Posted on 08/27/2010 6:52:49 AM PDT by markomalley
Having seen an inordinate number of eloquent commentaries delineating the moral evils of the recent United States District Court decision nullifying the will of California voters on Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, I am nonetheless left wondering why none of the commentators was able to connect the dots.
Obviously, same-sex “marriage” or even same-sex “civil unions” are a bad idea, particularly if legitimized by a court system that previously put its stamp of approval on contraception and abortion. But why isn’t anyone pointing out the obvious root cause of this latest moral and legal debacle? Why isn’t anyone hammering on contraception?
In April of this year, months before this decision, Jenn Giroux, executive director of HLI America, explained to readers that the public acceptance of contraception has led to (among other things) “[s]maller and more broken families, rampant homosexuality, pornography, and China’s coercive one-child policy.”
Earlier, wise teachers such as Professor Janet Smith emphatically linked a rejection of Pope Paul VI’s profoundly wise encyclical Humanae Vitae to a wide acceptance of homosexuality. In her 2003 comments, she pointed out what I believe is the real problem—one that very few will admit: “Rather than holding to the Christian and common sense view that sex belongs within marriage between a male and a female committed to each other for life and open to children, our culture thinks that sex is quite simply for pleasure—and that almost any combination of consenting individuals may morally seek that pleasure without any commitment, without an openness to children.”
In 1998, Father John Hardon, SJ, who is sorely missed by many of us who were his students, pointed out in “Contraception: Fatal to the Faith and to Eternal Life,” “The spectacle of broken families, broken homes, divorce and annulments, abortion and the mania of homosexuality—all of this has its roots in the acceptance of contraception on a wide scale in what only two generations ago was a professed Catholic population.”
Clearly, many wise people have understood—and warned us about —the cost of contraception. But not everyone is on this page.
For example, rather than setting forth facts regarding the nature of sexual sin and its tragic consequences, many members of the Catholic clergy have either been totally silent or have said things that not only confuse fact with fiction but further marginalize Catholic teaching. This, in turn, makes Church doctrine less palatable to a sexually saturated culture, even though Catholic teaching is now and always will be worthy of belief and obedience—because it contains the fullness of truth.
During their November 2006 meeting, for example, the U.S. Catholic bishops “acknowledged that most married Catholics—96 percent, according to their own estimate—use birth control, and the bishops said they recognize that the [C]hurch’s teachings on homosexuality are contested in American society.”
Excuse me, but those percentages do not change truth. In fact, they should drive more bishops back to boldly teaching their people instead of gauging the content of their message on public acceptance of what they have to say. It’s the type of posturing that perhaps led to Cardinal Francis George, current U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president, saying (in response to the judge’s decision allowing same-sex marriage), “Marriage between a man and a woman is the bedrock of any society. The misuse of law to change the nature of marriage undermines the common good.”
He did not say nor did he make reference to the obvious fact that this very sad state of affairs would not exist in the first place if contraception had been rejected long ago. He was simply silent on the point.
This is why I recommend that rather than dialoguing, as a whole, every Catholic bishop and every Catholic priest should be teaching, preaching and exhorting. Nobody really knows what America or its court decisions would look like today if the Catholics of this nation had been properly catechized for the past 42 years on matters pertaining to human sexuality.
What we do know is that today America and, most importantly, Catholics, are sliding toward a moral hell.
It’s high time many more Catholic leaders in the U.S. stood up and clarified the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, sinfulness and sinlessness. Why? Because the only treatment for the deadly bacteria raging through the veins of this society is a very strong dose of the same message Christ gave to His disciples a very long time ago: “Try your hardest to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed” (Luke 13: 24).
The narrow door is always open, and frankly, anything less than fighting tooth and nail to get there will not heal this ailing body politic we know as America.
If they use birth control, they are not Christians. I know that Protestantism has come down to the lowest common denominator "accept Jesus into your heart" (and you can do whatever you want because you have a fallen nature and can't help it, God understands. NOT!, never the less, those people are false Christians. Don't decieve yourselves.
Exactly. Thanks for being willing to speak the truth.
I know that Protestantism has come down to the lowest common denominator "accept Jesus into your heart" , and you can do whatever you want, because you have a fallen nature, and can't help it, that God understands WHICH IS TOTALLY FALSE!, never the less, people who use contraceptives are false Christians. Don't deceive yourselves.
