“In contemporary culture, we often see an excessive exaltation of the freedom of the individual as an autonomous subject, as if we were self-created and self-sufficient, apart from our relationship with others and our responsibilities in their regard,” Pope Benedict said.
”Attempts are being made to organize the life of society on the basis of subjective and ephemeral desires alone, with no reference to objective, prior truths such as the dignity of each human being and his inalienable rights and duties, which every social group is called to serve,” he said.
You really need to read Benedict's entire homily to understand what he's saying. It's quite profound. He speaks of the truths of the Christian faith as being something that we must conform our lives to, not something that we can reinterpret to fit our own desires. And here, the essential point:
Faith, then, is not merely a cultural heritage, but the constant working of the grace of God who calls and our human freedom, which can respond or not to his call. Even if no one can answer for another person, Christian parents are still called to give a credible witness of their Christian faith and hope. The need to ensure that God's call and the good news of Christ will reach their children with the utmost clarity and authenticity.
He means that tradition is not merely a human construct that we're therefore free to edit, but something that transcends us, and that preserves revealed truths and authoritative teachings faithfully from generation to generation. This is radical stuff. It goes against the deepest spirit of our modern society. We are free, Benedict says, to do what we like, to accept God or refuse God. But we are not free to pretend that there is no such thing as right and wrong. And that there will be no consequences for rejecting our patrimony.
UPDATE: To clarify further, this is a point that I hope fair-minded liberals will try to appreciate. When those of us who believe in the traditional Christian teaching on gay marriage speak up for it, I know a lot of you genuinely believe that we're simply theologizing our prejudices. What you should understand is that we don't believe we are free to change the teaching, even if we want to. That's what Benedict is speaking about here: that we don't have the right to alter what we've been given stewardship of. You are asking us to change laws that we don't have the authority to change.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
Still hoping for that "revolution," gitv?
Good luck with that.>
Praying for it nightly, CS.
Thanks for thinkin of me, stallion ;)>
Took me a while to get through this whole thread. Rather interesting. I'd like to add just a couple of points.
1. Someone (Todd?) seemed to indicate that legalized gay marriage could lead to polygamy. Since I got the impression that the poster is trying to stick to teachings from Scripture my response would be that this would be in accord with the Old Testament. So why would that be a problem for the poster? (I don't personally think of poligamy as appropriate)
2. I don't recall standing in front of the mirror at age 13 or 14 and deciding to be straight. My sexual orientation was given to me along with my blond hair and near-sightedness among other things. So how anyone can condem someone else for "choosing" to be gay is beyond me.
3. There are a zillion quotes in Scripture that speak against homosexual sex and just as many that speak against heterosexual sex. Seems to me that the rule here is to use respect, care and love as our guides to sexual relations. Oh yeah, guess that would be right in line with Jesus' teachings.
4. In my mind marriage is a committed union of two people. Whether my neighbor's marriage is happy or not, whether they are faithful to each other or wether they are gay or straight has absolutely no impact on my marriage whatsoever. Only my actions and those of my spouse can impact the life of my marriage.
5. The impact on children of same-sex couples. Well, in the current state of rejection of gays they probably get to see a good dose of loyalty if their parents stick together despite social pressures. Not a bad lesson to learn. If the couple breaks up under the pressure then we a child that deals with the same hurt as all the other children of straight divorced couples do.
6. According to a study I read a couple of months ago (I want to say it was on MSNBC but I really don't remember) 60% of married men admitted to having cheated and a little over 50% of the wives admitted to the same. Any claim that straight people are more faithful in committed relationships than gays is a bit ludicrous to me.
7. Jesus' message was all about forgiveness. He spent his life speaking to money lenders, prostitutes etc. all those "icky" people reviled in His society back then. Shouldn't we take our lessons from Him instead of bickering?
8. Back to the church laws that we supposedly can't change. If your wife can't have children are you going to have a mistress and father children with her since that seems to be the accepted thing in the Old Testament?
9. I think marriage is an expression of love, dedication and comitment. We need so much of that in our world today. Frankly I don't care if that love is a gay love or a straight love. Care, respect, love ... every human heart needs it and every human heart is capable of giving it. None of us have the right to deny anyone the giving or receiving of those gifts.>
Well spoken, red_letter.
Just a comment...
You said: "There are a zillion quotes in Scripture that speak against homosexual sex and just as many that speak against heterosexual sex."
Actually, I have it on the best authority that there are, in fact, only 6 verses in all of Scripture purportedly "condemning" certain gay sexual acts (usually around rape, lust and prostitution in the temple), while there are 366 such "condemnations" of certain heterosexual acts (rarely polygamous marriages).
Now, I'm not trying to imply that God doesn't love God's heterosexual children, only that they seem to need a great deal more supervision.>
I know a lot of you genuinely believe that we're simply theologizing our prejudices. What you should understand is that we don't believe we are free to change the teaching, even if we want to. [. . .] You are asking us to change laws that we don't have the authority to change.
While I don't agree with Mr. Dreher's beliefs about gay marriage, I thank him for trying to explain his feelings. We will never get anywhere unless we truly understand each other's objections.>
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.