The Wages of Sin

This past week the liturgical calendar called for reading chapters 6 thru 8 of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans on the subject of sin and redemption.  Like every human person, St. Paul struggled with sin:

“I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.
The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.
For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.
For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self,
but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind,
taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Miserable one that I am!  Who will deliver me from this mortal body?” (Rom 7:18-20, 22-24)

Every one of us struggles with sin.  Our mortal bodies crave many things: pleasure, gratification, power, comfort, convenience, security, and occasionally retribution or revenge.  In the heat of the moment we think these things will bring us happiness and satisfaction, but instead they only result in fueling our desire, sometimes to the point of becoming habitual or even obsessive.  We may think we are exercising freedom when they make selfish choices, but in reality we are becoming enslaved by sin.  Again, St. Paul: “But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” (Rom 6:21)

St. Paul warns us that, “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23)  This is no exaggeration.  We rationalize that our actions are harmless as long as no one gets hurt, or when they are done in private, but we are wrong.  Everything we do, matters.   Our actions define our character and our manner of thinking.  For example, pornography is considered a victimless crime, but it demeans the dignity of another person, reducing them nothing more than an object for self-gratification.   The guy from Cleveland (Raul Castro) who enslaved three women for years, claimed that he watched so much pornography, his desires were uncontrollable.  While this may be an extreme case, every time we put our bodily desires ahead of respect for the dignity of another person, we sin.  The reason the Catholic Church is opposed to contraception and sterilization is that they separate sex from the responsibility for controlling our sexual appetites, making us selfishly think we are entitled to unlimited gratification, on demand.  This kind of thinking destroys relationships, not just because it may lead to sexual infidelity, but because of the self-centered mindset it engenders.  Self-centeredness is at the heart of many, if not all broken relationships, including marriages.  God has given us the wonderful gift of sexuality as a means of bonding a man and women together in permanent relationship, and empowering us to participate in the creation of new life.  But when sex is turned into a plaything, and an assumed entitlement, regardless of our marital status, it is demeaned and perverted.  This is why sex outside of marriage is sinful.  It also results in death: the death of unborn children; death caused by AIDS; and death by many forms of cancer, some of which can only be transmitted by sexual contact with multiple partners.   Promoting contraception and abortion is not “women’s health,” it is quite the opposite.  Birth control drugs are class A carcinogens, and there is a very well-documented link between the early use of birth control by teens and breast cancer.  Even greater is the risk of breast cancer among women who have had abortions.   This is the real “war on women,” and it is being launched, funded, and now mandated by our federal government.  Despite an Executive Order promising no tax dollars would be used to fund abortion, every new Health Insurance Exchange plan must provide coverage for both contraception and abortion, including plans subsidized with federal tax dollars.  This doesn’t’ even count the $360 million given each year to Planned Parenthood, or the millions given to the UN Population Council for the purpose of funding “women’s health.”

It seems to me that our country is now in the business of promoting sinful activity, and the result is the culture of death that now pervades our society.  Not only have 40 million souls been sacrificed by abortion, the incidence of breast and cervical cancer has skyrocketed, and the basic unit of civilized society, the family, has been devastated.  Forty per cent of children (those who survive the threat of abortion), are born to single mothers, and 50% of marriages end in divorce, all because we have come to believe that we are entitled to personal happiness at any cost. 

How can we ever find our way out of this mess?  The answer lies in Sunday’s gospel in which Jesus gives us the parable to two people praying in the temple. One, a Pharisee, thanked God that he was better than everyone else, and the second was a penitent sinner who repeatedly said, “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  (Luke 18:13)   If we persist in thinking we are better than others, and entitled to happiness, we are doomed as individuals and as a nation.  But if we acknowledge our sinfulness and humbly beg God for mercy, we will be rewarded with eternal life.  What could possibly be more important than that?

