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dostoyevskyfan
Guest
This reflection is inspired by Mark Chapter 9 near verse 40. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the startling advice of Christ–if your left eye causes you to sin…pluck it out, if your left hand causes you to sin…cut it off…etc
This verse is specifically found in the context of the discussion of “sexual sin”–the most pervasive kind, I would assume–and specifically, adultery; which is defined by Christ as merely looking at a married person with a “lustful eye”.
Liberal interpretations of this passage lead us to believe that Jesus was not meant to be taken literally…and yet we see cases of at least one early church father, who did not wish to risk it. I am not a liberal.
The person I am speaking about, of course, is Origen of Alexandria, who castrated himself prompted not by the verse I mentioned above, but the one that reads, “Some become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake”…or something like that.
Of course the methods used to prevent sinning at the time of antiquity (mutilation, amputation) seem barbarous to us in our modern times, but is the concept or idea behind it necessarily repulsive?
It would be possible in theory, or will become possible, to just take a pill that eliminates our sexual desires or reduces the amount of hormones pumping through our system. This raises a philosophical question, would it be ethical by our standards and by God’s standard, to “cheat” the system, beat the temptations of sin with modern medicine to inherit the kingdom of God?
Is this against God’s plan? Does He will us to be tempted and then resist, or is it logical and even advisable to just bypass our basic urges? From the pure perspective of pragmatism, this seems very reasonable.
This verse is specifically found in the context of the discussion of “sexual sin”–the most pervasive kind, I would assume–and specifically, adultery; which is defined by Christ as merely looking at a married person with a “lustful eye”.
Liberal interpretations of this passage lead us to believe that Jesus was not meant to be taken literally…and yet we see cases of at least one early church father, who did not wish to risk it. I am not a liberal.
The person I am speaking about, of course, is Origen of Alexandria, who castrated himself prompted not by the verse I mentioned above, but the one that reads, “Some become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake”…or something like that.
Of course the methods used to prevent sinning at the time of antiquity (mutilation, amputation) seem barbarous to us in our modern times, but is the concept or idea behind it necessarily repulsive?
It would be possible in theory, or will become possible, to just take a pill that eliminates our sexual desires or reduces the amount of hormones pumping through our system. This raises a philosophical question, would it be ethical by our standards and by God’s standard, to “cheat” the system, beat the temptations of sin with modern medicine to inherit the kingdom of God?
Is this against God’s plan? Does He will us to be tempted and then resist, or is it logical and even advisable to just bypass our basic urges? From the pure perspective of pragmatism, this seems very reasonable.