one of the communist complaints about
Catholicism is that it's the religion of
no especially in the area of sexuality
it appears as though when the rest of
the culture is moving in a much more
progressive direction in that regard the
church seems to be kind of a crabbed
old-fashioned puritanical finger-wagging
no religion well I first want to make a
distinction between two types of no
there's no pure and simple
by which I mean a no to something
positive think of someone who's jealous
and someone success appears to them and
they say no to it they simply try to
undermine it or think of a racist who
sees the object of his irrational hatred
and he says no to him and tries to
undermine him well those are just
negations pure and simple but there's
another kind of know what you might say
is a note to a know something negative
is going on and you say no to it in fact
you're in service of a higher yes think
of it as a no to a no which is sort of a
double negative it constitutes actually
a great yes your example of this any
golf coach worth is salt will say no far
more often than he says yes that's
because there are a thousand ways to
swing the golf club improperly so you
say no to all of those but it's in
service of the great yes which is the
right way to swing the golf club well
can I suggest that the churches know in
regard to sexuality is a no of the
second type it's not a Puritanism it's
not a negation of the body or pleasure
or sexuality it's a no to a no it's a no
to a distortion of what sexuality ought
to be now what is the great yes I mean
what is the church's view of what sex
ought to be what can I suggest looking
at it perhaps surprising plays namely
Paul's letter to the Romans
chapter 12 and we find this line which
is fascinating
Paul says I urge you therefore by the
mercies of God to offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice holy and pleasing to
God your spiritual worship now here's
Paul talking to a first century audience
that was well aware of this practice of
sacrifice or an ancient Israelite do
well he bring to the Temple in Jerusalem
an unblemished animal lamb or a sheep or
Bowl or something and he would sacrifice
the animal to Yahweh as a sign of a
forgiveness of reparation or of of
communion or a Thanksgiving what was he
doing
he was aligning himself thereby to God
he was bringing his mind his will his
whole person onto line with Yahweh no
ancient Israelite ever thought for a
second that God needed these sacrifices
think of some of the pagan gods and
goddesses who seemed to need our worship
that's not true in the Bible but the
ancient Israelite knew he needed
sacrifice because in the very act of
sacrifice he was becoming conformed unto
God okay
so Paul says I urge you to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice holy and
pleasing to God to construe your whole
life as an offering by which you become
conformed to God that's what he means
now take one more step who is this God
that Paul is urging the Romans here to
sacrifice to it's the god who's
disclosed in Jesus Christ as love look
in first John and we find that famous
line
god is love therefore when we live in
God we live in love right now put the
logic together to sacrifice the whole of
yourself to God
is to become conformed to God but God is
love therefore to sacrifice the whole of
your life and that means mind will
passions emotions body sexuality that
means everything in you is being
transformed into love okay
what's the Church's teaching on
sexuality that your sexuality is meant
to become love it's meant to become a
vehicle of love it's meant to be
conformed unto love and when it slides
off of that conformity that's when the
church says no when it becomes what it's
not supposed to be then the church says
no to that no it's in service of the
great yes now we make it just a little
more specific so does the church for
example say no to rape and to sexual
abuse and to manipulation well sure
those are obvious betrayals of love so
of course the church says no to those
but does it also say no to sex outside
of that total mutual commitment in love
that we call marriage yeah
because sex is meant to be a vehicle of
love within that context push it further
the church also say no to a conscious
and deliberate blocking of the
procreative function of sex yeah because
that's meant to be another way of
expressing love it says no to egregious
violations of love sure rape and sexual
abuse and so on but it also says no to
these more subtle betrayals of love now
I know a lot of people would balk today
and they'd say well look I'm sure we
should condemn rape and sexual abuse but
when it comes to other expression
shouldn't we allow people much more
personal flexibility well forgive me
again for these golf examples but they
can't help me someone's working with a
good golf teacher he will correct his
egregious fault
here's that did really basic things
you're doing wrong but anyone who really
wants to have an excellent swing wants
that coach to press it further press
beyond just the egregious problems and
say well no here's some more subtle from
finer points that you need work on he'll
want him to keep saying no to these
inadequate expressions of the golf swing
furthermore he'd want his teacher seems
to me to hold up to him the highest
ideals you know don't just hold up some
junior player don't hold up some decent
weekend golfer no no hold up to me Fred
Couples and Jack Nicklaus and Rory
McIlroy hold up the best golfers you can
think of I want them to be the high
ideals see the point is we would never
tolerate such leniency and mediocrity
when it comes to areas of life that we
take seriously you know or just correct
you know the major problems then do
whatever you want would you accept it if
you were trying to learn a musical
instrument would you accept it if you're
trying to swing the golf club would you
accept it in any area of life that you
take seriously that well just serious
stuff you know get rid of bad but then
the rest is do what you want no no when
people are serious by something they
want that very refined that steady
correction so that they might come to
excellence so the church is trying to
bring us into conformity with the love
that God is at all levels including the
level of sexuality and that's why the
church corrects us and cajoles us and
encourages us and holds up to us very
high ideals should the church dial down
its ideals because we often fail well no
of course we often fail just as we often
fail to hit the golf ball properly it
doesn't mean you dial down the high
ideals the church holds those up to us
continually see the bottom line is the
churches many knows are so strong
because it's yes to what sex on a bee is
so ringing