So what’s bad about polygyny? After all, this is normative in most societies throughout the world. I’ll tell you: polygynous societies are inherently more violent than monogamous ones. (I have to put on my sociologist [which I’m not[ hat here so please forgive the shocking language to follow.) In most societies their is a rough parity between men and women (let’s say 1:1). We are all descended from societies in which the “alpha males” who were 20% of the males, had access to at least 3 women. This meant that the vast majority of “beta males” (60%) had limited access at best. These men were invariably poor, young and solitary. They formed a rogue population, always on the lookout for taking the surplus wives of the alpha males. This was and is a recipe for a hyper-violent society. It is presently what obtains in most Islamic societies. In order to deflect the violence outward instead of inward to the alpha males of Muslim society, a doctrine of jihad which promises sexual delights has brainwashed the beta male population to direct their violence outward.

Christianity, which put the kibosh on Jewish polygamy, and made divorce well-nigh impossible, unleashed the productivity of the beta male cohort in every generation. In essence, each man was granted a wife and he was considered a peer in marriage to even the wealthiest baron. This is also one reason why republicanism and democratic institutions were able to arise only in the West. In addition, the Church instituted derivative rules which only emboldened the liberal prospect for the West (liberal in the classic sense, not the modern debased American sense). Things like the sanction against consanguinity, divorce, concubinage, etc. All of which of course had positive effects on the emancipation of women.

The normalization of homosexuality reverses all of the above and cheapens the role of women.

Now of course, as an Orthodox Christian, all of the above is beside the point. Marriage as we understand it is the voluntary union of two complementary sexes who are joined in a sacrament which will enable each to help the other attain eternal salvation.

Greed and licentiousness are going to kill this country.

Careful guys. I know Fr. Kevin Scherer who directs OCF. He’s a solid guy. They might be using the term “social justice” as short-hand, a forgivable offense considering our discussion of the term is a bit, well, rarefied.

OCF stresses service to others as a counterpoint to the sex-drugs-rock and roll-MTV culture that surrounds college students. They do a ton of good, for both Orthodox students and the needy.

Love’s new frontier
It’s not monogamy. But it’s not cheating or polygamy, either. It’s called polyamory, and with hundreds practicing the lifestyle in and around Boston, is liberal Massachusetts ready to accept it?
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/01/03/loves_new_frontier/

I wonder what the economia before morality folks are going to do if a polyamorous household shows up at an Orthodox parish?

On another note, you just know there is some enterprising “change the world- I know better than you” student who claims to be an Orthodox student of Theology who will not put forth some paper or dissertation along the lines of “The Trinitarian Basis of Polyamory as seen in the idea of Being As Communion”

I would check the SCOBA website to see if OCF has any oversight. Last I heard Met. Isaiah was the hierarchal overseer but who really knows how all this works and who answers to who.

What concerns me is when I read anonymous talk against such a common sense document like the Manhattan Declaration and see Campus Fellowship preaching a very fashionable social justice vision is that we are neglecting the basic moral literacy that young people crave and need to make good life choices.

The anger of the anon. priest critic and the social justice retreat at OCF are connected. They are efforts to make Orthodoxy fashionable and hip at the expense of true and beautiful. Lets be honest most of the time its the Hip priests and speakers who speak at retreats.

I also believe such retreats and events are not very tolerant of pro-life folks or folks with different views on solving poverty etc. Imagine some pro-life student showing up at the Pilgrimage for Justice who promotes the viewpoint of Milton Friedman that the only way people have been lifted out of poverty is through freedom and capitalism. Imagine turning the metaphorical OCF shanty town into a thriving capitalist system? How would that go over with the retreat leaders? I suspect not so good.

Orthodox Morality is non-negotiable. An Orthodox solution to poverty is an issue that can be completely debated by people of good will.

