Newsletter #68: Beware of the Contagiousness of Divorce
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It‘s an argument from a non-Christian perspective against no-fault divorce, that having kids is is the reason why it makes sense to stay together til-death and how families with larger number of progenies helps a society to have a long term outlook instead of living only in the now.
I think this is an excellent article because one of it's assumptions is that we're vulnerable to contagion(s) of a social nature, not just physical pathogens. In our age of 'rational' ways of thinking such as 'science,' 'fact-checking,' 'expert opinions,' etc..... we've forgotten the truths that we are powerfully influenced by social forces and behavior as well. We're much more like a herd of cattle or sheep than we ever want to admit.
That said, I think another significant social contagion is fornication. I've discovered, much to my chagrin, that having friends who engage in extra-marital activity is the single biggest threat to my own spiritual discipline of purity. This affects me more than innuendo at work and/or play, even more than unwanted advertisement images that bombard my screen. I had a friend who started a friendship-with-benefits relationship and I distinctly remember a sharp uptick in lustful feelings in myself. I almost ended the friendship over it, and in hindsight I wish I would have suspended it. There's just something about the social nature of human beings that makes many behaviors contagious - for good or for ill.
Last but not least, I think this article provides logical arguments to flee from certain temptations. Especially sexual temptation. In our rationalistic/intellectual age, we often think that we can reason away temptations (we know all the arguments), but this kind of resistance is a form of standing and fighting that is based on our own strength. Temptation resistance, whether standing firm (based the Word and the Holy Spirit) or fleeing (the explicit command for sexual immorality) is not based on our intellectual capabilities. So, I would suggest that a healthy avoidance of divorce and/or fornication contagion falls under the command to flee sexual immorality.
Regarding your comments on media, and reading mainstream media to avoid ending up in a ghetto, the experience Doug Wilson just had with NBC News shows how little value to place on what the MSM reports. The worst part about the story was I got the impression they were genuinely trying to be fair to him and Christ Church in their reporting, but the media elite are now so far removed into their own bubble as Pastor Wilson said on his blog, "it was clear that what we were saying must have sounded something like Middle Klingon to them."
Trotting out a Unitarian to call Wilson a "cult leader" and to say he doesn't understand the what the Bible teaches is downright laughable. Not only the reporter, but everyone on Chuck Todd's panel is too ignorant to understand that Unitarians are the ones outside mainstream Christian doctrine. It was clear from her comments on the panel, she did not understand what his church teaches regarding the roles of husband and wife marriage and this was after she read at least some of his work and had him explain it to her. Other than as a window into the elite bubble, mainstream media reporting has little value. You can learn what they believe, what they are afraid of and how they plan to attack their enemies, but in terms of growth of knowledge, there is nothing. Possibly, in a case like, a few people who had never heard of Doug Wilson might look him up and learn something about his ministry.
Hi Aaron, since I’m unable to find an email address to send you an interesting link: https://byrnehobart.medium.com/true-love-is-the-most-important-thing-in-the-world-a-coasian-evolutionary-approach-8af8dbfc8bb9
It‘s an argument from a non-Christian perspective against no-fault divorce, that having kids is is the reason why it makes sense to stay together til-death and how families with larger number of progenies helps a society to have a long term outlook instead of living only in the now.
I think this is an excellent article because one of it's assumptions is that we're vulnerable to contagion(s) of a social nature, not just physical pathogens. In our age of 'rational' ways of thinking such as 'science,' 'fact-checking,' 'expert opinions,' etc..... we've forgotten the truths that we are powerfully influenced by social forces and behavior as well. We're much more like a herd of cattle or sheep than we ever want to admit.
That said, I think another significant social contagion is fornication. I've discovered, much to my chagrin, that having friends who engage in extra-marital activity is the single biggest threat to my own spiritual discipline of purity. This affects me more than innuendo at work and/or play, even more than unwanted advertisement images that bombard my screen. I had a friend who started a friendship-with-benefits relationship and I distinctly remember a sharp uptick in lustful feelings in myself. I almost ended the friendship over it, and in hindsight I wish I would have suspended it. There's just something about the social nature of human beings that makes many behaviors contagious - for good or for ill.
Last but not least, I think this article provides logical arguments to flee from certain temptations. Especially sexual temptation. In our rationalistic/intellectual age, we often think that we can reason away temptations (we know all the arguments), but this kind of resistance is a form of standing and fighting that is based on our own strength. Temptation resistance, whether standing firm (based the Word and the Holy Spirit) or fleeing (the explicit command for sexual immorality) is not based on our intellectual capabilities. So, I would suggest that a healthy avoidance of divorce and/or fornication contagion falls under the command to flee sexual immorality.
Regarding your comments on media, and reading mainstream media to avoid ending up in a ghetto, the experience Doug Wilson just had with NBC News shows how little value to place on what the MSM reports. The worst part about the story was I got the impression they were genuinely trying to be fair to him and Christ Church in their reporting, but the media elite are now so far removed into their own bubble as Pastor Wilson said on his blog, "it was clear that what we were saying must have sounded something like Middle Klingon to them."
Trotting out a Unitarian to call Wilson a "cult leader" and to say he doesn't understand the what the Bible teaches is downright laughable. Not only the reporter, but everyone on Chuck Todd's panel is too ignorant to understand that Unitarians are the ones outside mainstream Christian doctrine. It was clear from her comments on the panel, she did not understand what his church teaches regarding the roles of husband and wife marriage and this was after she read at least some of his work and had him explain it to her. Other than as a window into the elite bubble, mainstream media reporting has little value. You can learn what they believe, what they are afraid of and how they plan to attack their enemies, but in terms of growth of knowledge, there is nothing. Possibly, in a case like, a few people who had never heard of Doug Wilson might look him up and learn something about his ministry.