Just in general, his video suffers from a self-congratulatory tone.
I'm a 30-year-old, able-bodied man, well-educated man who's decided that I want nothing to do with dating, marriage, or sex. That I'd rather spend my time with the sick, poor, emotionally-burdened, and elderly, than I would with a wife and children of my own.
i) Assuming he's straight (and he's mentioned a girlfriend in his past), this statement, as it stands, is just not credible. No normal, young, able-bodied man wants nothing to do with sex. The most charitable interpretation is that he's waxing hyperbolic.
A powerful, innate, irrepressible desire for sex and female companionship is always in play. The potential is always in reserve. It's a live option. Some men leave the priesthood for women. Take the recent case of Fr. Jonathan Morris. Or Alberto Cutié.
For different reasons, some men despair of that. They've given up hope. But the instinct is not a switch you can flip on and off.
2. A more honest statement would be for Casey to say, not that he wants nothing to do with sex, but that he's made a sacrifice. His hardwired desire is overridden by a sense of duty.
3. Since he's not a husband and father, he has no basis of comparison. Suppose he was happily married with kids. Would he regret his choice?
4. Wanting to have a normal family life isn't "worldly" but godly. God made us social creatures and sexual creatures. That's built-in. That's part of our telos.
5. Casey erects a false dichotomy between having a normal family life and ministering to the sick, poor, emotionally-burdened, and elderly–as if those are mutually exclusive activities. In fact, ministry is emotionally draining, and a happy family life helps to recharge a pastor so that he can do ministry without undergoing emotional burnout. Compare that to the cliche of the "whisky priest" who can't cope with the yawning, interminable, inconsolable isolation and loneliness.
6. Casey is well-educated in the sense that he has degrees in religion, but those aren't widely marketable. It's not like he has an MBA from Harvard, but went into the Franciscan order instead of Wall Street. And while he took a vow of poverty, it's not like he's living on the street. He enjoys free room and board. The Franciscan order provides for all the necessities. That frees him up to focus on other things.
7. When you're young you have a sense of boundless opportunities. The future is wide open. You have opportunities to burn. You can blow opportunities but have to time make up for lost opportunities. As you age, opportunities dwindle.
Many men can get to a point in life where they panic because they realize they just passed the last exit on the freewill. It's too late to turn around. This is for the duration. They must now continue on this course until they die. It will be this way all the way to the end.
Casey is still too young to have that sense of life closing in on him, but that's the problem with his boastful statements. He's not at the point of life where he knows what he's talking about when he makes these back-patting, overly self-confident statements. He lacks the necessary experience. The youthful idealism may be sincere, but life can look very different at 50 than 30. There are seasoned priests who'd wince at his lack of foresight and self-understanding. It becomes costlier as time goes on.
8. He talks about his jam-packed itinerary, but busyness can be a distraction from emptiness and loneliness. A better test is how you feel when you're not preoccupied with filler to pad out what's missing in your life.
In addition to his youthful idealism, part of his rationale is his genuine conviction that Roman Church is the true Church of God on earth. That's why he's so willing to follow the dictates of his superiors. No questioned asked. Also, I wonder if some of the motivation is due to his Catholic understanding of merit. There can be a kind of self-satisfaction in one's good works which borders on self-righteousness. It's true, that Catholicism denies Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism [pace some Calvinists] and salvation by one's own strict merit works. That their Catholic works are said to be empowered by the grace of God. So that God can still get the glory, as well as we the praise for our salvation. But that's part of the problem of Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago I read Erasmus' On the Freedom of the Will [in THIS volume]. I decided to read it because I already read Luther's The Bondage of the Will around the year 1998 and Catholic theologian Harry McSorely's classic Luther: Right or Wrong? circa 2004.
I've been a former Catholic. I've been a former Armstrongite. I've also kind of been a former Wesleyan. I know the kind of strange thrill, pride and fulfillment one gets when one thinks one is living in a way that's superior to others and "merits" (in some sense) God's approval. Self-righteousness can be intoxicating and can lead us to make poor decisions. But that's why the Reformation was so necessary. To knock us off our pedestal of self-righteous pride and recognize that our salvation truly hinges on God's grace. The thing is, people who are living that way [whether Catholics, Arminians, or the many other modern Judaizers in the various Hebrew Roots Movement], no matter how well they think they are living, there's still some nagging doubt as to how well they are fulfilling God's law/requirements. Whether they are really pleasing God and escaping damnation. Which drives them to even more attempts at good works. And so they can teeter back and forth from self-righteousness on the one extreme, to feelings of unworthiness and shame & fear on the other. It's unfortunate that many modern Western Catholics don't really feel that fear of hell as was usual prior to Vatican II [and in some modern 3rd world Catholic countries today]. They don't fully grasp how their soteriology and sacramentology ought to lead to to the fears that drove Luther nearly insane before his eventual understanding of salvation by grace alone and justification by faith alone.
While I think Luther's Bondage of the Will lacks modern theological sophistication and theological distinctions which would have improved it, it can nevertheless be a real antidote against self-righteousness. It truly is, as has been said, the Reformation's 'Manifesto' regarding Sola Gratia. The same can be said about the doctrine of Sola Fide. It gives all the glory to Christ while at the same time, when properly understood, encouraging good works. This time motivated by genuine gratitude, rather than self-righteousness or [the Dominically sanctioned, but less noble motivation of] fear of damnation.
Luther's emphasis of the priesthood of all believers was so beneficial to the church. Making [to at least some degree] all of life and (licit) occupations sacred for all Christians. A housewife can change baby diapers for the glory of God, as they say.
Delete"Luther's faith was simple enough to trust that after a conscientious day's labor, a Christian father could come home and eat his sausage, drink his beer, play his flute, sing with his children, and make love to his wife–all to the glory of God!" - Luther on the Christian Home by Lazareth, 226 n. 82
"Therefore it is a perilous thing for a man to be alone. For the wise man saith, Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up (Eccles. iv. 10). Wherefore they that ordained the solitary life gave occasion for many thousands to despair. If a man should separate himself from the company of others for a day or two, to be occupied in prayer, (as we read of Christ that He went apart alone) there were no danger thereto, but when men were persuaded to live continually a solitary life, it was a device of the devil himself. For when a man is tempted, and is alone, he is not able to raise up himself."- Martin Luther, Commenary On Galatians, published by Kregel Classics in 1979, p. 197 translated by Erasmus Middleton
A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.- attributed to Francis Bacon
It has been attributed to Martin Luther's wife Katharina/Katharine that her marriage to Martin Luther would please her father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh and the devils to weep. [other sources claim it was Martin who said this]
“Next to God’s Word, there is no more precious treasure than holy matrimony. God’s highest gift on earth is a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, home-keeping wife, with whom you may live peacefully, to whom you may entrust your goods and body and life."- attributed to Martin Luther
"There is no bond on earth so sweet, nor any separation so bitter, as that which occurs in a good marriage." attributed to Katie Luther
Luis Dizon has done his first debate as a Catholic revert.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/5fIg9zN3v50
Here's my blogpost My Observations and Notes on the Debate Between Luis Dizon vs. Joshua Gibbs on Justification. Dizon debated someone who's apparently a non-Calvinist Non-Lordship Salvationist Protestant.
Thanks, I'm aware of the debate but haven't watched it. To judge by your review, I probably won't bother watching it.
DeleteLuis' opening is well organized. The first part was a historical survey. The second half dealt with the Biblical data. The debate would have been better if his opponent were a knowledgeable Calvinist. On facebook Luis read enough of my blog to agree that he should have used the 2 minutes that were left over after giving his opening statement. I'm still polishing that blogpost.
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