What really concerns me is that people in leadership positions from 79th Street to OCF are really disconnected from everyday Orthodoxy in America. I also believe that people both young and old who hold common sense moral positions are being marginalized by professional Orthodox people in leadership positions who have a political axe to grind. My own experience tells me that there are more than a few people who have been called all sorts of things like “fundamentalist”, “bigot”, “ignorant”, “greedy’ etc for simply holding a common sense view that is supported by Orthodox Tradition.

Lets be honest our kids do not need Orthodox leaders preaching community organizing and boasting of their work on their twitter feed or iphone. They need the truth about human life. They need the Gospel in all its truth and beauty.

The monastic rule was that those unable to cut out his own will and become perfect in obedience be sent back into the world. The time frame given to achieve this was three years.

Obedience is the grave of your own will. This is a very difficult thing to do. It can be so frustrating that all is left to do for you is to continually rise up your mind and heart toward God.

In our time it is difficult to find true spiritual fathers. Our hope is that if we are honest and humble in our search, God will pour His Grace and compensate for our shortcomings.

The biggest problem is that the concept of sin is ultimately discarded as being ‘unfair’ and ‘unjust’. Utopianism replaces repentance and reconcilliation with God.

This concerns me greatly because there seems to be little pro-life or other essential Orthodox moral issues involved in this new emphasis. It looks like a save the world type of mentality with very little emphasis on what a culture of life actually means.

I would like to invite AOI readers to check out the twitter feed from the OCF executive director during the Pilgrimage for Justice. There are plenty of photos and comments.

You can view the twitter feed here (you have to page down for the photos):

http://twitter.com/kevin_scherer

I am all for Campus fellowship its essential but the creeping left leaning stuff that is often sold gives me a moment of pause.

Though I would not have phrased it this way, it was a key reason I became Orthodox some 17 years ago. What continues to surprise me is that the deeper I “dig,” the more I see how pernicious and pervasive are my ego’s efforts to bend everything to its will. As the Fathers have often noted, even our best efforts to live humbly and die to self can be subtly twisted so that these, too, become self-serving. Michael is right: our combat is unending. While it is difficult to live in a culture that is increasingly hostile to faith and which actively promotes myriad distortions and temptations, the real fight is in our hearts where – as Solzhenitsyn noted – the line between good and evil is drawn. It isn’t the dragons without but those within that wreak havoc in our lives. (Or, as St. James put it: we are undone by our own disordered desires [1:13-15].) One needs the wisdom and insight of true spiritual fathers to navigate the treacherous waters of the fallen soul. It is invaluable to have these available to us in English; it is imperative to meet them in person.

Father, I agree, excuse me for being a little sloppy. I was refering to the temptation to allow ideological thinking to drive the truth from our hearts. Ideologies are comforting and self-confirming because they do not require us to change. Thus, as one example, it becomes quite easy to condemn politicans personally from a ‘Christian’ perspective simply becasue we disagree with their actions. The whole understanding of the need to recognize and heal sin is abandoned for the self-righteousness of ideological ‘truth’ and purity.

I was thinking primarily of St. Paul in the fisrt chapter of Romans and his ringing statement on worshiping the created thing more than the creator. Ideology is created by our diseased and fallen mind, fueled by our sinful heart and always leads to separation and destruction.

Unfortunately, even religion can take on an ideological character when we ignore the transformative encounter with the incarnate savior and concentrate on the rules and practices alone; when we ignore the life of the community and concentrate on only our own existence; when we reject the Cross for the false comfort and acceptance of the world.

This huge effort “to remove Christianity from the cultural memory” will eventually help(some) people get cured of their spiritual blindness. People will notice the effort and start asking why … The Truth is so obvious, but somehow we are blind. Certainly not born blind, we become blind because we are pointed the wrong way.

In our time very few believe in demonic and sin. Now that the atrocities of the atheist communist regimes were exposed one cannot deny that only “demonic intelligence” could come up with things like that. It is up to each one of us if we choose to ignore the evidence. God does not force us to believe in Him, we have to make a choice. Can’t have two masters. It is how Michael put it: “We are at war, continual war.”