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John_of_Woking
Guest
. Good post. Immodesty is definitely a reason. Every day is a battle because some poor soul conditioned by the media feels the need to dress provocatively while I have to fight my pathetic flesh
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OraLabora
Guest
By and large we impose that on ourselves.
Why do we “need” a huge SUV that gets 15 mpg when a compact will get 30 mpg will do? To tow that large boat that we “need”?
Why do we “need” a 5000 sq. ft home for a couple, two kids, and a dog?
Why do we “need” a big-screen TV?
In the 1960s, only my dad worked. He had a company car (he was a salesman), a 4-door, basic Chevy Belair. No A/C, roll-up windows, no radio even! No power steering, no power brakes, basic pie-plate hubcaps and blackwall tires. When he died in 1971, the company came and took the car away from us. My mother couldn’t afford to run a car on the small pension and insurance payout my father left behind.
We had a B&W TV long after most folks had colour; we only got colour when my dad won a company award for surpassing his sales quota, and a 19" colour TV was the prize. We kept that TV until the colours were absolutely terrible, B&W would have been better! We had no dishwasher, only 1 phone in the hallway, Internet, mobile phones, iPads, etc were unheard of back then. Vacation was a few days in nearby Vermont, about 2 hours away by car. The biggest treat in my life was when my dad took me to New York City by overnight train!
Compare that to the “needs” of today. One thing that always amazes me when I go on retreat in a monastery, is how little we actually do need to live, and live surprisingly well with peace, a balanced diet, a balance of activities.
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MacAodhagain
Guest
Who owns the newspapers in the UK? Rupert Murdoch erstwhile Catholic and owner of the Fox Corporation (among many others) including the odious Fox ‘news’. I don’t think it was a small group of people Ed, the social changes you outlined were part of mass movements. The great Saint Pius X saw the dangers of ‘modernism’ (not in the society of St. Pius X narrow view) but the wider dangers to society as a whole therein. The Roman Empire eventually collapsed under the weight of its moral decay. The USA and it’s satellite the UK will I fear, along with the rest of Western Europe go the same way.
God help us all.
Kenny
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ConstantineTG
Guest
As a fellow Canadian, I’m sure you are well aware how unfair real estate prices are in our country, especially here in Vancouver where I am. The value of my 1800 sq/ft home is nearly identical to that of my sister’s nearly acre lot, single-detached with swimming pool property somewhere in suburbia America. The pastor of a parish I formerly attended had a wonderful homily of how anti-family current society is. And part of his reflection is the prices of Vancouver property. He says that how can you be encouraged to have more kids when all you can afford is a 800 sq/ft 2-bedroom condo and the second bedroom could hardly fit an adult sized bed.
And truth be told, cars that can be had for under $15,000 canadian are hardly cars for decent sized families. Cars cost more in Canada than in the US, for the same brand and model. On top of that we’re taxed to death here. Its not that we’re splurging to buy a Ferrari
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Vico
Guest
And also:
- 1914: World War I, (excluding USA) soldiers in Europe provided with condoms and promote their use
- 1930: The Anglican Church Lambeth Conference sanctioned birth control by married couples.
- 1931: Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America sanctioned birth control by married couples.
- In the 1930s, legal restrictions on condoms began to be relaxed.
- 1939: World War II, condoms were distributed to male U.S. military and promoted with films, posters, and lectures.
- 1960: FDA approves Enovid for contraception
- 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut makes oral contraception available to the married (USA)
- 1969: Chemical birth control legalized in Canada
- 1972: Eisenstadt v. Baird makes oral contraception available to the unmarried (USA)
- 1973: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 passed legal abortion
- 1980’s: multiphasic birth control pills
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notredame_999
Guest
I absolutely agree with this. Yet the main point in my original post is that perhaps we as catholics invite more temptation to ourselves by holding marriage off until our mid-late twenties, considering that in apostolic and even medieval times men and women got married upon hitting puberty (thus decreasing the chances of fornication because they have a sexual partner).
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StrawberryJam
Guest
I’m sure you know of many minors that are very astute and mature for their age and know how to handle life’s many situations and have the ability to enter into the obligations and duties of marriage.
If so, I would hope that there will no longer be threads about the Muslim faith regarding the young age of one of his wives.
I am even wondering if this means we should take up concubines while we are at it.
