“But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it.” – Wisdom 2: 24
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned –“ – Romans 5:12
What does the devil have to be envious of from us? He is an immortal angel so much above us. But God shared with man something we did not share with the angels. God shared creation with man. We co-create with God new life. God gives the flesh an immortal soul so man, woman, and God create new immortal souls. Husband, wife, and child share the same type of connection as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Angels are created through the same love we are and share love but do not have the type of special union a sacramental marriage has.
The devil is envious of this. So much so that he rebelled from God and fell from grace. Now he spends eternity trying to destroy that which God created and he was not part of. He has attacked God’s creation at every level. Contraception gets us to walk away from our special gift of procreation. New Saints aren’t made. Abortion gets us to murder the children that do get created. The marital act went from being about unification and procreation to being a selfish act of pleasure. Marriages have become sterile and have gone from a sacramental covenant to a contract were each person gets something from the other for a designated period of time. When each no longer get what they want the marriage dissolves and they move on to another contract with another person.
As time feminized the man the role of father was trivialized and diminished. More and more the empowered woman took on the role of both mother and father. You cannot pass on what you do not have so children became less and less formed as they grew older. The model family that God designed began to decay to a bunch of single parent households where kids are often left to fend for themselves while the sole parent works to barely pay the bills.
The family, not the individual, is the primary building block of society. As the family decayed the society quickly followed. Things that were once taboo became common place as all boundaries were pushed. There was a time where you wouldn’t see a toilet on TV and married couples slept in different beds. Today you can easily see what could be considered soft porn during family hour. We have grown numb to it. In generations past people used to court another, that is, date someone with the intention to marry. Today there are apps that allow someone to swipe left or right in order to find a stranger to hook up with for the night.
When I was a teen our video games were Pacman, Pole Position, and Super Mario Bros. The most violent they got was having an animated ape throw barrels at Luigi or Mario stomping on a turtle. Our cartoons always had a coyote getting blown up but never dying. Today nine out of ten video games involve realistic killing, stealing, or other morally questionable conduct. You can’t play for very long before you are steeped in vulgarity, even from the kids as young as eight.
We have trivialized the father, masculinized the woman, feminized the male, destroyed tradional marriage, glorified violence, made women objects of pleasure, and instilled a culture of death. We have drilled into our kids a sense of entitlement to any and everything they could possibly want, including the ability to choose a gender to identify with. Few things are off limits and then we are surprised and shocked when a person has a fit of rage and does something tragic like shoot up a school. What is the big deal? Twenty-two people were shot and killed in the city of Chicago yesterday and no one cared. Over 3500 babies were murdered through abortion on the same day. No national outrage. No candlelight vigils. No sobbing teens on the nightly news demanding someone do something to stop the senseless violence. Just 3500 Americans who have been denied a voice because they didn’t have one to cry out for help with.
America is at a crossroad. When we have a city leveled by a hurricane, a tornado, or a wildfire we don’t sit back and wring our hands and say, “Why oh why? Why us, oh why us???” Americans come together, roll up our sleeves and get to the work of rebuilding that which was lost. That is exactly what we need to do now. Rebuild.
Our society is in shambles and if we are to rebuild we need to start with the primary building block, the family. Men need to reclaim their manhood. They need to accept the job of father. We need to accept that, although man and woman are equal partners in raising the next generation, there are two distinct genders with unique and required roles that one cannot do completely for the other. This is by design from a loving God or evolution. Take your pick. I am Christian so I recognize that God has designed us and without him we fail. If you are an atheist who believes strictly in evolution and you get to the same point so be it.
Pope Paul VI said four things would happen if contraception use became wide spread:
1: There would be an increase to marital infidelity.
Marriage has gone from a lifetime covenant to a limited time contract. Husbands and wives can easily cheat on each other without fear of pregnancy. Divorce among first time couples is well over fifty percent. We have entered an age where people care more about the hook-up, even with a complete stranger, than finding a spouse they will be with forever. It is rare for kids these days to graduate high school in an intact, non-blended family.
2: There would be a general lowering of moral standards.
We live at a time when moral relativism rules the day. Few believe there is one standard given to us from above for all to follow. The question no longer is, “Is that moral?” The question now is, “Am I good (by my standards)” Things like cheating and lying are no longer viewed as wrong but as expected. I am going to cheat on this test. If you catch me you can’t do anything about it. Everyone does it so it must be ok.
3: There would be a loss of respect for women.
All you have to do to see this is listen to just about any rap song. Pornography addiction is epidemic, even among women and girls. Girls as young as eight are sending naked pictures of themselves through social media. Now we have had a flood of women in Hollywierd who have come out with stories of abuse. Women who aspire to traditional roles like motherhood are often chastised and attacked even by those women who claim to be fighting for the betterment of women.
4: Governments would use contraception to forcibly intervene in citizens’ sexual relationships.
This is easier to see in places like China, India, or Japan where people are punished, forcibly sterilized, and sometimes even executed for violating the country’s child birth policies. Luckily we have not had these types of things happen in the United States, yet.
For an old, white, celibate, Italian man I think he pretty much hit the nail on the head. Hopefully it is not too late to reverse the damage that has been done but it will take everyone to embrace life to counter the culture of death that has destroyed our culture. We cannot do this secretly in the privacy of our own homes. We must become a living witness to the truth and stand up for life wherever it is threatened or robbed. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into believing the lie that death is better than a low standard life. One of those is permanent. There is always hope that the other can improve.
If we want to end the culture of death we have to embrace life from conception to natural death and restore the dignity that is due to every person.
