Facebook..... what an invitation to mediocrity in debate. What a temptation to un-reflective pontificating (of course blogging can be also - I suppose). St.Paul where are you when we need you! How badly we need a St. Paul of Facebook, or is it Twitter now?
Someone I know posted a link on Facebook a while ago, which included a picture of a Bishop with the word bigot scrawled across it, and it was bravely challenged by another Facebook friend of mine. The Bishop's crime was in attempting to teach his flock about the Catholic view of marriage and family and the link was challenged not because of hatred for homosexuals, which was insinuated, nor was it challenged because she blindly follows the Bishops, which was also an accusation that was thrown out. She was not "casting stones" thoughtlessly. This post was challenged because it was slanderous name-calling; an offence against charity. This may have surprised the one who posted it, since he firmly believes that he speaks on behalf of love, justice and peace. In his mind, he was on the side of righteousness, which I guess, for him, means you can say anything you want; because, you know, the end justifies the means.
Accusations of homophobia were then quickly leveled at her (and me, for indicating my support for her and the Church with a comment and a lot of "likes"). We were on the side of hate, intolerance and blind obedience. It was an ugly display of self righteousness, justified by "Jesus platitudes" that were completely severed from the Scripture they were taken from. And it was not only the young man, but a cadre of supporters, who jumped into the conversation for the sake of peace, and justice, and of course always for love. But it is a counterfeit love, one that weakens and blinds. One that dulls the intellect and reduces charity to superficial works, to making things look better, not actually transforming brokenness, just re-defining what it is. This counterfeit love affirms vice, and discourages virtue. It will damn you in the end.
Unfortunately these views are not surprising, the sentimentality that is exacerbated by our social media culture demands that feelings rule the day, until your feelings - which is your conscience in this view - fade and/or change. Moral laws that are hard to follow are intolerant and unjust. What was so amazing was that when his charity was challenged his tolerance is what really dissipated, and he, and his friends began to rant and rave about how the Church was our biggest problem. He ended up throwing out a vague threat that we should watch what we posted in the future! Reminds me of a Flannery O'Connor quote (taken from a work of Elizabeth Scalia): "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness, and tenderness leads to the gas chambers."
Thus, he very quickly began a mini-sermon using selective bits of Scripture. The Gospel story from John about the woman caught in adultery was used to illustrate that merely questioning his post was the equivalent of casting stones like a self righteous Pharisee, but they failed to note that if he applied that same measure to his link it easily implicated his post. Moreover he failed to remember Jesus in that Scripture did not dismiss the woman's sin as nothing, He held out a better way for the woman accused of adultery: "go and sin no more". He gave her room to repent and to order her love to Him. And He gave insight to those who would be casting stones that the One whose finger carved the Law into stone did so not to condemn us in our brokenness, nor to leave us there, but to lift us out of the muck of our disordered desires. The redeeming love of Christ does not leave us to center our identity around our disordered desires!!! Yet, the forum we were using to debate this post did not encourage such deep thinking, it was all tired talking points and immature zingers and threats that dominate in these Facebook discussions. No progression of thought or even building on an idea.
But, I will leave you with one bright spot in this whole ugly display. This is what a beautiful young lady posted in response to the whole sordid affair, so as He always does, God leaves us with a remnant of hope.
"It really saddens me that you keep calling us homophobic, I have not and will not ever discriminate (against) someone based on sex, ethnicity, ect. Have you ever seen me judge someone or treat someone unfair because of who they are, no, I have never acted like that because we are called to love all, but still that does not make gay marriage correct, and it does not make living with a "partner"correct either. God made man and women to compliment each other, and to confuse these roles in marriage goes against what God intended us for. Does that mean I will love someone less because they are gay? No, But if I were to allow them to marry it would be a sin, and I would never want any one to live in sin because sin pushes us farther away from God and I want to be as close to God as possible so we all may reach our ultimate goal, Heaven."
There was more, but that gives you the gist of her response. Concise, factual and charitable, no one was called a name, no one was talked down to. Hope is kindled! Yes, there are some young people who know what authentic, strong, courageous and unyielding love really is, and are prepared to defend it - even on Facebook!
However, I was left with a real sadness. With all the references made about Jesus, many made by those claiming to be well-formed Catholics, I discerned no relationship with Him. There was flat banal platitudes, but not a loving relationship. Love transforms weakness and the world, it does not conform to it. And I believe that, with a few of the individuals involved in this discussion, if they were really touched by His transforming love, the good that could be done through them would be astounding!
Jesus is clear that to love God is to follow His commands, they are the pathway to union with Him because they transform us to be like Him. They lead us to out true identity - they do not condemn us to find our identity in our basest, weakest desires, but help us to order our desires to the One who created us. They give us the heart to love Him and eyes to behold Him.
Do you know what I think happened to the woman caught in adultery after her encounter with Jesus? When He looked at her and said: "Neither do I condemn you, go and from now on do not sin anymore.", I think she looked deep into the eyes of The Light of the World, the Alpha and Omega, the Divine Lover and saw in them the fulfillment of all her desires. I think that from that moment all that she had to let go of in order to come to the Beloved was put into perspective. And she followed Him. Love transforms.
Peace and Grace,
Heidi
Here is a YouTube montage featuring Matt Maher and Audrey Assad singing Garden. A song where that describes the transforming love of the Father when we allow Him to enter into garden of our hearts.
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