The current RH bill proposes to use taxpayers money, OUR MONEY, to fund promotion and distribution of artificial contraceptives in our country.
Is this "THE solution" or will it be part of the problem? Read what the statistics show...
Let's pray against the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill here in the Philippines that reduces "life" to a matter of "choice". Pass this email and keep your friends and family informed.
God bless!
.... if people abstained from sex at least six months between partners, the odds of HIV transmission would be decimated. Therefore, countries that encourage monogamy and self-control enjoy much greater success in preventing HIV than countries that simply hand out condoms.
A key example of this is in the Philippines, where condoms are rare, and so is HIV. A New York Times article entitled “Low Rate of AIDS Virus In Philippines Is a Puzzle” reported that the Church in the Philippines is “conservative and politically powerful.” As a result, “the government has no AIDS-awareness program of its own and restricts the public campaigns of independent family-planning groups.”[36]
But, the article reported, “public health officials say they are stumped by a paradox in the Philippines, where a very low rate of condom use [4 percent] and a very low rate of HIV infection seem to be going hand in hand.” In this conservative Catholic country that shuns condoms, about twelve thousand of the eighty-four million residents are infected with HIV. Jean-Marc Olive of the World Health Organization said that he’s not sure why this is, but he thinks they’re “lucky.” One gets the impression that “experts” would rather look puzzled than be forced to give credit to a chaste culture.
To appreciate the wisdom of the Filipino approach to halting the spread of HIV, contrast their efforts with the “safe sex” program implemented in Thailand. Both countries reported their first case of HIV in 1984. By 1987 there were 135 cases in the Philippines, and 112 in Thailand. The World Health Organization predicted that by 1999, 85,000 people would die of AIDS in the Philippines, and 70,000 in Thailand. In an effort to prevent this tragedy, Thailand enacted a “100 percent condom use program” and promoted widespread availability of condoms.[37] Meanwhile, the Filipino government backed the Church’s plan to prevent the epidemic. By 2005, Thailand’s HIV rate was fifty times as high as the Philippines (580,000 vs. 12,000).[38]
But because Thailand’s rate of new HIV infections is not as high as it used to be, it is hailed by “safe sex” experts as the model of how to protect a country against HIV. Health officials warn that an HIV epidemic has “the potential to explode” in the Philippines, but they are slow to acknowledge that if Filipinos hold fast to their morals, they’ll have nothing to fear.[39] Compared to Western culture, Filipinos have a delayed sexual debut and reduced number of partners.[40] They are living proof that self-control always trumps birth control.
While some people see the Catholic Church as an obstacle to HIV prevention, the British Medical Journal noted, “The greater the percentage of Catholics in any country, the lower the level of HIV. If the Catholic Church is promoting a message about HIV in those countries, it seems to be working. On the basis of data from the World Health Organization, in Swaziland where 42.6 percent have HIV, only 5 percent of the population is Catholic. In Botswana, where 37 percent of the adult population is HIV infected, only 4 percent of the population is Catholic. In South Africa, 22 percent of the population is HIV infected, and only 6 percent is Catholic. In Uganda, with 43 percent of the population Catholic, the proportion of HIV infected adults is 4 percent.”[41] In the Philippines, over 80 percent of the population is Catholic, and only .03 percent of the population has HIV![42]
The Catholic Church, like any good mother, wants what is best for her children. If your son or daughter had the chance to be sexually active with a person infected with HIV, what message would you give him or her? Would you entrust your child’s life to a piece of latex? Would you buy him or her a package of condoms, and then attempt to deliver a convincing abstinence message? Odds are, every loving parent would deliver an uncompromised message about abstinence. Why then would the Church do any less for her children?
Some argue that the Church’s opposition to condoms isn’t realistic because “some people are going to do it anyway.” But who are these “some people” who are incapable of being reached with the message of self-control? When I played college baseball, we were expected not to use steroids. Sure, some athletes do it anyway, but no coach would walk into the locker room and say, “We want you all to abstain from using performance-enhancing drugs. But since we know some of you will do it anyway, we’ll have a basket of free, clean syringes in the dugout.” Odds are, his players would not be inspired by his lack of confidence in them. If the coach truly cared about his players and wanted only the best for them, he’d motivate and empower them to make the best choice. In the same way, the Church will not give up on any human being but will continue to deliver the safest and healthiest message: chastity.
All of these considerations should offer more than enough evidence that the Church’s stance on contraception does not stem from naïve traditionalism. It comes, in the words of one Vatican reporter, “from a profound analysis of the need to integrate sexuality in an exclusive and permanent relationship open to life in the context of marriage. The wisdom of this view is becoming increasingly clearer.”[43]
Critics may belittle the Catholic Church now, but as the saying goes, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”[44]
Read the whole article.
“Life is ironic. I have to let go of my reserved seat besides you so I could share a seat with you – then get to know you.”
A new found friend asked me, “What should I do? I am confused. I have a rekindled feeling for my high school sweetheart and a relationship with a boyfriend for three years.”
I am NO joe the mango. In fact I have many failed relationships than an average joe could possibly have. I decided to tell her a story instead and let her reflect about it.
The first story was about the man & the corn field. I told her that there was once a man who was told by the landlord of the sweet corn’s field: “You can pick and keep the biggest corn from my cornfield but with one condition: as you pick the biggest sweet corn, you have to keep on running without stopping until you reach the end of the cornfield. There is no turning back and no going back as well. To top all these, you can only pick one corn.”
The man said: “Well, that is easy!” and off he goes to run in the cornfield. Then he saw a sizable corn a few meters away, he said to himself: “this is one big corn.” BUT when he reach the corn stack he decided that he might find a bigger one in the middle of the field so he did not pick the corn. This goes on with the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and an almost countless big corns he just did not pick thinking that farther on the field there will be a much bigger corn.
Then the man reached the point that he could already see the end of the cornfield. He fanicked then he pick the biggest corn he could see in sight. He ended with a mediocre size corn.
She asked me, “so, what is the moral of the story”. I told her, do not delay your decision; you might end with a mediocre corn. You have to decide now. Then, she said, hmmm... you make my problem a lot difficult this time.
Then I told her: The human heart capable of loving more than one person. So, you should not worry about “being still in love” with your highschool sweet heart. It is humanly possible and normal. Likewise, do NOT confuse Love with that exciting feeling. In fact, love is not even close to that feeling. BUT when it comes to that “Matrimonial Love,” you will have to see that it is more than that exciting feeling.
It is all about commitment. It is the commitment to stay in love even when the other has started to become unlovable since he/she has grown old; or you found out that there are characteristic that he/she have that you DO NOT LIKE; or that he/she is low in cash but high in maintenance; or you have simply outgrown him/her.
Maybe I can make your decision a little lighter with this quote: “You can NEVER step on the same river twice.” She said, what do you mean by that?
I said, remember that when you step on the river your second chance to step in would be with a different river, the first one is already down stream. If you are thinking that the person you have met in your high school days is the same person, you are wrong. You might be nostalgic, but that person you might be looking for is already downstream - not the same person you meet now. There will be a lot of catching up to do.
In the end, you will have to choose your big corn!