We believe that NFP International is unquestionably the most complete NFP program, and it is one of the few that address the issue of marital chastity during the fertile time. It is also the type of apostolate encouraged by the Fathers of Vatican Council II in their Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity:
Among these associations [in the apostolate of the laity], those which promote and encourage a closer harmony between the everyday life of the members and their faith must be given primary consideration (n. 19.2).
Among these associations, moreover, international associations or groups of Catholics must be especially prized today (n. 21).
A conversion to NFP: I am glad I read your manual. Specifically, I have a testimony for you. I actually received a word from God a few years ago, around the time my daughter had turned one. I was a brand new Christian then and hadn’t even read through the Bible yet, I don’t think. I was just learning what it meant to have a relationship with God. I felt that He spoke to me to trust Him with my fertility and the spacing of my children. At that time, my husband and I were still using barrier methods of birth control. I never did well on birth control pills, and I’m glad, because I’ve since learned of their abortifacent qualities.
So, I told my husband what I felt that God was saying to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really explain it then. I just believed that’s what He had told me. My husband wasn’t comfortable at that point giving up control. So, I just prayed about it again and gave it back to God. It was actually a crisis of faith for me for a while. I knew that God wanted me to submit to my husband. I also knew that He didn’t want me to use birth control. But, I couldn’t explain or understand why birth control was biblically wrong. Yet, I grew increasingly more uncomfortable using it and told my husband so. Still, he didn’t understand and wasn’t ready to welcome another child.
Well, this last year, I met a Catholic friend. When she first told me that she used Naturally Family Planning instead of artificial birth control, I really didn’t understand what that was, and my first reaction was that it sounded silly. I thought that it was either use artificial birth control, or just let the babies come as they will. Well, in the mean time, I have been having difficult, painful, heavy, and irregular periods for most of my adult life. I had a particularly bad one recently and happened to be with my Catholic friend that day. She mentioned that I could use NFP and better nutrition to find out what might be going on and improve my health. Then I was all ears! When I read your manual and the covenant theology, it was like it just logically laid out exactly how I felt about the issue of birth control and what I had felt God speaking to me, but couldn’t explain. My husband read about one page of your manual, and that was it. We are never using birth control again. He understands that it is unbiblical and ethically wrong, and, just like that, my 3-year prayer is answered. I can’t thank you and your wife enough for what you do, and I will continue to contribute to help you get the word out about NFP and God’s plan for sexuality in marriages. God bless you and the work you do.
Want to teach with NFPI? Contact us. As our teaching couple in Wichita said recently: “We are having a great time teaching! We love the manual!”
Want to buy one of our books by lulu? Save up to $4.99 on your next order with free mail shipping on a single title through April 30, 2011. Code at checkout is APRILMAIL305. This would apply to the following books: Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach, Battle-Scarred: Justice Can Be Elusive, The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding and Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing. Go to the NFPI website to click any book to transfer to lulu.com.
John F. Kippley