Freedom Does Not Imply the Negation of Limits

Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France, writes in the current issue First Things about “homosexual marriage” as a “Trojan horse” which will be used to “deny natural sexuality” and “erase sexual differences.” Here’s his conclusion:

I am one of those who believe that a human being is not an autonomous construction with no given structure, order, status, or role. I believe that the affirmation of freedom does not imply the negation of limits and that the affirmation of equality does not imply the leveling of differences. I believe that the powers of technology and of the imagination do not require that we forget that being is a gift, that life is prior to all of us, and that it has its own laws.
I long for a society in which modernity would have its full place but without implying the denial of elementary principles of human and familial ecology; for a society in which the diversity of ways of being, of living, and of desiring is accepted as fortunate, without allowing this diversity to be diluted in the reduction to the lowest common denominator, which effaces all differentiation; for a society in which, despite the technological deployment of virtual realities and the free play of critical intelligence, the simplest words—father, mother, spouse, parents—retain their meaning, at once symbolic and embodied; for a society in which children are welcomed and find their place, their whole place, without becoming objects that must be possessed at all costs, or pawns in a power struggle.
I long for a society in which the extraordinary dynamic that is at work in the encounter between a man and a woman continues to be established, under a specific name.

Read the whole article.

- See more at: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2013/03/02/freedom-does-not-imply-the-negation-of-limits/#sthash.7nsxzsBv.dpuf

Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France, writes in the current issue First Things about “homosexual marriage” as a “Trojan horse” which will be used to “deny natural sexuality” and “erase sexual differences.” Here’s his conclusion:

I am one of those who believe that a human being is not an autonomous construction with no given structure, order, status, or role. I believe that the affirmation of freedom does not imply the negation of limits and that the affirmation of equality does not imply the leveling of differences. I believe that the powers of technology and of the imagination do not require that we forget that being is a gift, that life is prior to all of us, and that it has its own laws.

 

I long for a society in which modernity would have its full place but without implying the denial of elementary principles of human and familial ecology; for a society in which the diversity of ways of being, of living, and of desiring is accepted as fortunate, without allowing this diversity to be diluted in the reduction to the lowest common denominator, which effaces all differentiation; for a society in which, despite the technological deployment of virtual realities and the free play of critical intelligence, the simplest words—father, mother, spouse, parents—retain their meaning, at once symbolic and embodied; for a society in which children are welcomed and find their place, their whole place, without becoming objects that must be possessed at all costs, or pawns in a power struggle.

 

I long for a society in which the extraordinary dynamic that is at work in the encounter between a man and a woman continues to be established, under a specific name.

Read the whole article.     HT: Gospel Coalition

Lloyd-Jones Saw It Coming

Here's an audio clip well worth listening to—especially in light of our recent posts about BioLogos and the growing pressure to abandon the biblical account of creation in favor of an evolutionary narrative:

"The Narrow Way" (1st 10 minutes)

The sermon is from a series delivered by the Doctor in Pensacola in 1969. The whole series is downloadable for free, courtesy of The Martyn-Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust (a ministry worthy of your prayers and financial support).

In the above excerpt, Lloyd-Jones is decrying the church's inordinate fear of being called "narrow." This anxiety is exacerbated in our generation, he says, because modernity has tainted our worldview. We are too easily intimidated by the feigned authority of so-called men of knowledge. The result, Lloyd-Jones says, is an unwarranted capitulation to the authority of science (falsely so called). Here's a partial transcript to whet your appetite:

The Christian church in her utter folly during this present century has been recognizing a new authority. And the new authority of course is the man of knowledge, the man of culture, and particularly the man of scientific knowledge. And the church has been at great pains to do everything she can to please this new authority.

This man of learning must never be offended. And in order to please him and duplicate him, the church has been ready to take things out of the Bible. She rejects and throws out the whole of the first three chapters of Genesis, much of the other history, throws out all the miracles . . . She'll throw out anything in order to make her message pleasing and acceptable to this new authority—the man of knowledge, the man of learning, the man of science.

—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

HT: Pyromaniac

Is “Ever After” Just Too Long? Marriage and Modernity

The breakup of the Gores caught attention at least in part because it came after four decades of marriage. This couple had endured the climactic highs and terrifying lows of political life. They had spent virtually their entire adult lives together. They had leaned on each other as they experienced the near death of their son, Albert Gore III, as a boy. They had been the stalwartly married couple standing alongside the humiliated Clintons. They had forged a new life after Al Gore’s loss in the 2000 presidential race. Al had gone on to win the Nobel Peace Prize and became the most visible celebrity face for the campaign against climate change.

But now, after spending forty years together, raising their family, and surviving political life at the heights, they announced that their lives had been moving apart and their mutual decision was to forge their futures apart from each other. Read the rest HERE