The same people who will tiptoe through daisy's to avoid coming even close to stereotyping or pegging someone into a category are the same kind of people who will think they know who I am and what I believe immediately after they find I am Catholic. I am pegged with a spear into a category of misunderstanding and misrepresentation. Instead of asking me, things are assumed about me in the same manner a less than educated individual might imply that all Japanese are the most excellent of students.
"Ah, so you won't have sex before marriage... that's too bad" or "No sex? (complete with quizzical look)." If I respond with, "well, yeah." or "nope I won't." I'm then not even given a chance to explain why. They've received their answer and now assume that I believe sex to be some sort of abomination, or, worse socially, that I somehow think they are evil because of some personal guilt of theirs of which I am unaware.
The fact of the matter is, yes, Catholics (those who are seeking to be in accord with Christ's church) don't have sex before marriage for the completely opposite reason. Instead of sex being something dirty to be avoided in the purist of puritanical senses, sex is something wonderful, mysterious, and a gift. Instead of cheapening it by wielding it as slightly better than a handshake, the Catholic ideal is to seek to save it as something precious like a lace handkerchief that is presented at the right time to the deserving Beloved.
Or even better, let me use this analogy. Imagine for a minute that sex is like a gift-wrapped package with a fragile glass egg inside. Each time you hand that package to a new person and it is reopened, how long will it be before it becomes impossible to properly re-wrap it in its original wrapping? How much so will the fragility of the glass egg succumb to its abuse? Eventually, you the gift-giver give up on giving away anything other than a grotty gift. Eventually too, the recipient has to notice the lack of value that the package has anymore and that the beautiful glass egg that was inside has lost its luster.
This is not to say there isn't hope for those who have already handed their present away, or had their egg chipped away at. That is, in fact, a discussion for another time and is concerned with the unique expertise of Christianity: Forgiveness. However, you must recognize there is something wrong before one can even seek forgiveness.
Does this current generation, I am a part of, care so much for transient pleasures and having their desires fulfilled instantaneously that they can't engage in any noble ventures anymore? What happened to the ideal lover who saved her heart in a music box when her beloved departed on a journey for years, only to hand it back to him upon his return? What happened to the Beloveds who lock away their heart with a key of steeled resolve, so that when their special lover arrives, they can nobly open the lock on their heart?
Both the noble concepts of the Lovers and Beloveds are lost on those with secular eyes. The secular eye sees only this world and its relation to itself. It, as a matter of fact, rests on the forehead staring inward and is useless for anyone but the self and even in that fashion is severely limited. However, the Christian eye branches into a level of third-eye understanding as it stares into eternity unblinkingly equipped with love as a sword and shield to overcome its enemies. Until the secular eye can be transformed into or exchanged for the Christian third-eye, the two parties can apparently never see eye-to-eye so they can look blissfully into eternity together.
Go and Set the World Ablaze
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