The sins of the waist down

Cuando digo que los comentarios de agnósticos y ateos suelen estar entre los más interesantes, no estoy hablando por hablar. A menudo sugieren cuestiones cuya discusión puede beneficiarnos a todos. Por ejemplo, veamos este comentario hecho hace poco en el blog por Gringo:

This accusation or criticism is very interesting, especially since it does not simply affect infocatolic, but it is something that is often heard from the Church in general and has been hearing for a couple of centuries.That makes the issue worthy of discussion and not a mere complaint about alleged human defects of infocatolic, which, to be honest, would have much less interest.

Let's study the question.Is it true that the Church, and in particular infocatolic, is obsessed with the sins "from waist down"?It is true that in infocatolic there are enough articles related to homosexuality or contraceptives, as Gringo says, among other issues of that same channel.The first thing that is obvious, however, is that the examples it provides are not representative, but that they form what statistics would call a biased sample, intentionally chosen to determine the results in the desired direction.

Few themes have been treated more in endless than the daily killing of innocent children through abortion, a very serious sin against the fifth commandment and not a sin "from the waist down".Therefore, this issue of which we may talk more than any other, does not fit the allegation of Gringo.How weird.Will it be an exception?As soon as we examine other very frequent issues, we can see that rather it is an "exception" made rule.For example, we constantly speak of the Catholic faith and, as a counterpart, the very serious sin of heresy.Relationship with waist sins down?In principle, none.And it is the star issue of Infocatolic.Another example, euthanasia.Again, no relationship with the sixth and ninth commandments.Another example, the liturgy and, as a behavior to criticize, the banalization, the anthropocentrism and the simple abandonment of the liturgical tradition of the Church.Nothing to do with the accusation made.One more example, the existence of God and his evidence, denied by atheism and ignored by agnosticism.Only in this blog dozens and dozens of articles on the subject have been written, although, supposedly, it is one of those issues that do not interest us.

More examples?The fundamental principles of morals, obedience in the Church, that Christ is the only path of salvation, grace, the obligations of Christian politicians, the saints and a very long etcetera.And, of course, the corresponding sins and errors, such as moral relativism, disobedience and servility, syncretism and indifferentism, pelagianism and Luteranism, worldness, lukewarm, with its very long etcetera.Is it that all these things do not matter to us?It is enough to see articles about them, with hundreds of comments, to see that they matter and that they awaken discussions and passions.And yet, it seems that, more than sins from the waist down, these are upper sins up, waist for the left or waist for the right or, more frequently, of sins of the soul, which are much more serious thanbody sins.

Where does that persistent feeling that Gringo have that we only care about certain sins arise?In my opinion, he has all the reason in which he comes from an obsession, but not from the Church or of infocatolic, but is very clearly about an obsession of modern society with the issues of the waist downward.To a large extent, today's society is based on the promise made in the sixties with sexual liberation: you can do whatever you want, without any consequence, because sexuality does not have to be linked to marriage or children,but there is essentially to please you.This idea, which has ancient roots, has become, perhaps, the most important implicit dogma of our world today and woe to which it denies it!

In that sense, the world in general cares about a ble that that Catholics speak of the liturgy or the existence of God, because these issues simply dismiss as something without interest or importance.On the other hand, when the Church or Infocatolic or any sincere Catholic speak of sexuality related issues are touching a sensitive nerve and, predictably, criticisms everywhere rains.In that sense, the world notices much more articles on issues related to the sixth commandment because they are the most bother him, those who deny one of their fundamental dogmas.Apart from their real frequency, they will always seem numerous if you start from a mentality according to which "only one is too much".

On the other hand, the world demands that we adapt to its constantly changing fashions and denounced by active and passive the "secular sins" that are those that seem bad to politically correct thought.In that sense, our society does not support that the millenary church, with a look of eternity, takes importance to these periodic hysteria, which are considered very very urgent just because they are the ones that are fashionable this year.Our world, for example, considers that divorce or premarital relationships have nothing wrong, but that the earth will be destroyed and we will all die if we do not criticize fossil fuels (at least as a nozzle and while we travel by plane everywhere).That is why we demand that we do not talk about the first and yes of the second, so that an article about that will always be too much and all the articles in the world about this would never be enough.

