“The Pope was not speaking about approving gay marriage. To use his words against his teaching, as they were used on the floor of the State House of Representatives of November 5, is less than intellectually honest,” George writes.
“The Pope was not speaking about approving gay marriage. To use his words against his teaching, as they were used on the floor of the State House of Representatives of November 5, is less than intellectually honest,” George writes.
A pair of colossal “train wrecks”!
by Doug Lawrence
Both were liberal political fantasies which aimed to replace perfectly good, workable systems, unequaled in both efficacy and objective truth, with untested, unworkable, pie-in-the-sky, progressive ideologies and practices, no matter the cost or consequences!
“Jesus taught that our temporal choices have eternal consequences. Jesus revealed there is not only an everlasting heaven but there is an everlasting hell. Today’s popular, liberal Christianity tends to beige all of that over.
The God of our liberal therapeutic culture is usually presented as only a benign kind of higher force. This concept of God is almost like a tolerant psychiatrist, who for $400 an hour will patiently listen to absolutely everything we may have to say. There is no right or wrong, no judgment and certainly no punishment for deliberate sin.
“The tough love shows you the consequences of addiction, and treatment shows you a way out. It’s not easy. I was in treatment seven times … what they call a ‘retread,’” he said. “I never want to sleep on another plastic mattress.”
He said hearing the crinkling of the plastic mattress cover takes him back to the misery of withdrawal.
Michael said his solution for staying sober is taking one day at a time and prioritizing what is important to him: God, Alcoholics Anonymous, family and service to community.
“Without the first two, I can’t have the last two, he said.
A big step in the propagandizing of the ‘new morality’ was marked by the appearance in June, 1977, of the book Human Sexuality, published under the auspices of the Catholic Theological Society of America. This book has the form of a ‘report’ to the CTSA, but its contents are intended for maximum diffusion among Catholics, as is obvious both from the manner of publication and from the admission in the Forward to the book that it is aimed “at a wider public of interested persons.”
The revolutionary character of this report is obvious from the affirmations it embodies, such as the following:
a) that no physical expression of sexuality is in itself “morally wrong or perverse” (H.S., p. 110); consequently:
b) that even those sexual practices which people have up to now considered deviant do not clearly produce evil consequences either for the individual or for society (H.S., p. 77);
c) that the use of contraceptives is “wholesome and moral” whenever it helps couples to build “a community of love” for one another (H.S., p. 127);
d) that deliberate masturbation (even after unresisted indulgence in erotic imagery) is never a serious sin and can be an act of virtue (H.S., pp. 220, 227);
e) that fornication and adultery are in themselves morally good experiences (H.S., pp. 154-158, 178-179);
f) that ‘living together,’ ‘swinging,’ and communal sex are not morally unacceptable (H.S., pp. 151-152);
g) that Jesus was indeed opposed to the exploitation of women by men, but He did not prohibit self-liberating, other-enriching forms of prostitution, fornication, or adultery, joyously performed, as long as there was genuine concern for possible third parties involved (H.S., pp. 20-22, 30-31, 96);
h) that homosexuals have a moral right to homosexual activity and to homosexual self-expression in the eyes of civil society (H.S., pp. l98, 214);
i) that it is both harmful and unprofessional to ‘moralize’ with children who have the habit of sexual intercourse with animals (H.S., pp. 229-230);
j) that fetishism and transvestism are a physiological and therefore not a moral problem (H.S., pp. 230-231);
k) that the only presently effective treatment for transsexualism is a sex-change operation coupled with hormone treatments and supportive counseling (H.S., p. 233);
1) that even hard-core pornography is not immoral for adults except to the extent that it may exploit persons by reducing them to objects to be used (H.S., pp. 235-237);
m) that obscene words formerly not used in decent conversation are now just part of the common vocabulary (H.S., p. 235).
Human Sexuality is a kind of Kinsey Report for Catholics; its aim is the overturning of traditional Catholic morality. The authors of the Report reduce all human experience to sexual experience, which is seen as the highest goal of human existence. “It is in the genital union,” says the Report, “that the intertwining of subjectivities, of human existences, has the potential for fullest realization…. The possibility of shared existence, indeed of intimacy and union, emerges on the horizon of movement toward the other. There is a call, an invitation that goes forth from bodily existence to bodily existence. It colors every transaction between the sexes, adding interest and delight, promising mystery and disclosure and delivery from loneliness. At one and the same time it realizes the self and enriches the other…. Procreation is one form of this call to creativity but by no means is it the only reason for sexual expression…. Sexuality is the creator’s ingenious way of calling people constantly out of themselves into relationship with others” (H.S., p. 85).
Question:
Recently my son and I were talking about the origins of humankind. He said that he was offended by the belief that man had descended from the ape family, and was adamant that we all came from Adam and Eve. I on the other hand believe Darwin’s theory to be a more reasonable explanation of our evolution, and think it is ridiculous to continue teaching children the creation myth. As this discussion can go round in circles are you able to shed some light on this age old topic?
Answer:
An elderly rabbi was once on an airplane to Israel sitting next to a self-professed atheist. They were amicably chatting the whole trip.
Every now and then, the rabbi’s grandchild, sitting in another row, would come over to him, bringing him a drink, or asking if he could get anything to make him more comfortable. After this happened several times, the atheist sighed, “I wish my grandchildren would treat me with such respect. They hardly even say hello to me. What’s your secret?”
The rabbi replied, “Think about it. To my grandchildren, I am two generations closer to Adam and Eve, the people made by the hand of G-d. So they look up to me. But according to the philosophy which you teach your grandchildren, you are two generations closer to being an ape. So why should they look up to you?”
Beliefs have consequences. Why do you think children today lack respect and are unable to honour their elders? Why is tradition looked down upon, and the values of the past all but forgotten? Is it not a natural consequence of modern education? If we teach our children that they are merely advanced animals, then they will act that way. And they will treat their parents and teachers like the obsolete versions of humanity that they are.
We have to be aware of the affects of our beliefs. If we believe that humans came about by accident, then life has no meaning. There can be no meaning to something that happens by chance. A random explosion or mutation cannot give us purpose. My life, your life and all human history has no real significance whatsoever. Whether I live a good life or one full of evil makes no difference. It is all a big accident anyway.
We only have purpose if we were created on purpose. Our lives only have meaning if we were created by a meaningful being. If we teach our children that they were created on purpose with a purpose, then they will know that more is expected from them than from an animal. The Adam and Eve story needs to be taught, not just because it is true, but because it is the basis of morality.
Both creationism and Darwinism require faith. To accept that G-d created man and woman requires faith. To accept that a single-celled organism spontaneously mutated billions of times to form the human being also requires faith. But only one of these beliefs demands that we live a moral life. That’s the one I want my kids to know about.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss
The believer in God has to account for the existence of unjust suffering; the atheist has to account for the existence of everything else. ~Rabbi Milton Steinberg
Submitted by Bob Stanley
Tired of those emails that you’re supposed to forward to 10 friends?
Subject: Sick of it
Submitted by Doria2