A Sad Day for Marriage

The attack on the family is fierce and overwhelming. The profound sadness of it, that one has to advocate that a child ought to have a mother and father. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops puts it so well:

"Only a man can be a father; only a woman can be a mother. Both men and women – fathers and mothers – bring irreplaceable gifts to the shared task of child-rearing. A child should not be deliberately deprived of a married mom and dad. Parenting is gender-specific, not gender-neutral." 

Biologically, every child has a mother and father; psychologically, "children generally long to know and be known by, and to love and be loved by, both their fathers and their mothers." As such, marriage as an institution ensures "that as many children as possible are brought up by their father and mother in the marital bond." (A Constitutional Defense of Marriage by Robert P. George)

How twisted has the world become that what was once understood without words now needs articulate and eloquent defenders to even have a chance to be heard in the din of the LGBT community. The din is so successful in fact that what used to be acknowledged as sinful has become so widely accepted that any opposition based on faith and morals has become discrimination and bigotry. Religious liberty is thus sacrificed to the altar of tolerance.

But defending traditional marriage is not about discrimination. "The idea of marriage as a conjugal partnership is not rooted in the bigoted belief that any person or group of persons is inherently inferior to any other, but rather in the understanding that moms and dads are not substitutable—both are necessary for parenting." (George)

How unfashionable it is to quote scripture but Hebrews 13:4 says that "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral."

The word "immoral" has become taboo. Instead, the new god of the new age is "tolerance." Tolerance is the blanket word that rationalizes all misbehavior and sexual immorality prevalent in the world. Carl Olson quotes Reilly in his article, Welcome to the Reign of Gay:

"Rationalizations for moral misbehavior work like this. Anyone who chooses an evil act must present it to himself as good; otherwise, as Aristotle taught, he would be incapable of choosing it. When we rationalize, we convince ourselves that heretofore forbidden desires are permissible. ... In short, we assert that bad is good. ... Habitual moral failure, however, can be lived... only by obliterating conscience through a more permanent rationalization, an enduring inversion of morality." 

"Tolerance" is the word that obliterates conscience. "Tolerance" is the club used against those who would quote scripture to state that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:8).

Years ago, contraception became the norm. It has borne fruit in abortion, about 40-50 million abortions a year or 125,000 abortions in a day. And there is not enough outrage against this horrific human holocaust. Instead, humanity is like the frog sitting in a pot that is unaware of the increasing temperature that is about to boil it to death.

What will be the consequences of today's redefinition of marriage?

Care for more chastity in movies, anyone?

Watching movies is a favorite pastime and I recently caught three on cable with Shailene Woodley: Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Spectacular Now. I found myself comparing the different pairings between Woodley and her various leading men, who were all with her in Divergent.

Having seen Divergent first, it was strange to see Ansel Elgort and Woodley play each other's love interests in The Fault in Our Stars. The image of them as siblings was still so fresh on my mind, I was cringing inwardly at the idea of incest. 

Seeing Woodley and Miles Teller together in The Spectacular Now was not as strange but I could not help feeling disappointed at the portrayal of how normal it was for two teenagers to fall into bed so easily. 

Among the pairings, what appealed to me most was the combination of Theo James and Woodley. Aside from James having the strongest "alpha male" look (at least in my view), it is actually the storyline of Divergent that builds up the most appealing chemistry. Four is shown caring for Tris in non-sexual ways: the various survival and fighting tips--all hinting at blossoming feelings hidden under a veil of mentoring concern. Particularly touching was Four's climbing up the ferris wheel despite his fear of heights because Tris has just taken a beating and must take it easy. And the clincher line, "I've got my spot on the floor," just reveals respect in a way the other two movies do not.

Maybe it does not quite live up to the standards set out in Evert's Chastity Project but based on Woodley's three movies, the hottest chemistry is still the one closest to Gospel values. 

Whitewashed Darkness

Mapa-Aquino o mapa-Marcos, things don't seem to change from one administration to another. 

Imelda Marcos had white-washed walls put up to hide squatters from visiting dignitaries. More of the same (or worse) is still happening today.

How deeply shameful to lock away street children so Pope Francis will not run into them. 

Media Bias

People trust media and hardly give what they watch a second thought but as someone on the ground during the papal visit, I have to say, what a slanted perspective CNN International has. I caught their news story last night to the effect that gay Filipinos push for same sex marriage. 

Thousands of souls perished in Haiyan over a year ago. Pope Francis comes to the Philippines to visit, bringing a message of mercy and compassion, precisely because he wishes to reach out to the survivors of this super typhoon. What does CNN do? They interview Aiza Seguerra and her same-sex partner to set the context for the papal visit. There are no other views presented. It's all about the gay agenda.

I wonder if powerful international media organizations still have a concept of respecting other people's beliefs? Or do they take it upon themselves to rewrite everyone's beliefs according to the gospel of CNN?

P.S. Channel nine has become CNN Philippines. What sort of agenda will this network be carrying?