Tuesday Two

The Tuesday Two from Patrick's Place:

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC:    PREMARTIAL SEX

QUESTION A:
Do you think that sex before marriage is ever acceptable?

or

QUESTION B:
If your kids should ask your thoughts on premarital sex, would you feed the need to "fudge" your answer so they wouldn't find out that you didn't follow your own advice?
~~~~

I am going to answer Question A:
While I have had pre-marital sex, this is my philosophy (be forewarned, while my journal is ecumenical, this is a personal response and therefore adheres to my private faith):

We are created to love. Ultimate, fulfilled love, the way it was intended is in marriage. To love fully, to love completely in marriage is to bind your soul to another, and to God, and in effect agree to share everything with them. This includes your body. Sex is the act of giving your physical self completely to another and it allows us and God to participate in the miracle of life.

Sex outside the context of marriage, while fun, makes a mockery of what sex truly is. Why would we want anything less than true fulfillment? Why do we desire anything other than a complete unconditional giving of ourselves to another person, as God ordained? Selfishness is the answer. True love is unconditional. It fuliflls, and sex is the expression of that love. To be truly unconditional and truly fulfilled, we need the marriage state - anything less is a selfish sham we use to satisfy our fears, hopes, and lusts.

Did I do it? Of course I did. I wanted that more than I wanted marriage. Does that make me evil? No, it makes me human. And, given that I'm loved unconditionally by God, I'm alright with being human if I realize now what the ideal is, and that it's worth promoting and keeping. That doesn't mean I have to beat myself up over my human choices. I mean, come on, sex is glorious!

What's your Pimp Name?

Your Pimp Name Is...

Backdoor Pump
What's Your Pimp Name?

Monday Photo Shoot

As Requested, from By the Way:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Critters!

Early fall seems like a good time to capture these guys in pictures, because they're out and about storing up for the winter:

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Catch a critter in a picture! For the purposes of this photo shoot, a "critter" is a creature that is not a pet, so no dogs or cats, but mice, squirrels, pigeons, badgers, hedgehogs, wolverines, deer, dragons, sasquatch or any other sort of ambulatory thing is acceptable (as are bugs).

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What you see in that picture is a lovely spider that we nearly stumbled upon (literally!) while fishing this weekend. Fantastic looking and scary, if you ask me!

After some questions, and a little research, I believe this spider to be: Araneus marmoreus

Weekend Fun and Daily Reflection

This weekend featured a few highlights worth sharing:

1. Coldplay's concert outside Washington, D.C.

2. Fishing and camping along the Potomac River with a good friend of mine

3. Napping for 1 1/2 hours along the banks of the Potomac in the sunshine

I've posted photographs from the trip for your enjoyment!

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Today's reflection is from 2 Corinthians, 2: 5-10

If anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure (not to exaggerate) to all of you. This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person, so that on the contrary you should forgive and encourage him instead, or else the person may be overwhelmed by excessive pain. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, to know your proven character, whether you were obedient in everything. Whomever you forgive anything, so do I. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has ben for you in the presence of Christ

Paul's words clarify the distorted reality we inhabit, regardless of our faith or belief. In a perfect world, we would not cause another pain. Sadly, imperfection abounds in us and our world. Faulted, we turn away from one another can inflict pain, and punishment. Ironically, the communal nature of our lives means that the sin of one impacts all, again regardless of faith or ethnicity or religious background.

If you do not believe this, consider slander, libel, war, murder, rape, abuse, adultery. Sin is a selfish act commited against others for private gain. While the pain may lesson as it expands from those immediately involved to those friends and families of the afflicted, it nonetheless colors our interactions.

How many painful memories do you carry? Have you shared? These scars are the remnants of sin's hurt and pain laid upon you by someone else's selfishness.

Paul's words are so appropriate, challenging us to accept that the sinner does himself pain when satisfying selfish desires, as much as he hurts others. And in so doing has received punishment enough, so much so, that we are called to forgive him.

What a message of hope! Here we are, causing hurt and pain in so many - oftentimes more than we will ever know - and Paul raises our sights above base punishment to a greater virtue - forgiveness! Forgiveness is the healing balm that cures sin's invasive sickness. It heals not just those invovled, but touches the lives of everyone. To be forgiven is to learn how to forgive! If we can search our hearts for those times when we benefited from other's generostiy nad fogiveness there is no doubt we can return that same favor to others! What a gift!

The idea of true forgiveness is akin to unconditional love. We look at someone who has caused pain, admit we love them, and unconditionally forgive them - we put a stop to the pain that spreads like infection within a wound. We have the power to heal, if we only choose to forgive! What a wonderful opportunity for us all, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Athiest, or of any other faith! We can savor the delights of forgiveness, and truly, we are all in need of the great graces it provides!

Monday Morning Question

Courtesy of Sometimes I Think:

If we were to look in your refrig, what is something we would always find in there?

Easy answer: lemonade! My wife is a nut for the stuff!

Saturday Six

Returning from a busy weekend away, with more details on that later, here are the Saturday Six from Patrick's Place:

1. How many AOL J-landers have you actually met in person?

None!

2. How many photos that you have taken yourself are hanging on display in your home in a size of 8x10 or larger?  (The print, not the frame!)

None!

3. How far do you live from your job?  What is your commute time like?  Has the distance prompted you to consider alternative transportation because of gas prices?

All of four miles, with ten minutes of commute from door to door.

4. Take this quiz:   What decade does your personality live in?

what decade does your personality live in?

quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd

5. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #70 from Kris:  What is the funniest, most original Halloween costume you've ever seen?

Tough question - probably a guy in a shower stall :)

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #71 from Courtenay: What is your favorite paragraph in a literary work?  This might be a thought, or a message, or a descriptive passage which has remained in your consciousness throughout the years.  Be sure to post the name of the book and author.

This is a toughy....let me see:

Crime and Punishment! Dostoyevsky.

Go now. Go this very moment, and stand at the crossroads; bow down, and first kiss the earth which you have defiled; then bow down to the whole world, to the four points on the compass, and say aloud, for all men to hear: 'I have killed!' Then God will send you life again.

The Sunday Question

Courtesty of Frosty Thoughts:

"What does fall mean to you?  Not everybody in J-land has 4 extreme seasons, so what does the season change mean where you live?"

For me, Fall means Homecoming, a large event on campus where I have to work with donors. It means chilly nights and warm days. Golfing in the afternoon and defrosting the car in the morning. It means October Baseball, and brisk walks. It means rain and the smell of fallen leaves.