Every
person, every club, every community, society, country etc. has rules.
Even organised atheism has codified rules. It’s how we keep
ourselves within the bounds of safety. Break those rules and there
are consequences, both natural and imposed.
Mature
people also know that freedom is not a life without
rules, but in fact personal freedom requires a life with rules that protect ourselves from
physical, emotional or spiritual harm. Be it rules regarding diet,
physical or social activity, self-discipline of some sort is required
to experience real freedom. The key is to find those rules that
provide the most liberating life and then follow them.
As
Christians, we believe that our Creator, who knows how we operate at
optimum levels has given us freedom producing rules. The
rules laid down by our Creator do not limit us nor oppress us but
actually allow us to live at our full potential.
This
is true regarding our sexuality. According to our Creator, humanity works best when one man and one woman are joined in a permanent
committed relationship; a relationship where two people are committed
to treating each other with loving behaviours. As that relationship goes, so goes our community, our nation our world. Without peace in the home, there cannot be peace in the world. One man, one woman in a commitment to a permanent state of forgiveness. The Bible allows for
no other kind of sexual union. Polygamy, divorce and remarriage, same
sex unions or casual sex, all these violate one man / one woman in a
permanent committed relationship.
When
we go beyond those guidelines we easily fall into absurd questions
like the one found on CNN today. It was regarding the Petraeus
affair: “Is email and text flirting really cheating?”
Seriously?
Are we really that pitiful?
Answer – Yes, we are.
Even
from a scientific physical perspective, chemicals release during
sexual intercourse create deep intimacy, oneness, trust and communion
between two people. Because of this it is not to be used outside of a
permanent committed relationship. Violation of this rule creates profound damage to our emotional and spiritual well-being.
Of
course, it’s not just Christianity that tries to set guidelines
regarding how we use our sexuality. Everyone sets some sort of
guideline. The key is to find behaviours that will allow
humanity to flourish, and to set limits on those behaviours that will
diminish us as humans. Because guidelines regarding our sexual relationships have been closely tied to the character of our Creator, who is loving, and faithful and merciful and just, our human nature has reacted violently against obeying those guidelines. Our natural bent is to rebel against those guidelines and to choose instead behaviours that are destructive to ourselves, our families and our communities. The Patraeus affair vividly demonstrates this point, a point that is reinforced in millions of families every year.
What
is particularly important for Christians is that we not
allow our views on right and wrong to diminish other
humans who think differently than we think or believe. Those who are spiritually dull of mind and slow of thought either cannot or will not accept the truth of the above. They support perversions of every sort and pride themselves in what they call tolerance. However, true tolerance is treating with respect those people whose behaviours you disagree with. Tolerance is not celebrating and and promoting those behaviours.
I understand how we get to such a position of such disconnect. We
live in communities where people of other faiths, races and sexual
orientations also live. It is a desire to treat our neighbours with love that leads so many to try to find ways to have the Bible
say something other than what it clearly says regarding sexual
relations. Most people who call themselves Christians don’t want to
hurt people of other beliefs on this or any other issue.
One
world view states that we should not limit ourselves in any way regarding our sexuality. Christianity says that without limiting ourselves to live
within the bounds our Creator has set before us, in the end there
will be no safe use of our sexuality - period. We will destroy one of
the greatest gifts our Creator has given humanity - i.e. sexual
intimacy.
What
I do know from personal experience, is that when I lived by my own
set of rules, rules that were acceptable within the community
of my peers, my life was a mess. I emotionally hurt people. I
disappointed people. Our life-style (that of my generation) forced
both myself and others to put up walls of emotional protection that
have allowed the onslaught of sin to grow at an enormous pace. These walls of protection have caused us to distance ourselves from emotional intimacy with one another, and as a result our ability to love is growing cold.
Now, that I am a follower of Jesus, to the degree that I obey His guidelines for us, my life
is one of peace, safety, mercy and love.
I
can't think of anything that would cause me to turn away from Jesus
or go back to the foolishness of man-made regulations.
Even organised atheism has codified rules.
ReplyDeleteThat's not accurate. There is not such thing as codified rules nor organized atheism. What you are referring to are sets of rules that Atheists put in place when organizing events. The same kind of rules can be put in place by any kind of organization for any kind of events, secular or not.
The rules laid down by our Creator
Even if a god created something at some point in the past, the rules religious people follow and impose on their fellow human beings are anything but divine. They are clearly man made and pretty easy to trace back to their origins. They evolved over time, were changed from places to places, time to time, inspired by different other religions and political or natural events.
To claim that there is a fixed set of rules made by 1 entity is absurd. It shows a complete lack of understanding of historical facts and an irrational desire to find such set of rule. It inevitably leads to an over-simplification of human societies by creating a false reality where all humans are more or less the same and should thus act more or less the same way. Opinions are blurred with facts and facts are discarded as being merely opinions.
Our natural bent is to rebel against those guidelines and to choose instead behaviours that are destructive to ourselves
This shows another consequence of irrational religious thinking: a form of cynicism where humans are a priori wrong unless they choose the 1 single path of purity that was described by the self-labeled 'chosen' ones. In other words, instead of seeing humans as imperfect beings who simply try to do their best, but fails at time, the humans are relegated to the rank of scum that purposely pick whatever is worst for them. Everything is black or white. There is no middle ground where certain decision could be right for some and wrong for others.
What is particularly important for Christians is that we not allow our views on right and wrong to diminish other humans who think differently than we think or believe.
Rod, that's where the bigotry you depict as a consequence of your fundamentalist religious thinking clashes with your desire to respect all humans. There is no doubt that this is a genuine attempt at reconciling the various feelings, but reality does not adapt to the ideas that are in your head. Only your mind can adapt. Therefore, your own personal judgment that you attribute to a supernatural god will always trump your inner rational thinking that speaks the truth, for this rational voice is deemed not worthy of listening to. The idea of Jesus being with you might have helped you be a better personal in general, but it also switched off a part of your brain that could process reality for what it is, instead of what you would like it to be.
Nicely done, Rod.
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