG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > Alberto Monteiro wrote: >> >>JDG wrote: > >> >> ... and until the scientific discovery of ovum >> >> and sperm, there probably wasn't much theological >> >> difference between abortion and contraception. > >> >I _think_ I read somewhere about roman condoms, >> made of some >> >animal internal body parts. I don't know how >> effective they were. And >> >there were anti-conception herbs. > >> Yes, but if you don't know that an "ovum" and a >> "sperm" exists, and rather >> think of things in terms of "seed" and "soil" - it >> can be easy to imagine >> why a theological distinction between abortion and >> contraception never really developed. > >But the difference exists, in science and the real >world. Just as we reject the ancient idea that woman >was magic and the only source of new life, so we >reject the notion that 'wasting seed' is a sin. >Preventing conception _is not_ the same as abortion.
Of course not... the preceding discussion was involving the history of Church teaching. I am merely describing how early Church theology did not necessarily distinguish between contraception and abortion, since "conception" was essentially an unknown concept as we now understand it. JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
