Posted on 11/19/2011 5:02:31 AM PST by IbJensen
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
_________________________________________________
Tts 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
Tts 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Tts 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; ........
_________________________________________________
1Cr 7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman.
1Cr 7:2 Nevertheless, [to avoid] fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Cr 7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
1Cr 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Cr 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except [it be] with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Cr 7:6 But I speak this by permission, [and] not of commandment.
1Cr 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Cr 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Cr 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
I (and the Church too) know all of those verses. And none of them prevent the Church from deciding on a Church discipline.
My duty is my pleasure; thank you.
Very well said, Bellflower! And that is exactly why I started and have continued (now with wagglebee’s help for some time) the Moral Absolutes ping list. Just to do my duty.
Self control is the heart of the Christian walk and being flippant or dismissive about it scarcely helps. It may soon no longer be any more possible to control “society” than it was for the first century church to do so.
It might just bring the self righteous, non-church goers that will return to God and truly disdain the tsunami of porn that washes over our once polite society.
The Muslims believe in their Koran and kill us. They’d have a tougher time in we believed in our Bible or Torah, especially the part about an eye for an eye!
No, you pointed out a negative correlation between a single type of sex crime and porn.
http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/frequency-of-sexual-assault
I wonder if he’s even talking about stuff that is “legally” called porn. Gratuitous cheesecake is so easy to get an eyeful of today. Just go to the mall.
Perhaps not even legally, I have seen cases of guys who didn’t even have to pay or buy magazines for the sake of getting it, just look at women who are naked via photos online.
I do agree with your general point, however, what is “porn” varies from person to person, but the only way to tell is if the person has to spend rediculous amounts of time on it, or if the guy has to do some rediculous concealment of what he is doing, or if the guy can’t keep his thoughts discrete (a.k.a. keep his fantasies totally in his head)
There’s no practical way, in my experience, that we can legally quantify porn, or the fact that people can be addicted to it, however, we can say that if someone can’t go a day without something, or is willing to miss out on work, family activities, or spend hours upon something, whatever it is, be it video games, naked pictures of pretty women or sex acts, or simply even eating oneself sick with cheesecake, it’s safe enough to call it an addiction.
In fact, for clinical reference, you can look up the 12-step program and their qualifiers for better detail of what it takes to clinically diagnose someone as being addicted to something.
http://www.12step.com/12stepprograms.html
I will admit, that the 12-step program list of addictions is huge, and probably doesn’t even cover them all. However, perhaps the worst addictions are those where you are addicted to something that has a good and a bad use or overuse, such as those relating to porn, sex, or food, simply because if one were trying to do any of those things the correct way, there is the temptation to relapse, or go back into the excessive drive the person use to possess.
Wow, if that’s porn for 1953, then that is innocent in comparison to what goes around nowadays, even including the cover of the magazine. What I would also say is that people can easily get what constitutes porn for free, through electronic means.
What the Church should do is allow their priests to marry. This would go a long way to solving a lot of their problems.
You can resign from priestly office or the office of being a nun if you wish, after that resignation, you can marry to your hearts’ delight. It’s also pretty clear from how I read the Bible that Jesus didn’t marry in his life either.
Additionally, marriage doesn’t solve lust, including lust for women to whom your wife doesn’t fit the form or age, nor does marriage alone solve lusts a person can have for someone of the same gender. The Blood of Christ, however, can ultimately cleanse one of such urges. In fact, part of Catholic policy for rehabilitating people who have had issues either with porn, sexual promiscuity, or homosexuality is that such people not enter marriage while such behaviors and/or urges present a serious struggle for them. Bringing such unsolved inclinations into a marriage is often a recipe for disaster.
Basing your rules on something that goes against biology makes zero sense.
Biology is extremely complex and relative, again, people who have same-gender attraction, have an inclination that is incredibly ingrained into their mind and body, so for their biology, whether developed from their nurture or their nature, it is against them to marry a wife, however, whether or not someone ultimately overcomes such inclinations, it is encouraged that such a person find ways to be of service to others in selfless, non-sexual means, instead of performing unhealthy homosexual behaviors.
Additionally, what’s natural even to a human being shouldn’t be without serious restraint. In all honesty, I can feel a crush on just about any girl I see who looks pretty to my eye, however, I can choose not to feed lusts upon that woman after I see her with a glance. My nature tells me one thing, however, it is up to me to excercise constraint, married or not.
