THE PRICE OF FREE SEX

[Michie]

There is a rush of books out at the moment decrying the decadence and disintegration of our modern Western culture. Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society is an objective look at the root causes and types of decadence and where it might be leading. Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self examines the philosophical roots of modern atheistic selfishness. The Madness of Crowds by Englishman Douglas Murray is a secular take on the crazy state of our society while Ralph Martin’s A Church in Crisis analyzes how the rot has crept through the Catholic Church during Pope Francis’ papacy. Rod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies pushes the envelope and makes us confront the result: the looming threat of a globalist surveillance state.

All of the books at least touch on the sexual revolution, but there doesn’t seem to be much more than the usual Christian wringing of hands over the problem. The situation is complicated and is rooted in the fact that we are living through a revolution of philosophy, technology and culture the world has never seen before. I have just finished my next book Beheading Hydra: A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age and have explained the philosophical roots of our present crisis. That is for another blog post, but the technological roots for the crisis are simple: the invention of artificial birth control. For the first time in history, human beings are able to turn off the baby machine. Of course there have been forms of contraception before the pill, but they were crude and ineffective. The pill changed everything.

The ramifications of this invention have been huge. One of the results has been not only the ability to turn off the baby machine, but to turn it on with ever ingenious new technologies. Now having a baby is a choice just like not having a baby is a choice. Through surrogacy, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments anybody can have a baby. The effects of this on traditional marriage, traditional sexual behaviors, the understanding of sexual morality and indeed the whole concept of what it means to be a human being have been disastrous.

The simple and most profound result is that the human race is now totally confused by the whole business of sex and procreation. We are completely lost and no one has the answer. The Christian leaders have thrown in the towel and thrown up their hands. Simply saying, “Don’t do that because the Bible says you shouldn’t” or “Don’t do that it goes against church teaching!” doesn’t work. People quite understandably say, “That was then. This is now. Things have changed” and they’re right. Things have changed. Our grandfathers would warn our fathers not to “Do it” because they might get the girl into trouble or pick up a nasty incurable disease. If our dads warned us in the same terms our generation said, “It’s ok Dad. She’s on the pill and we have penicillin now.”

Continued below.
The Price of Free Sex | Fr. Dwight Longenecker

 

[PeterJames0510]

There is a rush of books out at the moment decrying the decadence and disintegration of our modern Western culture. Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society is an objective look at the root causes and types of decadence and where it might be leading. Carl Trueman’s The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self examines the philosophical roots of modern atheistic selfishness. The Madness of Crowds by Englishman Douglas Murray is a secular take on the crazy state of our society while Ralph Martin’s A Church in Crisis analyzes how the rot has crept through the Catholic Church during Pope Francis’ papacy. Rod Dreher’s Live Not By Lies pushes the envelope and makes us confront the result: the looming threat of a globalist surveillance state.

All of the books at least touch on the sexual revolution, but there doesn’t seem to be much more than the usual Christian wringing of hands over the problem. The situation is complicated and is rooted in the fact that we are living through a revolution of philosophy, technology and culture the world has never seen before. I have just finished my next book Beheading Hydra: A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age and have explained the philosophical roots of our present crisis. That is for another blog post, but the technological roots for the crisis are simple: the invention of artificial birth control. For the first time in history, human beings are able to turn off the baby machine. Of course there have been forms of contraception before the pill, but they were crude and ineffective. The pill changed everything.

The ramifications of this invention have been huge. One of the results has been not only the ability to turn off the baby machine, but to turn it on with ever ingenious new technologies. Now having a baby is a choice just like not having a baby is a choice. Through surrogacy, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments anybody can have a baby. The effects of this on traditional marriage, traditional sexual behaviors, the understanding of sexual morality and indeed the whole concept of what it means to be a human being have been disastrous.

The simple and most profound result is that the human race is now totally confused by the whole business of sex and procreation. We are completely lost and no one has the answer. The Christian leaders have thrown in the towel and thrown up their hands. Simply saying, “Don’t do that because the Bible says you shouldn’t” or “Don’t do that it goes against church teaching!” doesn’t work. People quite understandably say, “That was then. This is now. Things have changed” and they’re right. Things have changed. Our grandfathers would warn our fathers not to “Do it” because they might get the girl into trouble or pick up a nasty incurable disease. If our dads warned us in the same terms our generation said, “It’s ok Dad. She’s on the pill and we have penicillin now.”

Continued below.
The Price of Free Sex | Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Apparently our fearless leader, Nancy Pelosi, has stated that Christians are willing to sell democracy down the river over abortion (Pelosi On Religious Americans: ‘Willing To Sell The Whole Democracy Down The River’ Over Abortion)

Even Nancy knows why some voted the way they did in the last election.

It's really quite simple. If a man or a woman want to go against God's design for love and marriage, then babies come forth. Don't kill the babies.

If you have to take pills to stop the natural course of reproduction, you have to ask yourself - is this really the way God designed it, or are we stopping a natural design of God? That's why I support Catholics in their stance on Theology of the Body, abortion, marriage, and marital intimacy.

Something else. We need to stop using the word s*x in front of mixed company; this is what a gentleman did in the 'olden' days. They would not out rightly discuss using these words or phrases. Marital intimacy is enough. Intimacy outside of marriage is enough. To go beyond and use more explicit words is to take away being gentlemen.

Because we've relaxed that and other standards in society, almost anything goes.