Two lectures from the great Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse. One of my favorite scholars to listen to, and a great debater, as well.
Lecture one: Love and Economics
(June 13, 2014) Dr J traveled to Phoenix to participate in Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship, where she gave two talks. This is the first one, “Love and Economics,” on what marriage is and why we need it–stay tuned for the next one!
Lecture two: Defending Marriage
(June 13, 2014) Dr J traveled to Phoenix to participate in Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship, where she gave two talks. This is the second one, “Defending Marriage,” on why marriage matters and what has happened and will happen as it gets more and more redefined by the progress of the sexual revolution.
I was listening to these late at night, and when she said “you know Catholics aren’t good with Bible verses” at the beginning of lecture two, I howled with laughter. I’m sure the property manager is going to let me know not to howl with laughter after midnight. Oh well – it was hilarious. She is Catholic. I howled again when made a comment about chaste people over the age of 30, like me. It’s just FUN to listen to, but these are serious subjects.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Careful, WK: there are many strong and faithful Catholics on the Sanctity of Life and Marriage. In fact, the Protestant apostasy on both of these issues is what is truly revolting, and not a laughing matter. And, at least a minority of Catholics are getting better with Bible verses.
LikeLike
Hey, I didn’t say it, she said it. I just laughed when she said it.
LikeLike
Yeah, but I just keep thinking back to right after Roe v. Wade when so many of us Protestants were making fun of the Catholic Church for going too far with their stand against contraception. (You are too young to remember this.) But, it turned out that the Catholic Church was ahead of the science: not only are many of those “contraceptives” actually abortifacients (in one or multiple modes), but the skyrocketing use of even true contraceptives is what led to the “sex without consequences” revolution, further leading to a stark rise in surgical and chemical abortions.
So, the Catholic Church – not necessarily many practicing Catholics – had it right and most of us Protestants got contraception wrong, and even abortion wrong early on, once it was legalized. Similarly, the Catholic Church, at the high levels, is pretty consistently holding the line on traditional marriage. And what is happening to many Protestant denominations? They are falling away into apostasy – and rapidly.
I’m no Catholic apologist – I think that their non-core doctrine is really bad – but it seems to me that we Protestants should give credit where credit is due. Of course, Dr. Morse herself is Catholic, so it was just a bit of legitimate self-deprecation. (This goes to show that one can be solidly Catholic and yet most naturally stand firmly and publicly for Life and Truth.) Most Catholics do need to read – and, more importantly, study with proper hermeneutics – the Bible on a more regular basis. And, like Protestants,there are quite a few Catholics in Name Only.
LikeLike