I have to thank SSM for finding this comment at Zippy’s place, but it is useful, for it deals with an issue we face. Some days I feel that this is one of the few places that unabashedly says that the law is good and we should preach that we are all damned but for Christ. The other places are some fairy scary Reformed sites and equally terrifying Catholic ones — for those who have access to systematic theology and study it and meditate on it realize that we have all been cowards, we have all compromised, and the dark side, the spirit of this age, affects us all.
The one aspect of modernity with which I frequently observe even self-proclaimed anti-modernists/anti-liberals/reactionaries/traditionalists/etc… make compromises is the sexual revolution. That’s the heart of the beast. It’s what divides the old left from the new left. All of us are guilty of indulging in it at some point, whether it was premarital sex or viewing pornography, but the difference is about rationalizing it. Those who seek compromise do so for the simple fact, not of the conviction that synthesis is best, but rather that they cannot muster the will power or moral fortitude to overcome their indulgence in sexual depravity. You can hear this in the words of gamers/puas or those sympathetic to them. They exclaim, “They’re just taking advantage of this bad situation. It’s not great, but what else is left for them?” That is cowardice and surrender. That’s saying, “I hate the depravity, believe me, but I need my little piece of it.” As Christians, sin is indefensible, unjustifiable
Yep. As a bunch, we need to repent. For those who are seasonal, this will be discussed (or it should be — all the texts today are about the fallen nature of mankind). But our response should be sorrow. It should be shame. It should be to cry for mercy, not demand justice.
3Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying,
“Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, 5we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances. 6We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
7“Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8Open shame, O LORD, falls on us, our kings, our officials, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, 10and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.3The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”4But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”5Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
7Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
44Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, 49for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. 50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Now, the issue is not one of how we are doing well. It is that we are not doing well. There is an old discussion by Schaeffer at the beginning of True Spirituality in which he argues that the laws of Love: love the LORD your God, and Love your neighbour — are glorious and terrifying. That we can neither keep them or stand them. And so we make regulations, rules, to bind us, to shelter us from the light, so we can pretend that the darkness is but shade. Zippy said very much the same thing, commenting on the first remark.
Chastity is a positive virtue, so it doesn’t have a “bright line” moral boundary. It isn’t that it is difficult to draw the line: it is that the line does not exist. So when we encounter the authority of chastity – the virtues are authorities over us because it is their nature to generate moral obligations – it is important to bow down, not up. If we are trying to do everything we can to come as close to torturing the prisoner as possible without actually crossing the line and torturing the prisoner, we have misunderstood the moral nature of the situation. There is no line.
Sure there are acts, certain intrinsically immoral behaviours, which clearly offend against chastity and are always morally wrong under all circumstances. But those acts are hardly the only offenses against the virtue of chastity. Chastity is not a virtue that lends itself to realpolitik and compromise, any more than wifely submission is something that lends itself to selective rebellion: compromised chastity just is inchastity. The slutty Christian woman may rationalize the escalation of her hemline (as long as she doesn’t actually fornicate or commit adultery, thereby achieving the Minimum Adult Daily Requirement of chastity) as a kind of realpolitik adaptation to practical realities; and since society is being deliberately (though futilely) reconstructed by liberalism to be ever more androgynous this traditionally difficult area for women has become more difficult for men also, as one of the fruits of equality.
We follow Christ this #Lent, recalling our baptism … Jesus compels us to pick up our cross & follow Him. #noregrets pic.twitter.com/Z4YvaWVmCw
— Sr Lisa Marie Doty (@Sr_Lisa) March 8, 2014
So what are we to do? We are told to walk in the light, and shun the compromises we make with the world that offend chastity. Which is not as much about hemlines as context: the world swimming federation did not shorten the length of swimsuits (and regulate the material) our of some sense that they must provide eye candy but because the swimsuits reduced friction, and were thus a performance enhancer.
n addition, this is not merely an issue for women, but also for men — which is why no one should wear running tights or performance swim-wear away from the track or the pool. And those of us with quite imperfect bodies should praise God for clothes, so that the remainder of the world does not need mind bleach.
And it is not merely sexuality: but that is where the battle is being fought at the moment. The Church is being asked to compromise and become heretical. This happens slowly, as Pat Archibold notes:
Immoral practice is clearly condemned and anathematized. The eternal salvation of souls is at stake. Some people still do it, but they are understood to be sinners and sometimes socially ostracized.
Stage 2.
Immoral practice is still clearly condemned but nobody really talks about it. More people do it, but not considered ideal.
Stage 3.
Immoral practice is formally condemned, but such condemnation is rarely taught. Many more people do it, it is just the way life is sometimes.
Stage 4.
Immoral practice is still formally condemned, but most clergy look the other way and some even encourage it. Most people do it, what is the big deal?
Stage 5.
Immoral practice is still formally condemned, but we must find a way to act pastorally toward all those who engage in practice. Church is seen to be unnecessarily hurting those with its outdated intolerance. To be more pastoral, we encourage more of the immoral practice because our growth has taught us that people’s feelings are more important than their souls.
Stage 6.
Immoral practice is still immoral, but those charged with the care of souls and safeguarding the truth say things like “that ship has sailed” or “not that important” or “not relevant” or “we are not obsessed with such matters” or “we need to encounter people where they are” or ultimately “the sensus fidelium has spoken.” Those who don’t do it are considered obsessed wild-eyed intolerant freaks who are ultimately harming the Church’s outreach.
Stage 7.
Immoral practice is still immoral and Church still formally condemns it, but the ubiquitous immoral practice has spawned worse ones, so we now have bigger fish to fry. Congratulations! You have a full-blown heresy!!
I should add that we have as many problems with our finances, our sense of entitlement, our belief that we should not work: the seven sins the Romans call deadly do exist and they do entrap us. It is part of the duty of the church to discuss what we are doing wrong and what we are doing right. We meet to encourage each other to do good and not give up.
And we have a high priest, Christ, who died for our sins, and understands the dynamics of temptation.
So let us go with confidence to Kirk. Let us praise God. And today, let us walk in the light, Love God, and our neighbor.
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The photo was taken in 2009 in Florence, at a time when only the street cleaners and jet lagged tourists were up, using a wide angle extension on a small camera: hence the distortion.
