Today's episode brought to you by Racism, and the letters "P" & "K".
I've seen this image come up several times on Facebook, but when I saw it today on /r/CatholicMemes, I just couldn't get past it. I despise Planned Parenthood as much as the next guy, but this is just... wrong.
When one hears things in context, one is less likely to be blind-sided by things like this article from LifeSite News. From the American political perspective, the "left" will be shocked that "Papa Frank" is not "The fluffiest Pope evahr" (to steal a phrase from Fr. Z), and the "right" will be shocked that he is not " the great enemy of morality and the free market."
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| Love him, hate him, you can't ignore him. |
This is the core of what heresy means - to take away; specifically to "take out" what you don't like, and leave the rest. It is to take a true thing, a fact, and take it out of context. Heresy - like all the best lies - is not dangerous because of the falsehood, but because of the truth with which it is wrapped.
To put it another way, "The devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you've ever wished for."
This is part 3 in a series on sex (because I promise that talking about sex will not turn you into a porn fiend. It will probably do the exact opposite). Part I. Part II.
So, sexy Catholic sex. This is the middle ground, the liberal and pure as opposed to the libertine or puritan. This isn't even really Catholic sex insomuch as it is HUMAN sex. Like I said last time, sex is marriage, and marriage is what we call a "natural" sacrament, that is it comes from our nature and was ratified by Jesus as a sacrament (as opposed to the Eucharist or Ordination which was directly instituted by Him as a new thing).
So Sex. Marriage. Love. There are so many ways to get it wrong, how do we get it right?
At the insistence of a friend who complained that Popular Sex was too short (I blame the estrogen in the water), here is part two, wherein we take a look at our Puritan heritage in sexual mores.
Last time we dealt with crappy sex. How do I know it's crappy? Gotta be, come on! It's gotta be! Why? I’ll tell you why. Here we are. All of us are basically alone, separate creatures just circling each other. All searching for that slightest hint of a real connection. Some look in the wrong places...
Ten points if you correctly identify the source of the above line.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle on the interwebz a few weeks ago surrounding the Grammy awards. Unfortunately, it was over the wrong song.
While far too many Christian outlets were concerned that Katy Perry had performed witchcraft on stage (she didn't), there seemed to be less outcry over the much more insidious lyrics in Jay-Z's portion of his wife's song "Drunk in Love," where he puts himself as Mike Tyson (convicted rapist) biting off Holyfield's ear and Ike Turner the Abuser (Google "Eat the cake, Anna Mae" if you don't know what I'm talking about).
I do.
One could almost understand contracepting when fornicating with that special someone whom you love with all your heart and are willing to share a dwelling with but are unwilling to commit to.
Almost.
We've told ourselves a lie that there is a perfect time to have a child, and that until then you shouldn't, and also we're afraid of commitment, so we push back marriage, but we've also bought into the lie that sex is essentially required in any type of meaningful relationship, so while we're not yet married we're going to act like it and live together and pay bills together and have sex, but contracept so that our play-acting at marriage doesn't yield the natural fruit of marriage...
Because that makes sense.
But what about contraception in marriage? Consider the following paraphrasation of odd exchange I had with the woman who gave me my last haircut.
Me: I have a daughter who's almost three, and a son who's almost one. How about you?
Her: I'm getting married in May, and we're not having any kids.
Oh? Why not?
I was a surrogate for a gay couple when I was 20, I've been through pregnancy, once was enough for me.
I did not comment on this. Later in the conversation...
Our friends who have six kids...
Six kids? Weird.
Later...My mom's one of five.
Weird.
Later...My dad's one of thirteen.
Weird.
The first and most obvious question is whether she missed the day at cosmetology school where they covered not insulting the client's friends and family. Of course, maybe the school skipped that class because it should be obvious that labeling someone's family size as "weird" - especially after stating that you're not having any because being a surrogate for two men who practice and promote homosexuality, and who are calling their cohabitation a marriage - is rude, not to mention a little crazy. In the order of human human history and genetics, that mindset misses the mark.
But it's more than that. Around the world, our population is in decline. Married couples regularly have at most two children, maybe three (if the first two were both boys or both girls). Population in the so-called modern world is declining. Why? How did we go from my grandfather with 10 sons having no cause for shame when he debated at the city gates (Psalm 126(127)), to being weird?
