The old saying of "do as I say, not as I do" seems to perfectly fit the principle of Roman-Catholic Priesthood, as well as that of higher echelons of Eastern-Orthodoxy. On the one hand the Good Books proclaims:
On top of that, organized Christianity teaches that people have been placed on Earth for the purpose of worshiping God. The more we multiply, the more glory we give to the Lord. I will not argue the validity of this claim. Though I do want to draw attention to the fact that by failing to multiply, priests unarguably go against the command of the God they tell us that they represent on Earth.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:28)
I believe there are several purposes as to why people have been placed on earth, not just for a sole purpose of worshiping God. If you made this statement for the sake of your argument, I understand.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, God stating "Be fruitful, and multiply..etc" does not imply and/or convey a command from God that everyone has to conceive children or be involved in conceiving children. Not everyone has the ability to conceive, through no fault of their own. I could go on, but I think you'll be able to figure this out on your own.
In the future, you might want to think things through before you spew more nonsense out onto your blog.
Thank you for being the first to comment on my blog, Mike. I do not have the truth, I only seek it.
DeleteAs far as your statement: "In the future, you might want to think things through before you spew more nonsense out onto your blog." Well, that just, like, your opinion, man. I like to reason, and as nonsense is the opposite of reason, I make sure to stay away from it. If you re-read the post, you will see that I have framed my argument within a narrow scope: that of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Priesthood and organized Christianity. Now, when you say: "Not everyone has the ability to conceive, through no fault of their own," I think you go beyond the scope of the argument, since men do not become priests as a result of being unable to have children. Though we have no statistical proof, we can safely assume that many priests have the capability produce offspring. Furthermore, in Easter Orthodoxy, a priest can marry and have children, but, if he is to be promoted to Bishop and onward, he must separate from him wife (and children). At the same time, divorce is an abomination, according to the church. I have trouble reconciling those discrepancies.
"Within a century of the Great Schism of 1054, the Churches of the East and West arrived at different disciplines as to abstaining from sexual contact during marriage. In the East, candidates for the Priesthood could be married with permission to have regular sexual relations with their wives, but were required to abstain before celebrating the Eucharist. An unmarried person, once ordained, could not marry. Additionally, the Christian East required that, before becoming a bishop, a priest separate from his wife (she was permitted to object), with her typically becoming a nun. In the East, more normally, bishops are chosen from those priests who are monks and are thus unmarried.
In the West, the law of celibacy became mandatory by Pope Gregory VII at the Roman Synod of 1074. [27][28] This law mandated that, in order to become a candidate for ordination, a man could not be married. The law remains in effect in the West, although not for those who are Eastern Rite Catholic clergy, who remain under the ancient Eastern discipline of sexual abstinence before celebration of the Liturgy, as do Eastern Orthodox priests. The issue of mandatory celibacy continues to be debated, though successive popes have declared that the discipline will not change." (source: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qu-D54cVNecJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priesthood_%28Catholic_Church%29+wikipedia+why+can%27t+catholic+priest+marry&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a)
Both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Church banned marriage for its clergy in order to prevent church property from getting divided up among their offspring, thereby relinquishing the church from its considerable riches. The decision was made not to uphold the Glory of God, but that of the church.
If being fruitful isn't such a big deal, then why all the hoopla about contraception?
Finally, I've tried many different denominations and read a few books to try to capture the Christian point on the purpose of life, and they all come to the same conclusion: that God created the Universe for his own glory.
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Please note that this is just an argument, as in: a discussion in which reasons are put forward in support of and against a proposition, proposal, or case.