Listen, churchy chumps, stop using the "natural man" argument to conveniently bolster your hobby topics such as homosexuality. A natural heterosexual man falls in love with and wants to be with women. If your logic is that everything which feels "natural" is evil, or that I am supposed to overcome any arbitrarily selected "natural" inclination in order to prove my dedication and gain glory, then let's see straight people live single and celibate their whole lives to prove their willingness to overcome the "natural man".
And I'm not just talking about those people who, despite their desire and effort, "just don't find the right person," but everyone. I'm talking about everyone choosing to be single and rejecting opportunities which seem to be real shots at happy companionship with someone who'd want to build a family with them--someone with whom they're personally, ideologically, financially, and otherwise compatible, whose values they share, whom they respect, to whom they're attracted, for whom they have more than a "Christlike" lovin' feeling--only because the potential partner is the wrong gender. Because hey, their 'natural' appetites and lusts are not sufficient to build an eternal relationship. And showing your love for and obedience to God requires the willing sacrifice of all things. Then I'll start believing they understand what they're preaching.
While we're at it, let's have mothers refrain from ever holding their babies. That's a natural impulse, and one's faithfulness is proven by showing their willingness to subdue all earthly comforts and attachments, all natural appetites, to show their dedication to eternal growth rather than earthly comforts.
That's different, you say? Good, I agree it is. Because holding your baby is a divinely appointed good? Because God hasn't spoken, through what are believed to be divinely appointed mouthpieces, against holding your babies? Because research has shown that touch deprivation is psychologically and physically harmful for babies? Well OK, then, stick to the real issue and stop browbeating with accusations of not understanding that God requires difficult things of the faithful or asserting that only the proud reject an involved, personal God. Focus on the real issue of what you believe God's will to be, and get your misguided, arbitrarily applied "natural man is an enemy to God" and "doing what's harder brings rewards" motive-demeaning fluff out of my face. It's old and stinky.
4 comments:
What a wonderful post to read at the end of the day. When midnight rolls around and I'm still awake, it's particularly gratifying to read a post that tells it straight-no minced words.
Thanks, buddy. You're my hero....
I think when the apostle Paul or King Benjamin talk about the "natural man" they are talking about things like pride, greed, envy, wrath, etc.
You know, those things that are both universal and "natural" to human beings of all genders, races and sexual orientations.
Clive, I'm glad you benefited in some way. :-)
J G-W, that's how I always looked at it, too. But then, I also believe protectiveness, generosity, sympathy, and other traits are just as natural universally. That might be naive, but so it is. I think such scripture is either meant to refer to supposedly negative "carnal" traits (as opposed to carnal--or sensation/passion-driven--traits which can be positive or negative depending on application, implementation, and accompanying motives) or is a reflection of a rather negative view of humanity on the part of the authors.
Not at all naive. Backed by contemporary ethology,
in fact.
"The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so
ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone
comparing politicians with those poor, underestimated creatures."
"I've argued that many of what philosophers call moral sentiments
can be seen in other species. In chimpanzees and other animals,
you see examples of sympathy, empathy, reciprocity, a willingness
to follow social rules. Dogs are a good example of a species that
have and obey social rules; that's why we like them so much,
even though they're large carnivores."
"To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific
taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental,
about both animals and us."
- Frans de Waal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_de_Waal
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