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larkin31
Guest
Perhaps (that seems early even for then). But you don’t want those conditions and patterns back again, do you? What has increased since then is personal freedom. The “price” of not marrying young is much much reduced now, and, as they say, “thank God.” Women no longer starve and die as detached spinsters. Unmarried persons are no longer so scorned and seen as rejects or failures. In the modern economy and communities, single persons can still work and support themselves and find fulfillment through an avocation or profession of their choosing. Even the WOMEN! And sexual activity among the unmarried is no longer seen so widely as a subpoena for the everlasting fires of hell. From my point of view, all of this is progress.
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larkin31
Guest
darn.
I was just going to ask my wife for a special dispensation for concubinage! On moral grounds!
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StrawberryJam
Guest
Let me know how that one turns out…darn.
I was just going to ask my wife for a special dispensation for concubinage! On moral grounds!
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Rascalking
Guest
When anyone starts complaining about how good things where, I always chuckle. You are aware that you are on the Internet complaining about the good old days? Which didn’t have the internet? So you couldn’t complain about it? Get it?
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Marie5890
Guest
Agree with OraLabora completely. There have been times when sexual sins were just as rampant as they are today.
We just hear of them more do to the change in technology.
Human behavior, if one studies human history, hasnt really changed all that much.
Just the technology is more advanced so we hear and see it more.
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faithfully
Guest
Thank you for this hysterical laugh!
While I think it’s true women don’t NEED marriage today in the way they used to back in the day. Since they couldn’t own property etc…
But only a nutter thinks raising children is an EASIER job than anything… Go with that… SUCKER!!! I would LOVE to see the face of the individual on their first parenting day that thought it was going to be cake… That would make me laugh harder than this post!
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Marie5890
Guest
However there is a failure to understand that people didnt get married at a younger age in past generations for sex. They got married for security reasons. For economic reasons.
We tend to think as sex, in and of itself, as being the primary motivating influence in all of history when that is simply not the case.
Marriage is postponed now a days because a woman know she doesnt need a man to be secure. She can do that on her own.
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faithfully
Guest
Is there an actual statistic somewhere that shows there is more sexual sin per capita today than yesteryear?
Or is it possible we just know MORE about it today than Yesteryear.
Wasn’t Kennedy just as trashy as Clinton? Yet, who did we put on the stand, and broadcast the questions. We just KNOW way more personal info on people that we didn’t think was appropriate to air in the past.
Although I do look at the age “kids” are becoming sexually active. Could this be because puberty is hitting WAY earlier than it used to? (Hormones in food anyone? Just a thought!) I mean, would it matter if we still married at 18, if girls are starting their period when they are 8? They still have a 10 year wait to get married.
Regarding an SUV vs a gas savin’ 4banger… You know, my parents used to drive this little beat up toyota station wagon. You could get 5 skinny kids across the back seat, and 4-6 in the “trunk” space. It was a “hatch back” before hatch back was a term. My mom’s car drove at least 1/3 of my 1st grade class on field trips. Fewer when we got bigger.
SEATBELT and car seat laws have made cramming in a family of 6 a tough job. NEVER mind a guest or friends of children. WE don’t drive friends around AT ALL! It’s weird.
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Or is it possible we just know MORE about it today than Yesteryear.
Wasn’t Kennedy just as trashy as Clinton? Yet, who did we put on the stand, and broadcast the questions. We just KNOW way more personal info on people that we didn’t think was appropriate to air in the past.
Although I do look at the age “kids” are becoming sexually active. Could this be because puberty is hitting WAY earlier than it used to? (Hormones in food anyone? Just a thought!) I mean, would it matter if we still married at 18, if girls are starting their period when they are 8? They still have a 10 year wait to get married.
Regarding an SUV vs a gas savin’ 4banger… You know, my parents used to drive this little beat up toyota station wagon. You could get 5 skinny kids across the back seat, and 4-6 in the “trunk” space. It was a “hatch back” before hatch back was a term. My mom’s car drove at least 1/3 of my 1st grade class on field trips. Fewer when we got bigger.
SEATBELT and car seat laws have made cramming in a family of 6 a tough job. NEVER mind a guest or friends of children. WE don’t drive friends around AT ALL! It’s weird.
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edwest2
Guest
The agitators were who? Anarchists and Communists. We don’t have kings or nobles walking around in robes here but only about 2% of the population controls 80% of the wealth. We have millionaires and billionaires
Look at Oprah. She is using her celebrity to try to convince people that there are many paths to God, and she is quite wealthy.
No, no. One only has to look at the number of indepently owned newspapers and magazines of the middle of the last century compared to the global media empires controlling most of the media today. It’s only a handful of people now. We can’t forget that.