We have a fallen nature, and because of it, we need God's grace to even believe there is a Trinitarian God. God gives us the grace to do his will, it is us who choose not to accept His grace and His Will. The sign that we don't accept His will, and thus have not His grace, is our deeds, how we live, our actions. Divorce and re-marriage, and using birth control, are outward manifestations of a rebellion against God's grace. The only REAL Christian was Christ himself, everyone else is just aspiring to his example.
“What is common to man” is a relative term, it's the difference of being tempted by Heidi Klume or Hellen Thomas. One evokes a much more potent response than the other. The power of drugs is no different, resisting pot is much easier than crystal meth once you've made the mistake of going down that path.
At what point does God no longer protect us from our own poor choices? I don't believe he does it continuously only in the beginning. But I also believe once we've made that “slide to the bottom” he offers a hand to lift us out.
It's the training of children, they will make mistakes and they must learn from them by enduring their own self inflicted pains. Once the lesson is over the parent helps the child recover and often times has the child reflect on their mistakes to avoid the same in the future.
Do you stay married? Answer carefully because I've actually heard of this happening.
If divorce is forbidden why do Catholic priests actually grant it on occasion? At what point does protecting your children become a priority over “staying married” (abusive relationships).
While I rejected divorce and contraception as high water mark, I didn't say we could do as we please and still receive God's grace and forgiveness. Your intentions are known to him, if you harbor malice and contempt he will know, if you lack humility before him he will know. All these things factor into his judgment of your actions.
So contraceptives and divorce are on par? Tell me, is ALL divorce a sin? Where in the Bible does it say that birth control is a sin?
I’ve known people who had several layers of contraception stacked on top of each other (some artifical, some just natural, medical issues) and they STILL got pregnant. If God wants you to have a child, you WILL have a child.
If my wife was diagnosed with a condition that would result in her death if she became pregnant would I not be committing murder by impregnating her? How does that square with a mans obligation to his wife to consummate their relationship regularly?
The position of Christ on divorce seems unresolved to me. Based on the limitless grace of God I would tend to believe there are some cases in which divorce is appropriate.
Matthew 5:31-32
“It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” (KJV)
Mark 10:11-12
“...Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Amen to that. Where there is a WILL (God’s will that is) there IS a way. Children are blessings, therefore if you become pregnant while practicing contraception what does that say of God’s approval? He sent the child in either case.
Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? Folks, I am protestant, am married to a catholic, and attend catholic services. Only the taliban catholics (5% or so) beleive this.
Can you identify the passages in the Bible that prohibit the use of birth control? I would like to better understand your framing of the “truth”.
The problem is not separation, the problem is the re-marriage. Real Christians do not divorce and re-marry while the spouse is still alive, even if the spouse is in a coma for years.
While I’ve never been divorced I’m not good with the idea that my wife could suddenly have a change of heart leaving me without the comfort of a women in the future. It seems like punishment to the faithful if I remained unmarried in such a situation while she lived a happy life with someone else until a ripe old age.
I don’t think Christ intended this for his followers either as exampled in Mathew.
The Old Testament Jews forbid any intercourse during infertile days (most Orthodox Jews today still practice it)
The Catholic Church has always forbidden the use of artificial birth control. All the major Protestant denominations forbid artificial birth control till the 20th century.
But what does the Bible say that prohibits it? Is it simply made up doctrine by various denominations or is it rooted in the word?
I understand the aversion to “the pill” because it can act as an abortion mechanism. Condoms, vasectomies and other strategies are incapable of producing such a condition, i.e. conception never occurs.
Do you call the Old Testament Jews, the Catholic Church, and all the major Protestant denomiations (and ALL the Eastern Orthodox) "various denominatioons"?
It's in scripture look up at least Onan. You know that, why do you ask me?
Got to go, have 5 little children and a young wife, not much time for FR.
God Bless
What is the passage in the Bible that prohibits it. It seems you are evading a simple response. Maybe it’s because there isn’t anything in the Bible that prohibits it.
I don’t follow “religion” I follow the Word and I don’t need a priest or minister to aid my feeble mind in understanding the truth. There either is or is not a statement by the prophets or in the Old Testament that prohibits the practice. Christ was silent on the matter so we have to go farther back and I’m not Jewish so the Tora is not an option.
Perhaps you should more closely evaluate what you hear in Church, you might not be getting the right message. Propagating falsehoods about the Bible weakens it’s ability to win converts when they seek the truth for themselves. Your opinion is only as good as the facts that back them up.
I honestly would like to hear the official word from any church how the bible justifies this position, no matter how contorted a view it may be.
I think the analogy works pretty well. Acceptance of the indicators of moral decay can accelerate the moral decay by further desensitizing people and the upcoming generation.
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