Trusting in God and Praying for Leadership

 

Today’s gospel about the widow and the judge is a lesson about the importance of trusting in God.  He will always give us what we need, even if it’s not exactly what we want in the moment.  As a conservative Catholic, I have to admit that I’ve been quite frustrated lately with the way things are going in our country and praying for better.  I hope and pray that our nation will eventually return to its Christian heritage and values, and that we will someday elect leaders with the courage to restore our nation’s culture to one that promotes and rewards leading a virtuous life, rather than imposing a culture of death which is destroying the vitality of our nation. 

We are witnessing a complete failure of leadership among our elected officials.  All the talk and news about the government shutdown has drowned out any candid or serious discussion about the very real problems we face as a country.  The federal budget, the debt-ceiling, and the failure of Obamacare to launch successfully, are merely symptoms of a much greater problem facing the nation.  Our national debt now exceeds our entire national economy, and the unfunded liability for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is approaching $100 Trillion (with a “T”), but you’d think the world was coming to an end because we shut down less than 20% of government spending for a couple weeks, and the national parks were closed temporarily.

When Senator Ted Cruz stood up to address the serious underlying problems our nation faces, even the members of his own party abandoned him, knowing that it is political suicide to discuss the changes we will have to make if we are ever to live within our means.  When I think of the top leaders of our federal government, (the President, the Senate Majority leader, and the Speaker of the House), I’m reminded of the three monkeys with their hands over their eyes, ears, and mouth: See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.  None of them are willing to admit that we are in the midst of a huge crisis, much less propose realistic solutions because it would require significant and unpopular change.  Of course the media was quick to assign blame for all this, and most of the criticism was leveled at Senator Cruz and the Republicans, as if telling the truth about our nation’s problems is loathsome.   I have to admit, I’m angry at the Republicans too, not because they “shut down the government,” but rather, because they are so timid and afraid to act, preferring instead to cave in to political pressure.  If every Republican had the courage of Ted Cruz and a few others, we’d have a pretty good chance of addressing the real problems we face, instead of giving in to a President who refuses to work with Congress unless they accept his every demand. 

Today’s scripture is a refreshing reminder that faith in God is far more important than whatever crises we and our nation may face.  Despite my frustration with our political leadership, I have to remind myself that God will indeed answer my prayers for our country.  Fortunately, there are modern prophets among us, calling us back to the word of God, and reminding us that we are more than just materialistic bodies.  One such modern prophet getting a lot of attention lately, even in the secular press, is our new pope, Francis.  He has been surprising everyone with his message and example of simplicity, faith, and love.  Hardly a week goes by without the national news carrying a story about Pope Francis.  They seem almost giddy with excitement that the new pope might “modernize” the church, inferring that Catholic teaching is out of touch with modern reality, especially with regard to women’s issues, marriage and the priesthood.  They don’t seem to realize that Pope Francis is thoroughly Catholic and has a long history of upholding and defending the Church’s positions on abortion, marriage, and the priesthood.  What I find exciting about this is that the new pope is drawing attention to the values and traditions of the Church, attracting people to consider what the Church has to say about the life issues.  He is bringing attention to the New Evangelization already underway, and presenting it as new and exciting, at a time when the Culture of Death seems to have most of the Western world firmly in its grip.  Pope Francis’ simplicity, as evidenced by his humble lifestyle and down-to-earth language, are endearing him to the world, both Catholic and otherwise. 

In the midst of so much turmoil in the world and in our country, the pope’s message of faith, hope and charity is not only refreshing and invigorating, it is also attractive to many who are badly in need of some good news.  Perhaps he is the answer to my prayers, engaging the world in such a way as to point out the evils of the culture of death, and the dangers of an over-reaching government that imposes its values on people, forcing them to violate their religious beliefs, while accumulating mountains of debt to be handed down to future generations.  Thank God for Pope Francis, and for the hope that he brings to our troubled world.

Jonah and the Leviathan

Throughout the course of this week, the first daily scripture reading is the familiar story about Jonah, the reluctant prophet.  Despite his attempt to avoid his call as a prophet, and even though Jonah thought he was on a fool’s errand, the people of Nineveh responded quickly to the word of God, repented, and reformed their ways immediately.  The wonderful Veggie Tales cartoon series produced a parody of this story in which the people of Nineveh were slapping each other with fish, until Jonah arrives and tells them to knock it off.  In the Veggie Tale version, the people were hurting themselves and constantly in a state of agitation until Jonah pointed out the error of their ways.

