On May 23, 2015, Ireland's popular vote supported the legalization of gay marriage by a margin of 62 to 38 percent. [1] In little over a month, on June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ("USSC") handed down a 5 to 4 majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges that made official the right to marry for all individuals, gay and straight, in all 50 states. Exactly two years earlier on June 26, 2013, only in states allowing two individuals of the same gender to marry were married couples permitted to have full federal rights under the US Constitution and all the state rights, see United States v. Windsor. [2] The background, majority and dissenting opinions of today's case published by the USSC can be read here. [3]
This entry continues where the USSC Justices left off, with questions that lie outside of the US Constitution and are not part of the majority and dissenting opinions. They are whether the Blessed Virgin Mary would have attended with Her Son a wedding between two individuals of the same gender, whether the Blessed Virgin Mary would have let Her Son know that the wedding had run out of wine and whether Jesus would have turned water into wine [4], a tacit endorsement of gay marriage.
Like the US Constitution, the Gospels do not specifically sanction or prohibit same-sex marriage or same-sex sexual acts, but unlike the US Constitution that addresses religion in general, the Gospels talk about God and Satan [5], and the secular government [6], with specificity. The question then becomes whether marriage is a topic under God and Satan or under the secular government? Under both is the answer.
Marriage is not merely an insular act evidenced by a certificate issued by the government; it is also an expression of love and commitment and a sexual bonding. If marriage is solely a legal status conferring certain legal rights to individuals in a union, then God has nothing to do with it. [7] However, since marriage is more than merely a recognition by a government, the part that is sexually intimate has everything to do with God because the mind, body and spirit belong to God--they are God's Creation.
The motives of a sex act can be complex. The two basic ones are procreational and recreational. Procreational sex is the only kind of sex between two married individuals that the Catholic church permits; any other kind of sex, whatever the reason or motivation, is deemed sinful.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus forgave the woman who slept with a married man and asked her to go and sin no more. [8] What was her sin, having recreational sex or for committing adultery, or both? It is unclear. In order to have some insight and clarity, it is necessary to resort to natural law.
Natural law is the strongest argument for classifying homosexual sex as sinful since it is never procreational and always recreational, supported by the fact that the human male sexual organ, the penis, is designed specifically for the human female sexual organ, the vulva, and no other orifice, naturally present on the human anatomy of a male or female or artificially constructed, and by the fact that the result of an act of sexual union between the male and female sexual organs is conception in accordance with Nature.
Anatomy is a part of man's nature. Sexual desires are also a part of man's nature. Thus, man desire for sexual relations with another of the same gender or both genders is within the bounds of Nature. Natural law, if applied equally to both man's anatomy and man's desires, is therefore not the best argument against homosexual sex. Thus, it is appropriate to look to God, the Creator of man, to see if homosexual sex ought to be considered a sin against Creation.
God made man not as a biological robot but in the image of God with Free Will. The driver of Free Will is desire, and desires are subject to temptations. To generalize, all temptations by the Devil lead man away from unconditional selfless love to conditional self-centered love.
It is important to note tangentially that acts, sexual and non-sexual, that are unconditional and selfless elicit more personal pleasure and satisfaction than acts that are conditional and self-serving. Accordingly, every action taken that has at its core the love for God and the love for neighbor [9] is good for the mind, body and spirit and is not a sin. As such, the decision to be married to another of the same gender and the inclination to have homosexual sex with the married partner is each to be evaluated in light of the two greatest commandments [10] according to the teachings of Christ.
Anything that is pure and good and is supported by the teachings of Christ has the approval of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In conclusion, if there is a marriage that is out of love for God and love for each other, then it is reasonable to assume that the Blessed Virgin Mary would attend and would let Her Son know should the wedding run out of wine, and that She would expect Her Son to ultimately listen to Her and carry out Her intentions in the same way She expects all to listen to Her Son and do whatever He says. [11]
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/world/europe/ireland-gay-marriage-referendum.html?_r=0
[2] http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/06/in-historic-decision-court-strikes-down-state-bans-on-same-sex-marriage-in-plain-english/ and http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_6j37.pdf
[3] http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pd
[4] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%204:1-11
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22:15-22
[7] Ibid.
[8] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A1-11&version=NIV
[9] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:36-40
[10] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:36-40
[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-11
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Friday, June 26, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
An Ideal Marriage
For someone who has never dated all that much and has never been married is really not qualified to opine on marriages, but this blogger is not about to let a couple of minor details stop him from doing so.
In light of the recent vote (final tally on May 23, 2015) in the largely Catholic country of Ireland allowing same-sex marriages [1], the topics of marriage, surrogacy, children, family, promiscuity, polygamy, divorce and other moral, religious, social, economic, psychological and legal issues have taken a dive deep into uncharted waters. An in depth discussion of each of these areas is beyond the scope of this blog. What this entry proposes to do is to imagine an ideal marriage in its purest form which has no basis in reality.