On the other hand, it would not be very useful for us to speak against the sins that seem bad to everyone, in the style of Fray Gerundio de Campazas.We could dedicate a thousand articles to how bad it is to kill the little old little old people, but it would be a very useful way to use time, because, beyond some crazy to tie, nobody seems that this way of acting is good, advisable or a "right", as they are considered, however, other behaviors that we often denounce.

In the same way, we almost never talk about investiture, because it would be very difficultThe weeks, there is a "theologian" or a German bishop who praise those things and deny that they are contrary to morality.Reproach to infocatolic who speaks against these patent and serious mistakes would be equivalent to making righteous for sinners, pretending that we load with the sambenito of the obsessions that, in reality, correspond to those mundane pseudoteutoteologists and bishoprThe tastes of the time.

However, let's be fair, isn't Gringo right that some sins are denounced more than some others that are also committed a lot in our time?For example, as he points out in his comment, isn't there more articles on the use of contraceptives than on other issues, such as the eviction of families for not having paid some months of rent?It is a good question and, to answer it, you have to take into account a fundamental distinction between some very different types of sins.

It is not strange that Gringo has not taken into account this distinction, because the world has forgotten it for a long.However, it is an essential distinction for Christian morals and, without it, that moral is completely collapsed.I mean, of course, to the distinction between intrinsically bad actions and others that are not (which, ironically, it is another of those issues traded in infocatolic and that, in themselves, they have nothing to do with waists).

The intrinsically bad actions, such as killing an innocent intentionally, are those that, in themselves, regardless of circumstances and purposes, are always morally bad and, therefore, are not justified on any occasion.These actions have an undoubted advantage from the point of view of the articles, homilies, pastoral, encyclical letters, prophetic complaints and decisions: clarity.As they are always morally bad, they can be rejected absolutely, without the need to take into account specific cases.Any blogger of infocatolic can say, without fear of making mistakes, that contraception is bad, that adultery is immoral or that apostasy is a very serious sin and this is true in all cases, for all countries and in all circumstancesThey can imagine.

Instead, there are actions that are not bad in themselves.Eradicating someone who does not pay the rent, for using the example that gringo mentions, not only is not intrinsically bad, but, in principle, it is normal.When a contract is concluded, such as the rental, if one of the parties then breached it, it has no right to continue benefiting from it.Since it is logical, there may be specific cases, some tragic, in which it agrees to make an exception according to family circumstances, have flexibility and use mercy instead of mere legal justice.And unfortunately, there has always been and probably there will always be people who, in those cases, do without mercy and compassion and insist on inflexibly complying with the law outside the consequences, but, and this is what affects the issue we discuss, it is not possible to denounce in a general and priori.

Concrete cases of unfair eviction could be discussed in an article, certainly, but those articles, by their very nature, will tend to be much less frequent, since most of us do not know any specific cases and much less still know enough the circumstances that what itsurround and what are necessary to assess it.In addition, the consequences would be valid for that specific case and not others, which generally makes them less interest for readers around the world.As the Anglo -Saxons say, Hard Cases Make Bad Law, an expression that is difficult to translate, but that comes to say that exceptions are not a good basis for general laws.Or for articles of general interest, we could add.

To all this we must add one last consideration: sexuality is one of the fundamental drives of the human being.The strange thing would be that the Church did not have many things to say about it.It is enough to look around to see that sins in this area envice and enslave innumerable people in the world, destroy families, cause horrible psychological problems to children of broken families or wounds, end the ability to really love others to othersAnd to sacrifice for them, they violate even the unspeakable dignity of people, lead to revolize in the mud of a narcissistic and animal sensuality and obscure the ability to look for things from heaven.In many cases, they are mortal sins that seriously offend God and lead the sinner to hell.If we did not take all that seriously, we would be doing a skinny favor to our readers.

In summary, it does not seem that the accusation of obsession with the themes “from the waist down” is essentially justified, if one examines it carefully.That said, each publication and each joint is a world, with its qualities, defects, tastes and particular hobbies, so, without a doubt, there will be some that underline some things than others than others.At least for now, infocatolic is not mandatory, so each one who reads what he prefers.In the variety is the spice.