Defining Me

Jen over at Conversion Diary is full of great ideas for us bloggers to get known, so welcome to all who travelled here from her "defining blog post" post. Let me know what you think of my vaguely organized pile of me.

Response to Friend Two

Friend Two from Facebook, "Actually, now that we're steaming ahead on this discussion, let me pose the matter in another light as I'm curious for your view from this angle: For a moment, divorce the parenting issue from the gay marriage issue. Not all couples (straight or gay) want to be parents. For many couples, marriage is a commitment to each other that basically acknowledges that "now it's harder to walk away, so we will work together to make this work," you know, the whole richer-or-poorer bit. This is a commitment to each partner, and is not directly related to God's view or consent. I'm talking marriage as a social matter, not a religious one. Consider also the fact that making/keeping gay marriage illegal or illegitimate doesn't make "gayness" go away. It just doesn't.

So, for gay couples that would be gay whether they can be married or not, and who don't want kids, answer this: What's the harm? Why not let them commit to each other the same way straight couples do?"

My response is that I have never brought God into any of my arguments so far, so I will gladly leave Him to defend Himself. The marriage commitment as you describe does not exist. Due to no-fault divorce, marriage means almost nothing in legal terms. It is currently easier to legally break a marriage contract than it is to break a bicycle warranty. The social approval of childless marriages only dates back to about the 1920s and the advent of feminism and mass produced contraception. The social and legal benefits of marriage were designed to create a family, not to allow two people to be DINKs.

I never claimed that "gayness" would go away. We still have thieves, even though there are laws against stealing. We still have drunkenness, even though there are an assortment of preventative laws. Laws enforce social norms and teach what is acceptable and not for a civilized society. The anti-social behavior is wrong, regardless of whether the law prohibits it.

Marriage is about love and sex. Sex is about procreation and love, even Freud agrees. The two can not be separated any more than nutrition and pleasure can be separated from eating. If they are separated, the act is perverted, much as bulimia perverts eating.

"What's the harm?" is not a sufficient argument to overthrow hundreds of years of social custom and the only stable arrangement to raise the next generation. The harm is that a counterfeit is passed as the real thing. Two men can not express love the way a man and a woman can. It is a lie that men and women are interchangeable. The love of a man and a woman is fruitful; the love of two men or two women is sterile (I also maintain that contracepted sex is a lie, even in marriage).

I counter with a question. What's the harm in allowing a brother and sister to marry if they are not going to have kids?

My Health Business

I really thought that real estate investing was going to be the path for me, but I am so thankful that I chose a nutrition business. With results like these, we are doing our part to improve health care.

Unconstitutional

I suppose that I have diverted far afield of the Natural Family Life, but there won't be much of a natural family left if this unconstitutional power grab happens.

What I'm up to

Ok, three unrelated items to record for posterity:

I just watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog on Hulu. I think I adored it.

John C. Wright wrote a thorough explanation of non-religious arguments against homosexuality. I haven't read it all but I plan to.

With great sadness, I witness the end of Chocolate for Your Brain. May SherryTex move on towards more inspiration and sell a book sometime soon.

Beating around the Bushel

A book review of The GEO Principle by Tom Bengtson

I purchased this book after hearing the author speak about God in the workplace at a CCL Convention. As a budding entrepreneur, I've been striving for more meaning in my work than pushing papers across my desk and climbing the ladder at the expense of time with my family. I have been working, rather poorly, to incorporate God into my work life with various levels of success over the last 9 years of my career and this book is an excellent summary of many of the points that I discovered on that journey. It didn't offer any dazzling insight but it was a confidence boost that I'm on the right path. Most importantly for my development, it contains a list of actions and suggested readings which is very helpful. In the "self-improvement" and "career development" sections of my bookstore it is often difficult to separate the gold from the dross, so I tremendously appreciate a listing of books which do not insult my morals or my religion. I wish I had been handed this book at my college graduation; I might have saved much time and improved my faith by removing the bushel from my candle more often.

Head of the House

Jennifer at Conversion Diary has a great take on the whole "man as the head of the household" issue. It is great, of course, since it generally matches my own opinions and understanding of the issue. I am constantly amazed at the sparks that this issue brings up, even among people who are faithful to the teachings of the Church. I have to say that people of the more common, "everyone is exactly equal" opinion have ceased to amazed me and earn only the nod and smile response. I always feel they are just parroting back some idea that they have never actually processed like a kid in class who is just saying what the teacher expects.

Feisty old people

Man, I love the elderly. They totally rock. It's gonna be a great mid-term election.

Looks like Specter's gonna have great luck on the other side.

Marky Mark

The Catholic Church scores another Big Hit with the sacramental marriage of Mark Wahlberg.

Since it was Roman Catholic, it must have been an Italian Job!

A Healthy Business

I admit that this whole Reliv thing had gotten shoved to the back burner and almost forgotten about with the arrival of my son and preparing my house for the market. It's amazing how when I need a sign to continue, God provides one. I got an e-mail from an old contact who is interesting in buying from me since her old distributor is incommunicado. I am diligently following the ethical guidelines from Reliv to ensure that she travels up her line of sponsorship to find a distributor to work with her. It's good to know that other distributors would do this for me, if the roles were reversed. It's also good in the current health care "crisis" to be providing a solution.