I had to write this for a psych class and i'm not displeased with how it came out.
We live in a world that says one thing, made by a creator who says another. Namely, that we deserve to be happy, and deserve so at the expense of even the very building block of society, the family. Our new world is growing steadily more insistent that reality is relative and that the truth behind all things ethereal is completely subjective. We have taken and applied from the Gospel, not Christ’s message, but Pontius Pilate’s message “what is truth”(Jn 18:38, D.R.B. 1582) In all this we continue to undermine the fabric of our Christian society as if on a kamikaze mission to bring about the end. I intend to present a fair and expository view of what the world generally teaches on the topic of dating and mating, though there is neither enough space to discuss their view in its completeness, nor a common reference of the worlds belief system that can be accessed to present every corner of everyone of their doctrines. Beyond that I intend to spend significantly less time presenting what God has to say about the matter, because it is rather concise, and is contained in a single source that is a common reference to be accessed when forming an understanding of His will for relationships.
“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone-it, people like me” was the daily affirmation recited by Stuart Smalley at the intro to his sketch on Saturday Night Live, entitled Daily Affirmations. This was Al Franken’s sarcastic commentary on what he identified as a ridiculous new trend in the world, self help, and by relation the heightened level of importance being placed on one’s self image and sense of self worth. Why in the nineteen eighties did we as a society, after thousands or billions of years (depending on whether you ask a fundamentalist or an atheist) of development, realize that what we were missing was a system of convincing ourselves that we have value, and that we matter? We were experiencing a wave of fallout from the sexual revolution and the redefinition of what it means to be a human in existence. Now this was in no way the beginning of the problem, rather we see it’s origins as far back as Martin Luther’s “sin and sin boldly” (Luther), a product of the reformation, and Nietzsche’s “Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”(Nietzsche). When women started contracepting, aborting, and burning bras, the work of these men and many many like them was coming to fruition. Obedience to God had been replaced with revolution against oneself, and God had been replaced with our own moment to moment gratification, to put it succinctly things were looking up for our old pal the Devil. His hard work had really taken form and found solid ground for growth, right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Now what does that mean to us in the here and now? Marriage is no longer forever or for everyone, and in many cases marriage is not even marriage anymore, it is a right not a covenant. It is a tool of equality as opposed to a picture of our creator. It is a non-issue in the mind and heart of so many of my generation. We marry for status, we divorce for happiness, we sit in public talking loudly to our lawyers about just what we want from our former spouses on our cell phones drinking lattes, because it’s our right. The world says “do whatever you want, whenever you want, to or with whomever you choose, and when you’re done, then exercise your right to happiness”. Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things.(Phil 3:19)
Agape and Eros, these are Greek words translated into love. While eros, the root from which we derive the word erotic, seems to be the prevailing idea amongst the lovers of this day, the intended love with which we would preferably seek, find, court, marry, and bed our mates, is described in the word agape. Agape means benevolent affection, giving without expectation, a desire for the best, highest, and greatest for the object of our love. If eros is a “taking love”, (and it is) agape is a “giving love”. Agape is the word translated to love in Ephesians 5:25-28; Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it, and so forth, whereas the word eros is not found in the passage or for that matter the new testament in its entirety. What love would our Lord have us seek? Agape. God wishes for us to find the woman from our rib, the one he created for us and placed in our path. The one who we would lay down our life for, and never forsake, and who would accept our love without reservation, and without self interest.
Unfortunately we poor banished children of eve continue to lust for the fruit, that is not for us, because the world says we ought to, and we seek to serve our bellies, not Him.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The gay science, 1882
Let Your Sins Be Strong: A Letter From Luther to Melanchthon Letter no. 99, 1 August 1521
Douay Rheims Bible, Philippians 3:19, New Testament, 1582
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
an apple got us into this mess, maybe an Apple will help us out
join me in lifting steve jobs, and apple computer company up in prayer.
now as of ten minutes ago i would not not have thought of apple computers as synonymous w/ morality, i viewed them, as i think alot of us do, as being yet another part of the new world, trying desperately to take us into the brave new world of post modern secularism. not because of anything they have done but because of their proximity, chronologically, to so many new world evils.
imagine my shame to read this story about steve jobs correspondence with a pro porn critic, wherein the critic accuses jobs of imposing his morality on the world of mac users, to which jobs responded essentially, you want porn? get a pc.
wow and to think how anti mac i've been all these years. i see the error of my ways and in this public confession of my own bigotry against them, i ask mac for forgiveness. i'm quite aware that they were unaware that i even exist and i wont likely receive any spoken forgiveness, but thats not what this is about, this is about exposing my hate, and pledging my penance. I will purchase mac products as long as they maintain this standpoint on morality.
see the article here- http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051811.html
now as of ten minutes ago i would not not have thought of apple computers as synonymous w/ morality, i viewed them, as i think alot of us do, as being yet another part of the new world, trying desperately to take us into the brave new world of post modern secularism. not because of anything they have done but because of their proximity, chronologically, to so many new world evils.
imagine my shame to read this story about steve jobs correspondence with a pro porn critic, wherein the critic accuses jobs of imposing his morality on the world of mac users, to which jobs responded essentially, you want porn? get a pc.
wow and to think how anti mac i've been all these years. i see the error of my ways and in this public confession of my own bigotry against them, i ask mac for forgiveness. i'm quite aware that they were unaware that i even exist and i wont likely receive any spoken forgiveness, but thats not what this is about, this is about exposing my hate, and pledging my penance. I will purchase mac products as long as they maintain this standpoint on morality.
see the article here- http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051811.html
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Forgiveness for who?
