Ubi Crux, et Corona (Genesis 1:28)

Creation vs. Evolution : Ubi Crux, et Corona (Genesis 1:28) · Assorted retorts from yahoo boards and elsewhere : Why Concerned if Non-Religious Rebel Against Genesis 1:28? (quora)

A Copt (who should have been a Chalcedonian, but wasn't, as far as we can tell), said "where there is a Cross, there is a Crown". An Eastern Rite Marriage ceremony onvolves a Crown for both bride and bridegroom, if virgins up to marriage. So, why not use the day of Exaltation of the Cross to say a word or two of the Nashville Statement.

Nearly all is good, I read the 14 articles of affirmation and denial.

There is a difference in dignity between the sexes, and the part about women having dolourous menses and dolourous childbirth is a fruit of the fall, not of original creation. This the statement missed.

It was also less explicit than I think Chaput was in adressing the possibility of homosexuals marrying, that is of someone or some two, of opposite sex, one or two of whom experience same sex attraction, can marry and have faithful and fertile marriages, as Catholics should.

The new guidelines also address Catholics "who experience same-sex attraction." Chaput says such parishioners can still live out a heterosexual marriage with children, despite that attraction. Others in same-sex relationships should avoid sexual intimacy.

In order to explain this last sentence in the paragraph to some Evangelical readers, living a sinful life means you are not living a Christian life, but does not mean you are not a Christian, it means you are a dead Christian. A divorced and remarried person in a heterosexual couple or two men in couple or two women in couple, all of these lead non-Christian lives. They do not loose membership of the Church, and some who live like heathens die like Christians : the words indicate one of the means of preparing for a late conversion and save one's soul. Obviously, living sinfully in private as well as in public is a thing to avoid, if you hope for a late conversion.

But the other sentence, I miss it in the statement of Nashville. Article 8 says about homosexuals getting saved "as they, like all Christians, walk in purity of life".

Now, this is glossing over what Chaput actually stated: normal marriage is not barred to them.

And, on another article, normal marriage is not a duty to every heterosexual Christian either. St Ignatius of Loyola spent part of his misspent youth doting over a lady beyond his reach, socially, meaning he was heterosexual, if not using it the right way. He became a monk. St Francis after starting the friars experienced a temptation to marry (infidelity to his promises or aspirations to God : on the occasion he made a snow lady and snow children and asked how he should provide for them), and St Thomas Aquinas had to chase out a base woman from the cell where his family tried to dissuade him from life as religious, so that she could not get time to tempt him (after which a prayer was granted and he was never more tempted against purity).

The affirmation of article 2 says "chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage". As this is not God's will for just the married, but for "all people", this is wrong. IN that broad sense it should be "chastity outside of marriage OR fidelity within marriage", or even better "chastity outside of marriage OR fidelity AND FERTILITY within marriage". A man and a woman agreeing to use condoms in marriage commit a sin of sexual immorality one step less bad than two women or two men sharing a bed.

Genesis 1:28. Two men won't make one baby. Two women won't make one baby. Two persons of opposite sex but with a condom will only make one baby if the condom slips or bursts. But God's will for all marriages, except those were as a fruit of Adam's sin, perhaps previous personal sins, one partner is unfruitful without his present fault or her present fault, is to make one baby, two babies, more babies. When one first baby has grown to a teen one should still have also a toddler or a baby too, and some in between too. So, the will for God within marriage is not just fidelity, but fertility, even first.

So, all is not good, I can't sign it, but much is good. The article 2 has a denial which is precisely what Catholics were fighting Luther about, one of the items (Luther denied marriage was a sacrament and considered it a civil contract). Good for Nashville, considering they are Protestants.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
Exaltation of the Cross
14.IX.2017

PS I was going to find the source of the quote on Charles' Chaput's diocesan site or archdiocesan site, but can't, so I link to where I quoted it - I had linked to a newslink, but which seems no longer on the newssite:

New blog on the kid : Philadelphia!
http://nov9blogg9.blogspot.com/2017/01/philadelphia.html

There are two reasons why I post the article here: it involves Genesis 1:28 - and I heard of the Nashville statement from CMI, today's article./HGL