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Moral legalism. In my mind, there are many gray areas in this area. Birth control, for example. If a couple have the number of children they feel they can raise. providing the benefits of college, etc., I feel that they have the right to limit the number of children. Catholicism permits limiting children, too, but condemns to condemn artificial birth control. Legalistic.
Now, Roy5, you really have to be consistent in your condemnation … or else it appears to be acting on a whim. While sex is viewed as a major recreational activity in our society today - it was viewed that way when Christ walked the earth. Given the limited anatomical geography… not much has really changed in 2000 (and we can really go much further back if we want!) But, unlike buy someone a meal or watching a movie with them - procreation is just that - we participate in the creation of another human being. It is not a casual way to spend an hour or two - the human created has an immortal soul and this needs to be recognized.
The idea between the having a man and woman appreciate just what it is that they are about to do can not be over emphasized. If they can not afford another child then, since they are to have control of their passions, they are to not to start the process if there is a chance of conception. This is what is considered natural in that nothing un-natural or artificial is used to prevent conception. The use of artifical birth control essentially establishes people as just a breeding pair with no human control over what is going on (not much mutual respect here) and what could happen - a failure of the contraceptive.
Or, take abortion. Millions of good Christians are against abortion, but they would make occasional exceptions, to save the life of the mother, perhaps, or in the case of rape.
Last count I heard was 53 million abortions (that is only what is on record) since 1973’s Roe v Wade decision. You mentioned rape - so, we have a perfectly innocent human that we are going to sacrifice because we do not like the way God allowed its life to come into existence. At what point does “Thou Shalt Not Kill” get a footing here? Let’s look at the recent case of the physician arrested and now indicted for the murder of 8 people (he botched the abortion of one and the woman died, and at least seven unborn children were forced out of their mother’s wombs alive (so, by law there is a live birth here) and then he severed their spinal cord with scissors. Some folks are seeing this as atypical and so out of the ordinary that it is unique. Well, it si only unique because this guy got caught with some much blood and body parts on his hands. The culture we have is one of death - and efforts to promote death are all around us. This physician is paid to provide death - not life - and we have the natural consequences of his actions played out for all to see.
Or, divorce. Catholicism has annulments, which is church-approved divorce - frankly - but here again the presence of legalism. Many marriages are fine when they start out, but something changes. Maybe the husband becomes addicted to alcohol, changing his personality, or the woman goes criminally insane for some unknown reason. But, no - no divorce unless sanctified by the church.
This may come as a surprise, Roy5, but, the Catholic Church does not condemn divorce - especially in such horrific circumstances as you have colorfully described! The problem is RE-MARRIAGE… not divorce. In the case of the Church granting an annulment - what it is saying is that based on established criteria, there was never a marriage to begin with.
Catholicism’s harsh criticism of gays and lesbians is legalistic. I oppose gay marriage myself, but have finally concluded that some people are ‘born gay’ (God’s doing?) and should not be deprived of intimacy the rest of their lives. There is a wide gap between committed loving relationships and wanton promiscuity. and may we should accept the one while condemning the other.
Wow, Roy5, you are all over the place on this one! The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals - they are persons as we are persons … sinners as we are sinners … and all are in need of the Grace of God. What the Church does condemn is sexual activity outside of marriage. Plese note, it even-handedly condemns adultery and forniciation, too! When it comes to the Natural Law, homosexuality simply falls far short of what is going on in creation. As human beings we are to be in control of ourselves and our emotions - and this is the challenge. But, note, it is a challenge for all of us to follow Christ - and, as He told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more” - He tells us all.
What I guess I’m suggesting is that the church got off the track somewhere. It began as a form of liberation from the legalism of traditional Judaism with all of its don’ts. But today traditional Catholicism is weighed down by its own legalism. This certainly is one one reason so many people either have left the church or ignore its pronouncements.
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