TOT at Origan Express

Steve announced in our first group meeting we had on last Monday that there is a Theology On Tap this Thursday at Origan District, Dayton. So... I asked Steve to pick me up so that we can go there together. So there starts my first TOT experience and a good speech indeed. TOT is a lecture series conducted in a bar or tavern related to religious concerns for young people in their 20s and 30s. So it is exciting.


Today's talk was very interesting and awakening and he did it very well as well. The speaker is Dr. Ashley Fernandes, who has a PhD in philosophy and then a medical degree and so he is a well educated catholic!. A catholic who preaches good values of church for youth in today's talk. The motivation of the talk is about youth sex life and teachings of using contraceptives. He pointed out many facts that why the teaching of catholic church stand firm in this perspective. I will mention some of his ideas here briefly for those of you are interested.

Actually using contraceptives is against the faith and belief of Catholics. The main reason is that we do not know when the life begins (fertile and implantation) and what is the exact definition. It defers from book to book where and when the life begins (between a day to 12 days). But there is definitely life even it is a single cell. A person is there. So destroying that single cell is also equal to destroying a person. And these pills change the natural behavior or cycle of a woman and hence is against the natural order. His idea and claim is that introduction of these things brought many abortions or in other words killings. The reason is that you are exposed to be in an accident all the time. That is you are expecting an accident all the time to happen. When many people expecting accidents to happen there are many instances that these pills are also go wrong. Then there are many instances of accidental pregnancy than earlier when we didn't have these pills. The simple idea is a small fraction of a large amount is a large amount. So it seems like it is better to live without these and these pills do no good after all. Another argument he made is that people think that catholic families who have 5, 6 children happened to be as a result of not accepting these modern procedures. But it shouldn't have been all accidents. There may be 1, 2 or may be 3 accidents but there can't be 6 accidents..... ha ha ha... The thing is children are not planned or restricted. They are gifts. So it is not right to control them using these new technologies. He also mentioned that expecting a child should not be postponed for a reason like to buy a mustang or camaro!

There were many interesting thoughts he presented today and really nourishing. I am glad that I was able to go there today and experienced TOT for the first time as well. Thank you Steve for your invitation. Finally there is one comment that he mentioned similar to my good friend Hasitha used to mention from ages ago. That is, it is not right to live as your own and be good and do nothing but it's our responsibility to do good which we may not do often!