Who’s Rules Anyway?

I must confess that I was inspired by the election of Pope Francis. His words and actions seem to embody Jesus Christ and his humility is refreshing from a former “prince” of the church. Even though I am not Roman Catholic, and have no intention of ever crossing the Tiber to become one, I think Francis will be a blessing to all Christians worldwide, including Anglicans.

Due to the nature of Francis’ elevation and the historic resignation of his predecessor, the politics and intrigue of the papal selection were unusually heightened. Since Benedict abdicated instead of dying, as every pope for the last 600 years has done, the pundits and propagandists had a field day for over a month. Their wagging tongues and sharp pencils generally attacked the Roman Catholic Church with their version of what ails the church and how to fix it. Most of the media focused on how out of date the church was and how it must modernize and join the rest of us in the 21^st century. The two main issues were gay marriage and the ordination of women. From their perch in the cheap seats next to Bob Uecker, without the church getting on-board with these progressive issues, it was destined to be cast on the dung heap of irrelevancy. It appears that the church did not cave into the hysterics and has chosen a man who will uphold the orthodoxy and doctrines of the church.

Watching all of this as an interested bystander was fascinating. It raised several matters which got my attention. Thus, I have entitled this article, “Who’s Rules Anyway?” There are so many implications on so many levels but I will just explore a couple.

The one I had the most trouble with was the gay marriage issue. The teaching of the church has remained constant on this subject for over 2000 years. This does not include the Old Testament which begins at creation with one man and women. What makes this juicy is that by redefining marriage as society or a small minority of that society dictates makes people believe they can improve on what God has instituted. How arrogant for the creatures to tell the creator how things ought to be! That would be like Pinocchio telling Geppetto what he should do, how he should act. It is hard to imagine how in the world people can think they can tell God how to act and what to bless.

The first argument that is always raised concerns love. If God is love they suggest, he would want me to be able to marry the person I love. We tend to think that there are no boundaries or restraints on who we love, how we love or what we can love. Even without exploring the implications of this slippery slope, it is not hard to see how far this mutation can lead us away from God. God’s love is so much higher, purer and perfect than human love (or lust). God just doesn’t love, he is love. It is not an action he engages in it is his who and what he is. God is pure unadulterated love. Who knows more about love than the One who is love? Our fallen humanity can never have a concept of God’s true love.

Same sex marriage is also a life issue. God, who is the author of life, has proscribed relationships that foster life. This is more than just about pre-creation, it’s about health.  It is hard to deny the statistical fact that gay men live, on average, 12 years less than their heterosexual counterparts. Women average about ten years less. There is also a higher chance of suicide, drug abuse, depression and other physical and mental ailments associated with same sex desire. How can society encourage a life style that is so evidently pro-death? The God who created all life, who raised Jesus Christ back to life, is anything but pro-death. He is decidedly anti-death. He is pro-life! It is hard to imagine him, under any circumstances, supporting any institution that leads to premature death. When Jesus said that he came that we might have life and have it abundantly, I am fairly certain he had in mind a quantity and quality that is diametrically opposed to this. True love supports life, not destroys it.

Many supporters of same sex marriage will claim that this is a social justice issue. You will hear them whine, “If heterosexuals can, why can’t we?” At this point answering, “Because God said so,” offers little solace or help. That answer just does not sit well with them. Like little children they feel they are being denied or cheated because they do not get what they want. Good parenting requires saying “no” quite often, especially when it is in the best interest of the child. When I was young – and I must admit I still want this today – I wanted to eat candy for all of my meals. I think God allowed Reese’s Cup to be invented to tempt me beyond what I can handle! But, then as now, a steady diet of those delicious peanut butter cups would do great damage to my health. I would not be getting the proper nutrients my body required and the sugar alone would rot my teeth. Sometimes a “no” means love. Love means saying no and not indulging whims just because the child feels they are getting a raw deal. Here again, who is more just than God Almighty? He invented the principle and the practice and instituted the action.

The church inspires strong loyalties and those can be tough to overcome. During the pre-papal election coverage, I heard a lot of people spewing about “their” church. These people forget that the church is a voluntary institution and they are free to belong or not to belong. I think it really is the height of arrogance to try to tell something as big and as old as the Roman Catholic Church how she should act. In my wildest imagination, I would never think to the join the Rotary Club and try to tell them what they should be doing and why. That is the definition of the tail wagging the dog. What I would do is try to find a group whose principles and ideals I agree with and join them. Instead of constantly rowing against the rest of the boat, I would be rowing with them and making more of an impact in the process. If the Roman Catholic Church does not meet your expectations, find a church that will. (This goes for any church or denomination.) I realize this opens up a whole other can of worms about “true” churches etc. but we will save that for a later date. Freedom of association also means freedom from association.

These are just a couple of observations from the papal election. I dare say they are unique to the Roman Catholic Church or to me. There are many tails out there trying to wag the dog. The biggest dog of all is God. The distortion of reality is huge. The presumption is overwhelming. God is God because he is God. He has instituted desirable behavior for his creatures. Throughout history, we have perverted God’s pattern. We have revised Psalm 100:3. The verse states: “It is he who made us and not we ourselves.” We have made it much more palatable: "It is we who have made him and not he himself.” Both versions have implications for the way we live. The only question is, “Who’s rules anyway?”