Again, there is the option to resign if you honestly aren’t interested in being a priest, monk, or nun, anymore, similar to the decision made by Maria in the sound of music, ultimately marrying George Ludwig von Trapp.
Again, if you are not to the task of becoming a priest or nun, you don’t have to.
Yes, I’m wondering what his definition of “porn” is.
I can’t define porn uniformly for all people, because I could guarantee you that every addict had a completely different kind of taste in terms of what he lusted after. However, you can define addiction, through the definition as given in the 12-step program:
A person cannot seem to go for a period of say, a single day, without the use of a substance. They might even reflexively perform the action or use the substance as a routine, such as first thing in the morning.
A person cannot simply interrupt the completion of his use of the substance for the sake of more immediate or important matters such as work, family, chores, etc. The person feels a determination to continue working and continuing his or her euphoria from the sensations associated with the substance. Examples include getting high from a drug, or remaining in a state of prolonged sexual arousal from use of sexual imagery, or sexual acts, or in the case of food, involving keeping the taste of a food consumed in one’s body, such as flour, sugar, candy, and who knows how many other kinds of food.
A person is emotionally and mentally dependent on the activity or substance, they do not feel fulfilled when they spend time without it.
In either situation, the person has an appetite for an activity or for a substance, because it somehow makes them feel pleasure. They feel that they are going without it, they even almost subconsciously use or do it as a reflex.
More details can be found on the outlines for various 12-step programs, and believe me the list is long, and perhaps in no way complete for all the classifiable addictions which can be found out there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Step_Program
one of the things I often recommend is to look at the description of the first six steps, and then replace alcohol with some activity or some substance you use on a daily basis, and see if it matches that description. In fact, that outline is pretty much how I came to admit I needed serious help on some matters myself.
I will say as well, that porn, or at least indulging in certain materials to feel sexually aroused is incredibly varied to the point where even all I can say is a general definition: if you are using something in media, just to make yourself feel sexual pleasure, that media is porn to you, and you are messing around with how your body and mind function.
Yes, I am a former user myself, and glad to be sober, after plenty a struggle.
Pray tell, does the author of the study have an explanation for the existence of rape before today’s easy availability of porn? Correlation is not causation. It’s more likely that somebody whose sex life is all screwed up will seek out porn. Perhaps porn provides some satisfaction that reduces the desire to rape real women.
I would say that porn is far from being the sole factor here. I would also argue that parental example could easily play somewhat of a role as well. For instance, let’s say you were a young boy, raised by a single mother, who had no real effective father figure in your life, save perhaps a gang leader, do you think that would have some effect in your development of a moral instinct not to rape? Let’s say you were a person whose mind was messed up by being high and stimulated by a mind-altering drug, do you think you would be thinking all so straight about the situation you were in, or that your standards regarding not committing rape? Or let’s say you were a person who felt megalomaniacal. All I can say is that the list goes on extensively of factors that may play into the problem. I do, however,believe a lack of proper father figures, or issues of mental health, are also part of the problem as well.
I for one, believe porn will lead its followers to the eternal pit of fire.
“Try putting out the fire in just your own yard in the midst of a forest fire and find out how far that gets you. If you don’t think it is that serious you do not realize the attack to very moral fiber of our society. Children in particular are paying the high price with sexual molestation and horrible murders. If people just stopped and thought about what the “sexual revolution” has done to society and individuals therein we would not, could not put up with it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Very well said. I often see retorts like; “Don’t like porn? Don’t watch it”, and other similar type nonesense. What you said is a clear example of why morality matters. And that if you don’t believe morality has a place in our political and legal systems, then you aren’t paying attention.
Morality has always been an integral part of our legal and political culture. From the Constutuion onward. Problem is.... Now we have those whose moral values are sick and depraved calling the shots.
Great response. Very thoughtful and informed.
Count it a blessing - sounds likes God has been merciful to you...
There is another problem with pornography.
Many women are attracted to romance novels, featuring a really buff man who is primarily interested in sharing his feelings and exploring the relationships. He’s not a real man but a man with the mind of a woman.
Men stare at women with gorgeous, sexy bods but they are only interested in unrestrained sex. They want a girl with a man’s mind, with the mind of their drinking buddies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.