Posted on 12/17/2004 6:58:39 AM PST by dukeman
Given his decision making power on the matter of gifts, my girls made sure Santa Claus got some seriously good cookies most Christmas eves. Like most children, mine did not know that there is much more to the real Saint Nick than toys and cookies. The jolly fellow could easily be considered the patron saint of purity.
Recently looking into the legend of St. Nick, I learned that Saint Nicholas lived early in the fourth century in what is now Turkey. He was orphaned as a young boy but left with substantial means by his parents. He used this inheritance to benefit others, especially children. He became the Bishop of Myra in Turkey and played an important leadership role in the church. Called the Wonderworker, he was well known for his generosity to children, hence his association with the legend of Santa Claus. The story of a benevolent soul giving gifts to children is a part of many cultures with many names. Saint Nick as another name for Santa Claus persists to this day.
I also read in my study that Saint Nicholas is a patron saint of virgins. Consulting with a Catholic friend, I learned that a patron saint is one who prays to God on behalf of a petitioner. So, in the Catholic tradition, if one wants to remain chaste, one may pray to Saint Nicholas who will then lift up the petitioner in spiritual prayer to God. As an aside, his patronage may explain at least one of the criteria for being in either the naughty or nice category when Saint Nick checks and rechecks his list. But I digress. There is more to this story.
Legend has it that Saint Nicholas became aware of a desperately poor parishioner having three daughters with no dowry to recommend them for marriage. The father had planned to sell them into prostitution to provide some means of support. By night, Saint Nicholas secretly brought bags of gold on three separate occasions to the man's home. These generous visitations allowed the three daughters to have sufficient means to avoid whoredom and later strike a marriage covenant. On the third visit to deliver the gift, Nicholas was caught in the act of generosity by the man.
Many make the Santa Claus-like association of this story to Saint Nicholas the gift giver. I see an additional angle. For reasons that often involve money, women today have few benefactors, few Saint Nicks. Bob Dylan sang it truly two decades ago that today's culture seems to promote "old men turning young daughters into whores." A look at any magazine rack will tell you that there is a market for flesh and the demographic is predominantly male, ages 12 to 90. Research company Visiongain projects the pornography market to be a 70 billion industry by 2006. That is a lot of gold being used to take advantage of women rather than promote their virtue.
Liberation from traditional female gender roles has been little help here. Women today are not, and should not be as helpless as those three girls aided by Saint Nicholas. However, girls gone wild with sexual freedom most often leads to exploitation by men. I doubt we would see as much skin if there were no gawking male purchasers, eager to buy and sell innocence as commerce.
Harmful to both men and women, graphic sexuality, even the somewhat scaled down prime time variety, contributes to the overall commodification of sex. Viewed through the eyes of a pornographer, sex is commerce and sexual purity is restraint of trade.
We need Saint Nicholas today. We need the gifts of chastity and modesty. We need more respecters of purity and fewer of those who would sell young people into the brothel of commercialism.
We need you today Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker. Our sons and daughters need the good gifts of those who truly value their health and purity.
Warren Throckmorton is director of college counseling and an associate professor of psychology at Grove City College. His research "Initial Empirical and Clinical Findings Concerning the Change Process for Ex-Gays," was published in the June 2002 issue of the American Psychological Association's publication Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Contact him at ewthrockmorton@gcc.edu. Learn about the documentary "I Do Exist" at www.idoexist.net.
Where was St.Nick when I need him! :o)
I am not to sure about the title of this story.
Grove City is awesome
Sorry, I didn't make it up. The school ran it that way on their website. It's a little unfortunate.
I'm afraid it's far worse than that.
Pornographers are in the grip of Satan, and sexual purity is hated for it's obedience to God. Often, those who seeks a girl's virginity are doing it for the sheer thrill of it's destruction with no thought of the girl herself.
That is an evil mindset.
"old men turning young daughters into whores."
** Jessica Simpson's father talking about his daughter's boobs comes to mind.
That's just sick!
The article was in general/chat. It was weird how he was talking about Ashlee Simpson appearing in a lesbian flick. I guess he's not a preacher anymore! LOL
This reminds me of an article that was up yesterday (?) about the father of Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, the young pop-music celebrities. He was talking about the marketing advantages of his daughers' breasts!
The other guy was naughty and Santa gave him a knuckle sandwich. LOL!
If anyone ever deserved a bundle of switches, it's this guy.
Well, it does stand to reason that we wouldn't see so much skin, if it didn't attract males...there probably wouldn't be as much difference in animal fur and plumage either.
Merry Christmas!
Oh and, we aren't supposed to pray to dead women either...just so everybody knows I don't discriminate against dead men! ;)
Very nicely stated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.