First, I am more than a little humbled to stand next to these three men of God, especially in that they are all men of even a greater humility.
Fighting back instincts to try to overly impress on my first post, I thought I would link to our mutual friend Dawn Eden's recent article on the 10 1/2 Reasons to be Chaste, as the 1/2 is a reference to a comment of mine she quotes in the article (it was to be called 10 Reasons .. .,originally).
A friend of mine offers another sobering thought: If you have sex outside of marriage, what you're really saying to your sex partner is, "I wish you hell."
I came up with that statement after a lot of thought and prayer dealing with a young man I was counseling about his upcoming engagement. The two kids involved are both Christians, but in this "try it before you buy it" oversexed society of ours, my friend was worried that things might happen between engagement and the actual wedding.
After we talked about his job as husband being that to help his beloved get to heaven, I reminded him that taking her through hell first (a sexual act being a mortal sin) most likely wasn't the best route.
Dawn's article, as usual, is full of good advice from one (like myself) being restored to purity by the love of our Father, and the Truth of His word.
5 comments:
Oh my, oh my! D'artagnan, what a wonderful post, it leaves me thinking that I should submit any thought I may get in the future to you so that you can weave it into something of beauty.
Ah, what a delight it is to welcome you to our All 4 1 & 1 4 All blog.
And please let us know how you would like to add/subtract/modify things in the blog.
Oh, yea, to let you in on how we have handled (new) ideas in the past; one of us would toss up an idea and then whose sword pierced the idea first would decide the outcome of the idea. Really quite simply. So please do not hesitate to throw an idea up in our general direction.
Humility is a strange thing indeed. Bailie once told a story of a monk who worked the lowliest jobs. He'd often pray simply, "Lord, I am nothing. I am nothing."
The abbot chanced to see him one day at such prayer, and thought, "Hm. That's a wonderful prayer." And he too started praying, "Lord, I am nothing. I am nothing."
An aspiring monk got wind of the abbot praying this way and he, too, began praying, "Lord, I am nothing. I am nothing."
It happened that the abbot and the aspiring monk walked past the lowly monk, praying his "Lord, I am nothing" prayer. The aspiring monk said to the abbot, "Huh! Look who thinks he's nothing!"
Let me also say, d'Artagnan, that I think it is highly apropos that you should choose for your first post the theme of love. Certainly the parameters for the marital act (how the cat calls would resound were I to call sex that in the PC realms of debauchery!) are blessedly reserved for the commitment of the vows of matrimony. As the Catechism tells us, love and life must go together, and how sad and depraved the world is that thinks the "domestic church" -- the family -- is anything other than husband, wife, and their offspring.
But enough preachin'. You speak of love -- amor -- and this, while hardly an area of human experience in which Aramis, Porthos, and myself are UNacquainted, it isn't something we've spoken of greatly. It is a fine thing to have a single man's pov here. I, at least, have been in love with, and friends with, the same gal for nearly 30 years. The one who goes with this ring on my left hand has seen me at my best, and my worst, and she loves me the best. For that I am eternally grateful.
Welcome, D'artagnan. Your topic reminded me of a video I recently saw -- Woody Allen and Billy Graham (1972) talk kindly about, among other things, pre-marital sex.
Allen's arguments look so weak and sad in comparison. I can't recall if that topic is mentioned in the first or second clip but the whole thing is worth a viewing.
Link to Video
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