Universalis, About this blog

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Honesty is the best policy

So I have no problems with Tony Abbott as others seem to when he gave straight answers to straightforward questions -- in an interview. Instead, I have a problem with politicians who duck for cover under the I-don't-tell-you-what's-right-and-wrong, or that's-really-old-fashioned. I also have a problem with politicians attacking another politician for imposing his views when answering questions in an interview, but that's an obvious point anyway. My point is that I like my leaders forthcoming about what they think. Guts and integrity beats patronizing and chickening out in my book, and I actually expect my leaders to be capable of original thought.

And I must confess being amused at the naysayers who take issue with Abbott's opinion that virginity is a precious -- sacred -- gift. They end up saying more than they might intend to, I think. In in objecting to that opinion .. well, they reveal a disturbing attitude towards virginity, and by implication, sex.

Now if they could just imagine themselves verbalizing that attitude in front of their mothers, sisters and daughters, they might actually come around and realize that Abbott is right.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

To Witness or Not?

Of course, and this, I think is the point that should not be eclipsed in discussions like this one, which questions the language in paragraph 841 of the Catechism concerning other monotheist religions, i.e., the Muslims. I have some comments in that discussion, which I might rewrite into a separate blog post here .. when time allows. This year is proving to be a busy one for me! Anyway, the original topic in that above link should pique some interest: "Roman Catholicism: The True Church or a Terrible Cult?" The cheeky answer is "both!", using the traditional and benign meanings of the words "cult" and "terrible", of course.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Jason Evert on Why Women Can't be Ordained Priests

His explanations are well worth reading. My own take is based on an observation: today's push to ordain women comes from arguments which, to me, sound contrary to the spirit of mission that Christ imparted. The arguments tend to be rather demanding, many times aggressive, speaking of rights and privileges, and their personal desire to be ordained. Ordination is.. ordination. It comes from God's initiative to anoint. It may well be the case that God does not oppose the idea of women as priests, but that he hasn't actually done so while he was here in the flesh.. is significant.

I also believe that we are all called and gifted in different ways. One of the differences may lie along the lines of our gender. Whatever it may be, our individual missions will be affected by our circumstances. I think our Heavenly Father would be much more interested in our willingness and diligence to serve and to love than the particular vocation we are in. We must never forget this truism in our relationship with God: He takes the initiative. Everything comes from Him and hopefully orients towards Him -- not primarily towards our own self-fulfillment.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Procreation

Having three children (and soon, God willing, four), I'm not a fan of population control. I prefer "family planning", which is what I have learned about Natural Family Planning. It sounds more sane to me that couples would jointly (pray and) decide how many children they are invited by God to have, based on their circumstances as a whole. This means of course one, two or more children depending on those circumstances.

Compare that to the notion of population control, negative in connotation and, in practice, negative, period. That a Chinese city is now acknowledging problems with it is very telling. The one-child policy, which actually goes against Chinese custom (I can speak from experience), was not entered into scientifically. That's clear enough since the science of demographics/economics says that the ideal population replacement level is at about 2 children per family. But there's more to it than those numbers. The contraceptive mentality seems to be the first step, where the value of human life is no longer grounded in objective terms, i.e., precious because it is precious to the Creator. In subjective terms, human life is expendable, and its value is relative. The negative connotations of motherhood and children have been sold too effectively, and it will not be easy to now tell women to compromise their careers and comfortable lives and lifestyles for motherhood. So this news about Shanghai, which is not unique (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, some European countries are doing the same thing), is problematic. Baby bonuses will only go so far, I think, whereas the battle will really be in the hearts and minds of women. From a Christian perspective, one can only hope and pray, because it will take the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the postmodern world.

Update: Found this piece and, I have to say, the comments from primary school students therein are eye openers.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mark Shea heading down under!

I wonder if I could have him over for dinner? So the kids can meet the guy who made those blue scribbles on the books of his that I ordered a few years back. The sad thing about ordering e-books of his on CD (which were ordered more recently) is that it doesn't look as impressive on the CD with a marker. Nothing like human penmanship on paper. :-)

Anyway, he's on his way to Sydney and maybe Melbourne for a day or two. His calendar will hopefully be updated if his Melbourne visited firms up.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Christmas Miracle: Mother dies just before delivery, baby appears to be dying, then both revive

Amazing.
 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, January 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Colorado family's brush with tragedy Christmas Eve transformed into a dramatic celebration of the gift of life when a father says he witnessed his wife and newborn child revive after both appeared to die in the midst of delivery.