The Blog

I just love it when people who don’t believe in God not only tell Christians their morals are wrong, but also come up with their own ideas about what God “probably” really thinks…umm…you know…if He existed. Check out “Nunly”‘s post NOW I’M OPPRESSED AND SEXUALLY DIVORCED FROM REALITY? in which she hilariously rips apart a HuffPo article by Rob Asghar (who may still believe in God, I can’t tell. But begins one of his arguments saying, “if God exists…”) doing exactly that regarding Christians’ “idealized notion of sex and relationships.”

Asghar’s problem is that he looks at the fallen world and all our disordered desires and thinks that’s the way things are supposed to be. Even many Christians make this mistake, but, as Christ came to tell us, “in the beginning it was not so” (Mt. 19:8) Christ came to call us back to the purity and freedom of our origins, when man and woman saw each other “rightly” – with a pure heart – and were obedient to the laws of nature and nature’s God. This is not oppression, but freedom from our disordered sexual desires. No, it’s not easy. We are still fallen and prone to sin. That is why Christ also sent His Holy Spirit to give us the grace to resist temptations or pick ourselves back up when we fall.

As to the claim that the Christian view of human sexuality is essentially some pie-in-the sky ideal with no basis in reality – not in today’s world, anyway. It should be noted that John Paul II based his understanding and writings about sex and relationships, not only on Scripture, but also on decades of pastoral experience – working closely with married and engaged couples- and a careful observation of the sexual revolution that unfolded in his time.

The world may be a radically different place than when He walked on the earth, but the human heart is always seeking Christ Who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). His commands are always true and always lead the way to lasting peace and happiness.

Glad to see a couple of level-headed responses to this week’s great pro-life Democrat betrayal. First, Thomas Peters writes, and I agree:

I know we’re all stinging after Bart Stupak’s betrayal last Sunday (I am), but I think those who are now claiming, in the heat of the moment, that there is “no such thing as a pro-life Democrat” are making a mistake.

Though the most outspoken of all of them collapsed under pressure and took several others with him, there were still a few who stood their ground and we should not belittle their loyalty to the unborn by now declaring the “myth” of the pro-life Democrat.

Writes Jill Stanek:

There is still a remnant of principled pro-lifers in the Democratic Party. This week just saw the wheat separated from the chaff.

Maybe they’re fewer in number than we would like, but pro-life Democrats do exist – and we need them (see paragraph 2)! just as much as they desperately need our support and our prayers that they will do the right thing when pressured by the pro-death leadership of their party.

Peters also rightly notes that the Republicans’ house is not-so clean, either. They, too, though in a smaller number, have their fair share of not-so totally pro-life lawmakers, if at all, and anti-life pressure is not unique to the Democrat Party leadership. Here in Missouri, for example, our very pro-business Republican leadership is in bed with pro-cloning biotech industry in our state. Not only did they persuade our pro-life Republican Senators to dismiss a State ban on human cloning in favor of “party-loyalty” and protecting their pro-cloning Republican Governor, but they continue to appropriate State money to these cloning-friendly institutions while rejecting protective language or other alternatives to ensure that the money is not spent on unethical research (research that is now a constitutional right in our State thanks to “Amendment 2” in 2006).

“Pro-life Republican”, “pro-life Democrat”, we need them both and must continue to encourage both to make the protection of all innocent human life a priority.

I like this quote from Archbishop Chaput’s book Render Unto Caesar (p.4)

Party loyalty is a dead end. It’s a lethal form of laziness. Issues matter. Character matters. Acting on principle matters.

For the last 24 hours, I have heard from several pro-lifers who are (understandably) sad, mad, defeated and afraid after the House’s late night approval of the not-so life affirming Senate health care bill yesterday. I wanted to write out my own thoughts about the bill’s passage, about the Stupak betrayal and the phony abortion funding compromise. But this is all I can seem to come up with in response:

Praise the LORD, my soul; I shall praise the LORD all my life, sing praise to my God while I live.
I Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals powerless to save.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that day all their planning comes to nothing.
Happy those whose help is Jacob’s God, whose hope is in the LORD, their God,
The maker of heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, Who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free;
the LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD protects the stranger, sustains the orphan and the widow, but thwarts the way of the wicked.
The LORD shall reign forever, your God, Zion, through all generations!
-Psalm 146

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me….My kingdom does not belong to this world” (John. 14:1, 18:36)

Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.
-St. Theresa of Avila

And finally:
Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer! (Romans 12:11-12)