Session 158: Genesis 35:16-38:10

Ch. 37 and 38-God is not mentioned in these chapters.  The Bible tells the stories “warts and all.”  These brothers of Joseph’s were awful....yet they were the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel!
God can work his plan even through bad people and bad circumstances.  (As we shall see later in Joseph’s life, next session.)

38:10 “Onanism” = contraception.  Fatal to Onan!  (Serious matter!) See paragraph 2370 of CCC.
Read also “Humanae Vitae”.
Pope predicted contraception would lead to the breakdown of families.  (Marital infidelity, selfishness ,loss of respect for women, divorce, promiscuity, and, ironically, an INCREASE in unwanted pregnancies.)  He was right!!  The Catholic Church stood virtually alone against contraception among Christian faith communities after 1930.  (Before 1930, virtually all Christian faith communities condemned contraception as evil.)