Well, I think the Prof answers this one pretty well:
Ultimately, I suspect it is pessimism, a succumbing to despair. We have seen what this world has to offer, and the world has been found wanting. We have been told by the secular world that there is nothing else after this, and told by too many religions that the hereafter is just an idealized version of this. Neither of those is appealing! Neither of those are things I want to subject my children to, let alone become immortal in.
For what are children but immortality? In his children, Abraham is alive today. The Patriarch of Israel was given immortality both in this life and the next because of his faithfulness to God.
Already I see my wife and I in our children. The arrows in my quiver are weapons which I shall loose upon this world to make my mark upon it and reshape it. They are my ultimate weapon against the spread of secularism, socialism, and every other belief which is contrary to the truth - if you can't convince 'em, outbreed 'em! I shall live on in my children as my father lives on in me, and his father in him. If I am faithful and acquit myself as a father, my children will spread the truth I have come to love, with their own (and hopefully even better) understanding.
Why do I have the desire to conquer this world? Because I know what comes next. I know that it is beyond my wildest imaginations, and I know that my children will have their own chance to inherit that kingdom too.
Let us be prayerful, and responsible, but not swayed by the empty promises of this world's "perfectly sized family". The perfect size is the one which God calls us to have, be it 1, 2, or 18; whether those arrows are yours genetically or through adoption. But no matter what, let us not fear to have that 4th child, or fifth child, or even the first. Let us face it with a spirit of courage and adventure, knowing not where it will lead, daring to put our mark on the future.
To live forever.
Hoo boy... Well, this will probably make unpopular with a number of people. As long as I tick people off on both sides I'm good, right?
As to our dear leader's recent statement that he is for the legalization of gay marriage:
He has a right to his opinion. Do I think he's wrong? Absolutely. However, it's not like this is a big shock to anybody, it's probably better that he not beat around the bush. That being said, will that be the new stick? Vote Obama or you're a homophobe? Who knows.
As to the rightness or wrongness of legalizing "homosexual marriage"... There are basically three positions I see in this issue: (1) Yes Gay Marriage is fine, legalize it; (2) no Gay Marriage is not fine, ban it; (3) the government shouldn't be dictating marriage laws, regardless of my opinions on Gay Marriage. Given the current government we have, this specific government, I am relatively (80~90%) convinced that three is the only tenable position to hold.
As to the first, the legalization of gay marriage has already driven the most successful institutions in the foster care industry out in many states (i.e. Catholic Charities). Legalizing gay marriage means that not fostering to homosexual couples is an illegal discrimination, forcing a religious institution to violate its tenants or get out. Yeah... We really want to be in that place again...
The second option is favored by many conservatives, but remember that one of the big reasons for the government to issue marriage licenses was to prevent interracial marriage. If we give the government it's head now and say that it has the right to dictate who can and cannot get married, what is to prevent an expansion of that in the future? More than that, given that some religions (e.g. certain brands of Mormonism) permit and even promote plural marriage, is that not prohibiting free exercise?
The third option is to my mind not ideal, but the best option that limits the scope of the government's power to interfere in out lives. Consider, if gay marriage was legalized, how long would it be before the Catholic Church (or protestant churches who consider homosexuality to be disordered) started to be attacked? How long before the law suits against Catholic (and other) business owners who weren't comfortable contracting for the marriage ceremonies of people whose marriages they considered unnatural?
How long before the government decides to start using marriage licenses as a carrot and stick in a bigger social engineering program?
No amount of legislation is going to prevent homosexual fornication, just as no amount of it has prevented heterosexual fornication. Laws are not the issue here: the sickness is in our culture, and it I'm not just talking about homosexuality.
But therein lies a major problem in what many conservatives seem to be arguing for, and the reason why they are so easily contradicted on this issue. While "tu quoque" (you too! - pointing out hypocrisy) is a fallacy and does not disprove an argument, holding a position while acting in a manner contrary makes you very unconvincing, and is like building on sand.
Conservatives have no room to decry "homosexual marriage" while they treat marriage in general with contempt and scorn. While they contracept their marriages, they have no foundation. While they live together and fornicate before marriage so that the wedding is a formality, they have no foundation. While they marry and divorce each other on a whim, treating it as no more binding that a junior high relationship, they have no foundation.
Our country needs a strong foundation, and that foundation is the family. The family has always been the foundation of society, it existed before society, and it will persevere through the dissolution of society. To be sure, the "homosexual marriage" movement threatens that foundation, and needs to be stopped. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the people arguing against "homosexual marriage" have been complicit in undermining that same foundation from which they are attempting to stop unnatural marriage.
Matthew 7:3-5
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.