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→The Theology of the Body
Of all the subjects discussed here, many of them are irrelevant to me because, of course, I already agree. I do not have a dualistic / platonic idea of the body and the soul, I don't hate the flesh or the created physical world, I don't despise the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, I don't think that the celibate life is a "higher" vocation than the married life, I don't think the marital act is inherently sinful or evil, I don't think that it is only "excusable" when the procreation of children is part of it, and I don't think that the sin of Onan is relevant to this discussion. I do think that the sexual act is biologically ordained to procreation, i.e. that reproduction is it's telios. I do believe that the marital act is a beautiful Sign of the Gospel. I do believe that it "expresses" the bond of love between the husband and wife.
Furthermore, I agree that responsible parenting (or the health of one of the spouses) sometimes necessitates limiting the number of children. I don't think that Christians must have 10-15 10–15 children. Christian couples should have recourse to some form of birth control for grave reasons. But I don't know which are the morally acceptable means to that good end. And to me this question might best be answered if we think about what happens when the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act are divided.
To that end, let me begin with something Fr. Lev has written here. Concerning St Maximus' comments:
The pertinent questions, which have not yet been answered here, are:
* Is the Theology of the Body as summarized above true, in part or in whole?
* Could this kind of approach be used to explain the many patristic quotes, such as St Maximus' above, that speak of the procreative purpose of the marital act rather than having to attribute to them platonic, hyper-monastic, or stoic influence?
* If it is false, what proofs of falsity can be offered for the sake of subjective feelings of certainty, so I'm left in no doubt as to what I should believe?
* What alternate accounts can be given to people such as myself that find it an exceptionally beautiful vision of the marital act? For example, can anyone present a vision of contraceptive sex that is as beautiful and glorious as the above account of the life-giving marital act? Or, can anyone present an alternate anthropology where the unitive and procreative aspects of the marital act are truly separable in a way that continues to allow the marital act to be a Sign of the Gospel? Or, can anyone explain how the mere giving and taking of a sensation can be as beautiful and meaningful as the life-giving marital act? Or, how does one partner's desire to be given a certain kind of sensation and nothing else amount to the same self-sacrificial act of fully giving himself entirely and receiving his wife completely which would be the ''sine qua non'' of the expression of the bond of love?