Friday, August 13, 2010

Marriage


Since Proposition 8 was in the news again this week, I found today's Gospel from St. Matthew to be timely in a particular way. When asked if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, Jesus responds that while Moses may have permitted this because he had bigger battles to fight, the Word of God is very clear that "for this reason, a man shall leave his father and be joined to his wife." Jesus never refers to the wife as anything other than a she. He is quite clear that a wife is a female.

It is often said that we should hate the sin but love the sinner. We should embrace our brothers and sisters who suffer from a grave and disordered passion by regarding them with kindness and love. However, which one of us, if we knew someone to be an alcoholic, would feed their addiction to liquor rather than try to stop them from destroying themselves? If our brother or sister became a heroine addict, would we look the other way with a wink or a nod? Should we do no less for our brothers and sisters who are destroying their souls by giving in to the lie that sex with someone of the same gender is ok?



I've heard all the arguments that try to turn the tables on faithful Christians who recognize that God established marriage as an covenant exclusively between one man and one woman. How many times have you heard: "We're not hurting anyone, so mind your business." No, you may not be hurting me, but you're destroying yourself and divorcing yourself from God, and just as I would not let you jump off the ledge of a sky-scraper or kill yourself with alcohol, gluttony or drugs, nor can I stand by in silence while you imperil yourself to the destruction of your soul.

Father Corapi puts it best. When discussing homosexuals, he's concedes that people can be attracted to those of the same sex. That's ok, he says, but, like him, they're called to a life of celibacy. When we decide that men can marry men and women can marry women, we are effectively saying we know better than God. It is not possible for a man born a man to conceive a child by another man. It is not possible for a woman born a woman to impregnate another woman. The natural order of things is that procreation can only occur between two members of the opposite sex. Just as sinful man has tried to usurp God's authority by manufacturing life outside the womb as well as destroying life within the womb, so does sinful man think he can define what lawfully wedding someone means. The more abominations like abortion, IVF, and homosexual relations are permitted to continue unchecked, the further away we spin from God, and the closer we align ourselves to the devil, who will tell you with all the deceitful earnest he can muster that so long as you're not killing anyone else, you can do whatever you feel like doing. No, you can't, and Jesus is very clear about this.

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