November, 9 2014: Contracepting Beauty
The beauty of man for woman is not found primarily in thrashing limbs and ecstatic release. First and foremost, sexual love is beautiful because of its fruit, the gift of children. When we separate sex from openness to new life, we risk making idols of sensual pleasure and our own goals. We also lay a faulty foundation on which more exotic sexual liberties seek to stand.
Have you ever wondered why we as a nation have been so powerless to combat ‘gay marriage’? Behind closed doors, most Americans would admit they have a problem with it: we know instinctively that marriage requires a bride and a bridegroom. Yet we stammer to make a case for traditional marriage because we know that the heart of marriage—children—has been rendered optional in today’s unions.
That ‘option’ is the bitter result of various judicial actions, beginning in the 1920’s, which legalized contraception. The latter is the base on which ‘gay marriage’ is built. How so? Without openness to life, sexual love becomes merely about the pleasure two people feel in sharing their bodies with each other. Sex devolves into an end in itself. In God’s design, transmission of new life is the primary (but not the only) aim of sexual love.
Contraception took on a whole new meaning in the 1960’s with a renewed commitment to taking authority over our own bodies. We insisted on autonomy—our right to do what we wanted with them. The pill revolutionized ‘family planning’ and liberated extramarital sex. Even without the pill, judicial decisions made abortion legal so we could destroy the fruit of sex. Judicial actions favored the right of the individual to do whatever (s)he wanted with his or her body. Sexual pleasure trumped all other concerns.
‘Gay rights’ emerged out of this national cry for sexual autonomy and pleasure. Having removed children from the sexual equation, we soon found that we had no authority to insist that only male/female couplings had moral value, sexually-speaking. If pleasure, not children, was the bottom line for sex then why not same-gender unions? Finally, why not ‘gay marriage’?
If Jim and Jean can have contracepted sex in order to enjoy their ‘quality of life’ then how can we deny Jim and John’s version of life together?
Sexual love must give an answer for itself. It is not mostly about fireworks. It is about openness to the beautiful and arduous work of making a way for new lives.
Contraception is the fault-line on which ‘gay marriage’ arises.
Beauty contracepted. Our hope lies in repentance to Jesus from the ground up.
Please join us as we pray for:
Rocky Mountain Region, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Cindy Del Hierro – Coordinator: For strength and vision for Cindy, for existing groups in the region and for new groups to be established.
Ministries of Pastoral Care (ministriesofpastoralcare.com): For the international schools, October 18-22, near Munich, Germany and February 22-28, Auckland, New Zealand.
COR Project: For financial provision and creative inspiration and fortitude for Christopher West.
“Courage for Reverend Justin Welby (Archbishop of Canterbury), that he would ensure that the Church becomes a clear fountain of transformation for persons with same-sex attraction!”
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