First of all, marriage has to be defined. Marriage, for purposes of this entry, is defined as a loving relationship between two individuals whereby the most intimate expression of their love would be the union of their spirits, minds and bodies in the most natural form that would likely result in the conception of new life. Any deviation from this natural union is supposedly contrary to Creation, but not necessarily (see discussion infra).
The question then is whether anything that man does that is not in harmony with Creation is necessarily sinful. The short answer is almost everything that man does in this world is tainted by Sin for man is the product of Original Sin, whether or not what is being done can arguably be consistent with Creation's intent. The measure of sinfulness is not only what is visible, but also what are invisible: man's shortcomings and self-serving desires. Take for example a man with ambition and drive obtains power and uses it arrogantly, ruthlessly and ignorantly, making this world a worse and more dangerous place in which to live than if he had never existed, even though he may live a married life or the appearance of a married life that comports with the natural course of procreation. (Incidentally, whether a marriage, procreative or not, is a happy one is also beyond the scope of this entry.)
Thus marriage alone, based on an extrapolation of the foregoing example, does not define man. Rather, the extent of man's weaknesses and sinister desires relative to his will power to reform them to become more like Christ define him. Given that marriage does not define who a man is, and does not qualify nor disqualify him to be among God's beloved children, then whether a marriage is between a man and a woman or between two people of the same gender ought not to be the litmus test of Christianness that the Catholic Church wants to use to replace God's judgment of goodness.
Granted that there are self-centered, jealous, envious, small-minded gays and lesbians couples whose world is defined by hypocrisy and self-righteousness [2], but there are also those who are heterosexually married who cannot claim to be any better [3]. The fact that people do fall in love for whatever reason(s) and exist in their own particular worlds without God at the center is to be accepted as part of the exercise of Free Will.
Should marriage then be left to Free Will and out of the purview of the church and the state? Absolutely. Why should the church and the state have any say concerning a private matter between two people? Let Free Will be the lead.
When children are involved, then a marriage is no longer an arrangement between two individuals. Traditional surrogacy adds even add more layers of complication to those inherent in any marriage, usually with a child being denied a birth parent, a biological mother or father who may or may not have any emotional ties to her or his genetically related child or want to have those ties. In a marriage between two males, children born out of surrogacy would be denied a mother. That certainly would not be ideal. Equally unsatisfactory is a marriage between two females whose children would be denied a father figure. In that sense, a gay marriage with children born out of surrogacy is not optimum for the children.
So can there be an ideal marriage with ideal children? Theoretically, one or more ideal marriages and families could have existed or exist today still but there is no objective proof supporting such a theory. Not even the Holy Family had an ideal marriage in the sense that Joseph was told to marry the Blessed Virgin Mary by an angel [6] and that he married Her because he was a "righteous" man [7], not because he was smitten with love for Mary. Even if arranged marriages were a tradition during the time of Jesus, the marriage of Mary and Joseph is not within the definition of marriage provided, see supra, because of the unusual arrangement with Mary being conceived by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus technically had four parents, one of whom is God, the Creator.
The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus is therefore most certainly a part of Creation--a very special Creation--not a coital union between a man and woman in a marriage, but a holy union without a marriage between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculate Conception of a Sinless Virgin, an event that was neither state-sanctioned nor church-approved, nor ideally based on mutual emotional and physical love.
If the one match that was made in Heaven in which God was a participant was not ideal in a worldly sense, how can a marriage made on earth be perfect? If a marriage cannot be perfect, how can a family be perfect? In conclusion, the objective of this entry is not accomplished. This blogger is unable to imagine a ideal marriage leading to an ideal family for there is no such thing, on earth or in Heaven. A person's ideal union is with God, the Creator. That is the perfect union. Everything else falls short.
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/europe/ireland-referendum-same-sex-marriage/
[2] Quoted from http://australianmarriage.org/quartet-of-truth-adult-kids-of-gay-parents-speak-out/
[4] http://australianmarriage.org/quartet-of-truth-adult-kids-of-gay-parents-speak-out/
[5] http://www.childsafe-international.org/ChildAbuse.asp
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A26-38
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1%3A19&version=NASB
In light of the recent vote (final tally on May 23, 2015) in the largely Catholic country of Ireland allowing same-sex marriages [1], the topics of marriage, surrogacy, children, family, promiscuity, polygamy, divorce and other moral, religious, social, economic, psychological and legal issues have taken a dive deep into uncharted waters. An in depth discussion of each of these areas is beyond the scope of this blog. What this entry proposes to do is to imagine an ideal marriage in its purest form which has no basis in reality.
First of all, marriage has to be defined. Marriage, for purposes of this entry, is defined as a loving relationship between two individuals whereby the most intimate expression of their love would be the union of their spirits, minds and bodies in the most natural form that would likely result in the conception of new life. Any deviation from this natural union is supposedly contrary to Creation, but not necessarily (see discussion infra).
