The Sinner's Guide to Natural Family Planning Kindle Edition

My husband and I first read this book when we were learning NFP and working on healing our marriage from the use of hormonal contraception. This book hurt us more. NFP is a BEAUTIFUL teaching. Yeah it's NOT easy, no duh. But this just fuels the fire of people not choosing to actually follow the Catholic Church's teaching because it's SO negative. We are called to embrace God's gift of our fertility. If you're that angry at NFP, an incredible resource that allows couples to discern and space children as needed, then you need to sit down with your partner and talk about what is really bothering you. NFP isn't ever the problem, the couples' outlook toward sex, intimacy, and children is the real issue.Please read this book with caution. This is NOT how all users of NFP feel. This isn't even how the majority of NFP users feel. This is how people who don't truly understand the absolute beauty and perfect design of human fertility and NFP or FABM feel. Please take the time to read and learn the true beauty of the teaching behind humane vitae and TOB and know that there is no reason to be angry at the Church for teaching NFP.

I'd heard this title occasionally come up in conversation and wasn't super interested ... I assumed it was a short-cut for super fun couples who hate NFP(sinners, obviously!!🙂). This book is EXCELLENT and both men and women can take a lot from it. As the author notes early on, it is not to sell the concept of NFP or teach charting. It's dripping with humor, TRUTH, and encourages reflection. There are some very big concepts in here that go well beyond child-spacing and fertility. Buy it, read it ... re-visit it yearly.

Because sex is complicated. Before marriage and after. Before parenthood and in the trenches. It's difficult, and it's funny, and it's so refreshing to read a book that's candid about it. This book is written for Catholics, but I would have appreciated it before I was part of the Church as well. Anyone who has attempted any kind of Fertility Awareness knows that there are days when they wish they had more fertility ignorance.

Hilarious yet full of great information. A must-read, especially for people like me who teach NFP. The only thing I wish she would have included is a more clear recommendation for couples who seem to have to abstain for long periods of time to consult with an accredited teacher in their method (and ask for a referral to another teacher if your current one is not being helpful). Going through charts with a teacher during times of hormonal changes (like post-partum, peri-menopause, or illness/stress) can often help reduce unnecessary abstinence. The author has great tips for managing times of abstinence, but it's best to make sure that that abstaining is really necessary.The other thing I would have liked to see too is recommendations for teachers as to how to encourage often reluctant couples to choose NFP over contraception without making NFP sound like all sunshine and roses. Often in marriage prep courses our audience is very mixed - everything from very devout Catholic couples to people who are only there because a family member wants them to have a church wedding. Also, there are many couples where only one is Catholic and the other is really not interested in NFP.But these are just minor points,and maybe outside the scope of the book. Everything that she did include is really great information and I really strongly recommend this book!

This book had me in tears multiple times, sparked many deeply fruitful conversations with my husband, was re-purchased several times for sisters and friends, and I recommend it widely.It isn't strong on practical, concrete guidance for navigating the various struggles of living out NFP that it talks about, but I still found the guidance that is offered to be sound, and primarily to be heartening. I think what this book does best is re-center and re-vitalize you for living your love. And gives you hope that you're not alone, you're doing great, and you've go this. :D

Simcha Fisher's new "The Sinner's Guide to Natural Family Planning" is the most refreshing and honest work on NFP I've ever read. In easy prose that's at times laugh-out-loud funny, Fisher has the courage to face the true ups and down of using NFP as a Catholic couple -- both the joys that come from marital chastity and the fact that sometimes, when you want to have sex and need to abstain, it kinda sucks.The book is divided into three sections. In the first, "NFP and the Spiritual Life," Fisher outlines important spiritual considerations of the Church's teachings on martial love. In the second, "NFP and the Rest of the World," she deals with the counter-cultural implications of NFP. But the final and longest section, "NFP in the Trenches," is the real meat of the book, where Fisher takes a brutally honest look at what it means to put the Church's teachings into practice. Fisher is not afraid to tackle difficult and rarely-discussed aspects of marital sexuality and should be commended for finding safe ground between frankness and explicitness.As a husband I can also say that the book is "guy-friendly"; while much of the advice is clearly directed towards wives, it never turns flowery or overly emotional in a way that might turn of committed Catholic men, and I recommend that husbands and wives read the book together."The Sinner's Guide to Natural Family Planning" is an outstanding contribution to the Catholic conversation on marital sexuality and I heartily recommend it.

Being relatively new to NFP I can not express enough how much I enjoyed reading this frank and honest book on the highs and lows of what it entails. It encouraged me to talk to my hubby about the difficult parts and has genuinely helped us grow closer in our bid to use nfp. Thank u!!

It's about time that somebody who actually uses nfp write about the struggles involved and how to deal with them (or at least, how to laugh about them and know you're not alone). This book is both insightful and hilarious.My only complaint is that a good deal of the material in this book is not new for anyone who reads the author's blogs. However, it's nice to have it all in one place.

Refreshingly honest with a sense of humor and realism but faithful to church teaching. A good and easy read. Some practical things for married life beyond things related to NFP. Worth it.

It is so refreshing to read a book on this subject that is so direct and so honest. Simcha does an excellent job, as always, of cutting right to the point without candy-coating the tough realities. I appreciate very much her wisdom and willingness to share it. I recommend this book to all married couples, regardless of age or stage....we can all be reminded of our purpose in marriage....to LOVE...even when it hurts.

Every married couple considering, practicing or avoiding NFP should read this book! It’s hilarious, honest and steeped in wisdom. You won’t regret it!