Aren’t we all like the people of Nineveh, hurting ourselves and each other by our selfish pursuits?  We excuse our failings by claiming that “we are only human.” Of course it’s true that we’re all sinners, but our humanity is much more than just our material bodies and pursuits.   We are also spiritual beings, capable of responding to God’s offer of salvation and able to live virtuous lives.  Recognition that humanity is flawed produces a variety of responses.   Many well-intended liberals seem to think that the best solution for addressing humanity’s weaknesses is to set up a large bureaucracy that regulates every human activity in order to protect people from their own mistakes and self-destructive tendencies.  This political philosophy has been around for centuries, having been articulated in detail by the 17^th century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes in his monumental work, The Leviathan.  In it Hobbes lays out a detailed argument for a large central government (the Leviathan) with absolute authority to ensure peace and tranquility.   He views this as necessary because of his materialistic view of human nature, which he considers to be inherently violent, motivated by fear, and resulting in people constantly at war with one another. 

The word leviathan is derived from Greek and it means “sea monster.”  It is the very same word used in the bible for the creature that swallowed Jonah when he was thrown overboard at sea, then spewed ashore at Nineveh.  The Ninevites were indeed at war with one another (not fish-slapping, but something akin to it), and in need of change before their society self-destructed.  One of the lessons to be taken from the Book of Jonah is that people can overcome their sinfulness and learn to live in peace.  It is not necessary for a huge central government to assert control over every aspect of our lives.  People are quite capable of living in peace if they accept the love of God and work to acquire virtue, rather than give in to the temptations of their humanity.  Hobbes denied religious belief as false and useless.  It seems that our own government has adopted Hobbesian principles, churning out thousands upon thousands of pages of new regulations, including many that violate individual sovereignty by requiring people to violate their centuries-old religious beliefs.  Like Hobbes, our government seems to regard religious belief as an impediment to peace and happiness, accusing people of being religious extremists for opposing abortion, and gay marriage.

Last week, the federal government filed yet another lawsuit against Hobby Lobby, appealing the decision by an appeals court which overturned an earlier decision that would have levied fines of over $1.5 million PER DAY on the owners of Hobby Lobby, for refusing to provide insurance coverage for chemical abortions and surgical sterilization.   This case appears destined for the Supreme Court, but is only one of hundreds of similar lawsuits filed by companies facing similar penalties ($100 per employee per day), if they fail to comply with the new HHS mandates.  Our government has become a leviathan, imposing endless regulations, even to the extent of requiring religious communities who run nursing homes and hospitals, to violate their religious beliefs.  Are we all to be consumed by this leviathan, like Jonah?  Or will we reclaim our belief in the principles of Christianity which encourage us to self-regulate through the acquisition and exercise of virtues?  Obamacare is only the latest manifestation of the leviathan that has become our federal government.

The current political debate over de-funding Obamacare is about a lot more than just money and political posturing.  While the press continues to portray the government shutdown as a disaster for Americans, there is never any mention of the many reasons why conservatives believe Obamacare is bad for America.  Here are just a few reasons why it should not be funded:

1.      It is inherently flawed as an insurance mechanism and is therefore unsustainable without massive infusions of money.

2.      It has already depressed our economy by discouraging employers from hiring full time employees.

3.      It has already increased the cost of healthcare and health insurance substantially, and this will get much worse over time because of number one above.

4.      It will add trillions of dollars to our already out of control national debt.

5.      It gives the government unprecedented control over healthcare decisions, in the name of improving efficiency.

6.      It empowers the federal government to force people to violate their religious beliefs - a clear violation of the First Amendment.

There are many more reasons to defund Obamacare, too many to cite here, but of course relatively few people will ever hear about these details.  It's hard to see clearly when you're in the belly of a whale.