The question then is whether anything that man does that is not in harmony with Creation is necessarily sinful. The short answer is almost everything that man does in this world is tainted by Sin for man is the product of Original Sin, whether or not what is being done can arguably be consistent with Creation's intent. The measure of sinfulness is not only what is visible, but also what are invisible: man's shortcomings and self-serving desires. Take for example a man with ambition and drive obtains power and uses it arrogantly, ruthlessly and ignorantly, making this world a worse and more dangerous place in which to live than if he had never existed, even though he may live a married life or the appearance of a married life that comports with the natural course of procreation. (Incidentally, whether a marriage, procreative or not, is a happy one is also beyond the scope of this entry.)
Thus marriage alone, based on an extrapolation of the foregoing example, does not define man. Rather, the extent of man's weaknesses and sinister desires relative to his will power to reform them to become more like Christ define him. Given that marriage does not define who a man is, and does not qualify nor disqualify him to be among God's beloved children, then whether a marriage is between a man and a woman or between two people of the same gender ought not to be the litmus test of Christianness that the Catholic Church wants to use to replace God's judgment of goodness.
Granted that there are self-centered, jealous, envious, small-minded gays and lesbians couples whose world is defined by hypocrisy and self-righteousness [2], but there are also those who are heterosexually married who cannot claim to be any better [3]. The fact that people do fall in love for whatever reason(s) and exist in their own particular worlds without God at the center is to be accepted as part of the exercise of Free Will.
Should marriage then be left to Free Will and out of the purview of the church and the state? Absolutely. Why should the church and the state have any say concerning a private matter between two people? Let Free Will be the lead.
When children are involved, then a marriage is no longer an arrangement between two individuals. Traditional surrogacy adds even add more layers of complication to those inherent in any marriage, usually with a child being denied a birth parent, a biological mother or father who may or may not have any emotional ties to her or his genetically related child or want to have those ties. In a marriage between two males, children born out of surrogacy would be denied a mother. That certainly would not be ideal. Equally unsatisfactory is a marriage between two females whose children would be denied a father figure. In that sense, a gay marriage with children born out of surrogacy is not optimum for the children.
"When we institutionalize same-sex marriage... we move from permitting citizens the freedom to live as they choose, to promoting same-sex headed households. Now we are normalizing a family structure where a child will always be deprived daily of one gender influence... Our cultural narrative becomes one that, in essence, tells children that they have no right to the natural family structure of their biological parents, but that children simply exist for the satisfaction of adult desires." -Katy Faust [4]However, not only children of gay parents are abused, children of all parents regardless of their sexual orientation are subject to and are abused in different ways to different degrees. [5]
So can there be an ideal marriage with ideal children? Theoretically, one or more ideal marriages and families could have existed or exist today still but there is no objective proof supporting such a theory. Not even the Holy Family had an ideal marriage in the sense that Joseph was told to marry the Blessed Virgin Mary by an angel [6] and that he married Her because he was a "righteous" man [7], not because he was smitten with love for Mary. Even if arranged marriages were a tradition during the time of Jesus, the marriage of Mary and Joseph is not within the definition of marriage provided, see supra, because of the unusual arrangement with Mary being conceived by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus technically had four parents, one of whom is God, the Creator.
The Holy Family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus is therefore most certainly a part of Creation--a very special Creation--not a coital union between a man and woman in a marriage, but a holy union without a marriage between the Holy Spirit and the Immaculate Conception of a Sinless Virgin, an event that was neither state-sanctioned nor church-approved, nor ideally based on mutual emotional and physical love.
If the one match that was made in Heaven in which God was a participant was not ideal in a worldly sense, how can a marriage made on earth be perfect? If a marriage cannot be perfect, how can a family be perfect? In conclusion, the objective of this entry is not accomplished. This blogger is unable to imagine a ideal marriage leading to an ideal family for there is no such thing, on earth or in Heaven. A person's ideal union is with God, the Creator. That is the perfect union. Everything else falls short.
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/23/europe/ireland-referendum-same-sex-marriage/
[2] Quoted from http://australianmarriage.org/quartet-of-truth-adult-kids-of-gay-parents-speak-out/
"I grew up with a parent and her partner[s] in an atmosphere in which gay ideology was used as a tool of repression, retribution and abuse," wrote B.N. Klein of her lesbian mother and her series of live-in lovers.
"While I do not believe all gays would be de facto bad parents, I know that the gay community has never in my lifetime put children first as anything other than a piece of property, a past mistake or a political tool to be dressed up and taken out as part of a dog-and-pony show to impress the well-meaning," Klein wrote. She added that as a child of a lesbian mother, she was pressured to pay "constant homage and attention" to her mother's gay identity, taught that "some Jews and most Christians were stupid and hated gays and were violent," and told that homosexuals were "much more creative and artistic because they were not repressed and were naturally more 'feeling.'"[3] https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/
[4] http://australianmarriage.org/quartet-of-truth-adult-kids-of-gay-parents-speak-out/
[5] http://www.childsafe-international.org/ChildAbuse.asp
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A26-38
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1%3A19&version=NASB
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