Now I apologize in advance for the non timely nature of the subject matter i wish to discuss today, this will be my first blog and in lieu of succumbing to writer's block I chose rather to go with the first subject that came to mind. you see earlier today while riding around in the truck with a good friend of mine named A.J. Drewsen, and discussing our favorite blogs, i made the comment "i wish i had a blog". it was at that very moment that i realized that in fact i do have a blog. this one. another good friend of mine named Julia Morbo set it up for me as a means of disseminating information to members of a group i formed that is called the Underground Apostolate, though we have yet to successfully implement it as a regular medium for this task.
nevertheless i do have a blog, and intend to start using it as a creative outlet and a way to feel that i have said what i must to the general populus. the fact that there is no visitor count will surely help spare my feelings in light of the fact that noone will likely read it.
so on to the thought i was having as i sat down to write.
it occurs to me that while the majority of us are self described to one degree or another as "pro-life", and we regard ourselves as being people of forgiveness, that the one element of our society that we will always fail to forgive, are our fellow pro-lifers who take it too far, and do something about it. we fear that making statements in regards to our needing to forgive them, might somehow change others perception of us and therefore remain steadfast in our denunciation of more than just the sin, but the sinner also. now compare this to the way we treat other offenders, those who wouldn't be proud to call us their friend and it seems to me that at the moment these men who kill abortion doctors realize that they've gone too far, the moment they need someone to love them, the very people who hold the same values as them, turn and spit at them right alongside the mainstream that is also spitting at them, and the far left who are screaming for their blood.
where else is this acceptable behavior?
a few months ago i stumbled my way onto a link for a document in which a highly celebrated Catholic intellectual, who's name escapes me, wrote a response letter to convicted abortionist-aborter, in which he told the man that he was damned. i struggle to think of another situation wherein this man of great knowledge of our faith would tell someone they are damned.
so, the next time a lone wolf, blows a fuse and offs a member of the other team, lets try and retain our composure as Christians, lay down our concern for other people's opinions, and forgive the man, love him anyway, and pray for him and his family in the wake of the horrible choice he has made. remember that he did the wrong thing for the right reason, and had he had the blessing of your education and your ability to process emotions, and your self restraint, then he wouldn't have done it in the first place.
in future blogs i will have substantiating links and be able to site references for my info. this post is just to shake off the cobwebs so to speak.
Julia, lets get together and you can show me how to link other sites.
peace, timmy
nevertheless i do have a blog, and intend to start using it as a creative outlet and a way to feel that i have said what i must to the general populus. the fact that there is no visitor count will surely help spare my feelings in light of the fact that noone will likely read it.
so on to the thought i was having as i sat down to write.
it occurs to me that while the majority of us are self described to one degree or another as "pro-life", and we regard ourselves as being people of forgiveness, that the one element of our society that we will always fail to forgive, are our fellow pro-lifers who take it too far, and do something about it. we fear that making statements in regards to our needing to forgive them, might somehow change others perception of us and therefore remain steadfast in our denunciation of more than just the sin, but the sinner also. now compare this to the way we treat other offenders, those who wouldn't be proud to call us their friend and it seems to me that at the moment these men who kill abortion doctors realize that they've gone too far, the moment they need someone to love them, the very people who hold the same values as them, turn and spit at them right alongside the mainstream that is also spitting at them, and the far left who are screaming for their blood.
where else is this acceptable behavior?
a few months ago i stumbled my way onto a link for a document in which a highly celebrated Catholic intellectual, who's name escapes me, wrote a response letter to convicted abortionist-aborter, in which he told the man that he was damned. i struggle to think of another situation wherein this man of great knowledge of our faith would tell someone they are damned.
so, the next time a lone wolf, blows a fuse and offs a member of the other team, lets try and retain our composure as Christians, lay down our concern for other people's opinions, and forgive the man, love him anyway, and pray for him and his family in the wake of the horrible choice he has made. remember that he did the wrong thing for the right reason, and had he had the blessing of your education and your ability to process emotions, and your self restraint, then he wouldn't have done it in the first place.
in future blogs i will have substantiating links and be able to site references for my info. this post is just to shake off the cobwebs so to speak.
Julia, lets get together and you can show me how to link other sites.
peace, timmy
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