Marriage

Of course you knew this post was coming, huh?

Preface: I might say things you weren't expecting me to say.

For those of you who don't know me personally, or who might not be Catholic, or who might not be practicing Catholicism, let me briefly explain my position. (For those of you to whom those qualifications do not apply, feel free to skip this part.)

[Marriage is an institution designed by God Himself to unite man and woman to Himself for the purposes of mutual help, love, and procreation, ultimately so they could get one another to the gates of Heaven. (After all, there is only one way out of this life, and that's death. But there are two directions to go from there.) Biology says that it must be so! It takes one man and one woman to create a baby, and the One God to give it life and an eternal soul!

I'm not even sure why two men or two women want to be a part of this institution... but I suppose that's a topic for another day. As for the tax benefits etc., of legal marriage in this country... those were designed because our government understands that children who grow up in a household with one mom and one dad who are in a committed, monogamous, loving relationship are the ones who more often than not become good upstanding citizens who go on to make more good upstanding citizens. This is proven by statistics. Please look it up.

Intolerance has become the gravest sin in our country, or so it seems, and I want to make one thing clear. I am not intolerant of anyone, and especially not an entire group of people, (when did loving someone ever mean you condone all of their behaviors unconditionally?) I am intolerant of the idea that marriage could ever be anything except an indissoluble union between a man, a woman, and God. Christians need to be better at loving our brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction, that is a matter of fact.

True or False: Fathers make rules for their children?

True. Good job.

And True or False: If you want to learn how to work something properly, you should consult it's manual, written by it's creator?

True, again.

So you see, the God who created us loves us SO much that He gave us a bunch of rules. When I was a teenager, I thought they were all ridiculous.. I also thought my 12am curfew was ridiculous. Now that I've matured, I see how both are reasonable and actually necessary. Sometimes rules are difficult to follow, but they are given to us because they help us to work properly. For example, you wouldn't put water in the gas tank of a car when the manual says to use gas, would you?

You might be thinking: Brittany, why would God make people who have same-sex attraction if He doesn't want them to be in love with someone of the same-sex? Why would He give someone feelings that He doesn't want them to act on?

My answer to you is this: God gives each of us a cross to bear. We get to share in the life of Christ in a magnificent way by bearing our own crosses each day. Some are heavy, some are light, all are necessary. God made me sexually attracted to men. I don't act on that attraction because I am not married, and sex belongs in a marriage. Children have feelings that they should eat candy for every meal, does that mean they should act on those feelings?

God gave us an intellect to rule over our passions for this very reason! Our intellect tells us if our passions are ordered or disordered, if they'll get us to Heaven or if they'll bring us to Hell.]

That was longer than I expected it to be. If you have any questions about my ineloquent explanation, please ask, or consult this article: http://lifeteen.com/catholics-care-about-gays-the-myth-debunked/.

Now let me make the point I came here to make.

I think we've already lost the battle for marriage. And I think it started long before any of us was ever thinking about it. The reason I think we've already lost the battle is twofold.

The first is because my generation is swayed by anything shiny at all. We've lost the ability to think logically and reasonably about things, a lot of things. We aren't cultured, we're educated but unintelligent. We know a lot about a few things and nothing about all the rest. We're idiots! We hear something that sounds good, and without thinking about the implications at all we profess our undying support of the cause and put our hands over our ears and scream la la la la la at anyone who tries to speak against our ideas.

The second is because of Christians who have effectively removed the meaning of marriage from the word. Yup... it's actually our fault. The first divorce in the United States was in Massachusetts... WHEN IT WAS A COLONY! If Kim Kardashian can marry Kris Humphreys for 76 days, why shouldn't a man be married to a man? Why shouldn't a woman be married to a dog? Why shouldn't a father marry his daughter? Why shouldn't a man marry a tree? Why shouldn't a woman marry her three best friends?

As for sex? Sex has been happening outside of marriage since Adam and Eve ate the apple. We're fallen humans, that's the bottom line. But here's the kicker: now, sex is completely severed from it's primary purpose, which is procreation. Marriage is ordered toward the creation and support of new life!  Contraception was legalized in the U.S. in the early 1900's, and since then, marriage has taken the fast road downhill. Contraception is the only drug on the market made to make your body work wrong. When people get pregnant, they say oops. Why?! Your body was doing what it was supposed to! Did you not realize that's how it works?! When sex is all about pleasure and not at all about responsibility, new human life, little babies in the womb, are seen as an inconvenience that a quick trip to Planned Parenthood can easily get rid of.

I praise God for the tradition in the Church that a couple must go through marriage prep for a minimum of six months in order to be married in the Catholic Church. Marriage is a big commitment! An eternal decision, even! It should be entered into much more seriously than a Protestant Pastor or a Vegas Elvis is willing to admit.

Now here's the Good News! Even if we lose this battle, Hope is never lost. We are not wrong, we are standing for Truth, and there is only One Truth. God has a way of bringing good out of the things that dumb humans decide to mess up, and I know that our times are no different. The times when the Church is persecuted precede the times when she grows and becomes better. Please pray with me for the return, not the continuation, of the sanctity of marriage in our country.

And remember this:

"In the world you will have troubles, but take courage, I have already overcome the world." John 16:33

St. Joseph, pray for us.