Sunday, July 31, 2005

Same Sex Marriage Passes In Canada



So now Canada has a new law allowing same sex "marriages" nationwide. Canadian leaders and ordinary Canadian citizens have spoken both in favor of and against this law. Yet, for some reason, the mainstream media and the proponents of these abominable laws, paint those who are in opposition to same sex "marriage", as people and organizations who are backward, bigoted, and living in the past. What this laws supporters refuse to acknowledge, is any law passed by man can never change the law of God, no matter how much it is proclaimed right and good by them.

Marriage has been, and always will be, a Sacrament in the Catholic Church. A sacrament is a formal religious act or rite conferring a specific grace on those who receive it; in the Roman Catholic Church there are seven traditional sacramental rites accepted as instituted by Jesus: baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, penance, holy orders, matrimony, and extreme unction.
In his Catholic Dictionary, the late Father John A. Hardon, S.J., wrote this about the Church teaching on marriage:
The state of marriage implies four chief conditions: 1. there must be a union of opposite sexes; it is therefore opposed to all forms of unnatural, homosexual behavior; 2. it is a permanent union until the death of either spouse; 3. it is an exclusive union, so that extramarital acts are a violation of justice; and 4. its permanence and exclusiveness are guaranteed by contract; mere living together, without mutually binding themselves to do so, is concubinage and not marriage.

Further, no matter how many laws are passed in favor of same sex "marriage", those laws are not now, nor will they ever be, recognized nor accepted as valid laws, nor true marriage neither by God's Church nor by God's people. This law, and similar laws in effect in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, are detrimental to the family, and family is important to God and His plan for mankind.
Again and again in Holy Scripture and from the Early Church Fathers, we find that marriage is between a man and a woman, and "the twain shall become one flesh". When man passes laws allowing same sex "marriage", when people participate in same sex "marriage"and when so-called churches endorse same sex "marriage", then they deny God and His law, and place themselves above God, and above God's Law. They are saying, that God does not matter and that God is not necessary nor important, that only they matter and only what they want is important.
In the end, just because morally bankrupt politicians, governments, and supporters of these laws think that making same sex "marriage" legal changes things, let me remind them...it does not change God's Law. Man may change, but, God is everlasting and God never changes. Man expects God to change for man, when time and again we are shown in Holy Scripture and through the teachings of the Church that man who is corrupt and sinful, must live the incorruption and sinlessness that is Christ Jesus, and that it is MAN who must change. Anyone who leads another into believing that these same sex "marriage" laws are just and honorable is denying what God has said, and is endangering and misleading others as well as misleading and endangering themselves.

Joshua 24:15-If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve..... As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Psalms 133:1-Behold. How good it is, how pleasant, where the people dwell as one!
Matthew 5: 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10: 6-10-But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."

How beautiful, then, the marriage of two Christians, two who are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice....They are as brother and sister, both servants of the same Master. Nothing divides them, either in flesh or in Spirit. They are in very truth, two in one flesh; and where there is but one flesh there is also but one spirit.... Hearing and seeing this, Christ rejoices. To such as these He gives His peace. Where there are two together, there also He is present, and where He is, there evil is not.(From Tertullian, an Early Church Father, to his wife 202 AD)
“…Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified!” (Epistle of Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians)

Copyright © 2005 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.
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What's The Deal With Harry Potter?



A private correspondence between the then Cardinal Ratzinger and Gabriele Kuby, a Bavarian-based Roman Catholic sociologist, has brought to light the Popes opinion on the impact of the Harry Potter phenomenon upon our youth. It seems incredible that sales of this book have sky rocketed and that children with the consent of their parents are willing to sleep overnight outside book stores so as to be the first to buy the latest episode in this 'cult' fiction.

The questions we need to ask are these: 1. Are these books dangerous to young minds? 2. Do these books promote wizardry? 3. Do they open our youth to the prospects of searching the occult as if it were a 'cool' idea which may lead them to experiment with powers over and above their maturity or ability to control? 4. In short, is 'Harry Potter' an open door way to making the occult acceptable?

What may appear as harmless can have devastating affects if children are being seduced into alternative 'religions' of the 'new age', or indeed if they begin openly experimenting with the occult i.e.,: Ouija boards, seances, casting spells, voodoo dolls and other forms of the supernatural. If this is so, then it is the responsibility of the parents to protect their children from this form of seduction whether it be in books or films.

The Popes private opinions on various issues is not binding on Catholics, but it still cannot be summarily dismissed as if it were of no consequence. Pope Benedict XVI's opinion should be taken very seriously, and though he was still Cardinal Ratzinger when he made these comments, should we as faithful Catholics disregard it? Should parents investigate what the affects these books may be having on their children? Do they know what affects these books may be having on their children, particularly, the younger children?

When The Church makes a statement or even if it is a private discourse between two people who are well respected in matters of Doctrine, when Cardinal Ratzinger who was then Prefect for the Doctrine of The Faith, and Ms. Kuby find these books to be having an adverse affect on our youth, do we casually dismiss their grounded advice in preference to what the media is espousing, as if the media had somehow become 'credible' over and above Cardinal Ratzinger?

Parents need to take a much harder look at these books which seem to promote sorcery and can lead to openly accepting the occult as valid, for young minds need to be protected against what may prove to be a disastrous influence on their Faith and their beliefs. It would be very disingenuous indeed to think that Publishing companies and Hollywood have the well being of our youth as their primary focus. Therefore it is incumbent upon every parent to investigate this 'cult' of 'Harry Potter' regardless of what the mass media, publishing companies or Hollywood espouses.

As faith filled Catholics do we take note of our erstwhile leaders when they speak out or are we listening to the liberal media, as the 'frenzy' for the latest 'Harry Potter' books hits the stands?
What say you?

Copyright © 2005 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.