These same people make certain that their causes are funded. If you or I had the money, we could buy billboards and TV advertising, like they do, for any cause we like. It’s a great responsibility. But they can and do tell people what to wear and how to behave.
And where are the parents of some of these so-called celebrities that allow themselves to be used by these people? I would be ashamed to have some of them as sons and daughters. They play prostitutes or dress like prostitutes. I look at the highly offensive Lady Gaga and think - where is her mum?
Whatever happens to the United States and the UK, we must have hope in Christ above all. While the pagan media denounces religion in general and Christianity in particular, we must present Jesus Christ anew to the world.
Recently, in Detroit, the father of a young man involved in a gunfight said, “WE need to sit down at the dinner table as a family again.” He is absolutely right. The core of society is the family, but there has been a war waged against the family and the sanctity of marriage over the last 40 years. It reminds me of many ways of what was happening in Europe just prior to the Second World War. People who believed nothing, living by stealing and indulging in whatever crossed their minds.
Peace,
Ed
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RobbyS
Guest
What we have is a huge amount of publicity about sex thrown in our faces daily. Celebrities used to hide their affairs.No more,
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JHow
Guest
I vote for economic reasons. In an agrarian society a 15 year old boy can almost do the work of a man (farm, labor). Ergo, you can earn and provide for a family. My great grandmother married at 15, for instance. Nowadays, the biggest difference is schooling - its mandatory to 12 years, and really you can’t get an office job (which are a greater share of the job pool these days) without a 4 year degree. The degree is almost meaningless, it just means the new hire will have some basic skills (language,mostly).
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ConstantineTG
Guest
I was going to bring this up. People are bringing up the age of marriage, but fact is today’s society will not allow one to marry early. What will you feed your family with? Even if one were to enter farming or fishing or work at a fast food restaurant, they won’t make that much money to support a family in today’s world. Also, society itself makes us less mature at the same age than someone from 100, 500, 1000 years ago. In the past people were exposed more to the real life at an early age. Today at age 12 most kids are concerned about video games, TV and other distractions from real life. There is no way they are ready to live on their own by 15-18. In the past they would have started helping dad in his job before they even hit 10. Farming, fishing, carpentry, they would have been involved even in a small part. And there was no pressure back then as is today, because of today’s demands. In the past you screw up something in carpentry, you try again. Today everything is measured in dollar and hours. You screw up, wasted hours plus wasted materials equals lost income. A teenager cannot possibly cope with that pressure.
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sdtouchton
Guest
Christians, therefore, must do two things. First, they must work to keep themselves pure by fleeing immorality (1 Cor. 6:18) and thinking on those things that are pure (Phil. 4:8). As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). Christians must make no provision for the flesh (Rom. 13:14). Pornography fuels the sexual desire in abnormal ways and can eventually lead to even more debased perversions. We must, therefore, “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Second, Christians must work to remove this sexual perversion of pornography from society.
Here are a number of positive steps we can take to combat porn. First, parents must teach a biblical view of sex to their children. Second, we must evaluate our exposure to media (magazines, TV shows, rock music) with inappropriate sexual themes. Parents should set a positive example for their children and take time to discuss these stories, programs, and songs with them.
Third, pastors should warn their congregations about the dangers of pornography and instruct them in a proper view of sexuality. Like Joseph in the Old Testament, we should flee immorality.
Fourth, individual Christians should get involved with a local decency group that is organized to fight pornography. These groups have often been effective in ridding their communities of the porno plague.
Finally, encourage your federal and state representatives to implement the recommendations from the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and use existing legislation to prosecute those who distribute pornography. If we are willing to get involved we can fight the porno plague in our communities.*
Also the devil is targetting pervert people .leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/porno.html
Here are a number of positive steps we can take to combat porn. First, parents must teach a biblical view of sex to their children. Second, we must evaluate our exposure to media (magazines, TV shows, rock music) with inappropriate sexual themes. Parents should set a positive example for their children and take time to discuss these stories, programs, and songs with them.
Third, pastors should warn their congregations about the dangers of pornography and instruct them in a proper view of sexuality. Like Joseph in the Old Testament, we should flee immorality.
Fourth, individual Christians should get involved with a local decency group that is organized to fight pornography. These groups have often been effective in ridding their communities of the porno plague.
Finally, encourage your federal and state representatives to implement the recommendations from the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and use existing legislation to prosecute those who distribute pornography. If we are willing to get involved we can fight the porno plague in our communities.*
Also the devil is targetting pervert people .leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/porno.html
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