Sunday, January 11, 2009

NO RIGHT TO HAPPINESS

Mr. A and Mrs. B left their respective spouses to pursue a relationship together.  The question is, did they have a right to this happiness?  The pursuit of happiness was instated in the United States Declaration of Independence, but it didn't come without restrictions.  A man is free to pursue happiness under the law as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others.  Now one could argue that taking the wife or husband of another person is infringing on their rights.  Think about it.  Marriage is a contract... an agreement to be loyal: to have and to hold that person from that day forward, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and to be faithful until death may part the two.  The question is, why has our society neglected to hold marriage as a sacred promise.  People divorce and remarry like it's nothing; like it's meaningless.  When Lewis encounters people opposed to prudery in terms of sex.  "They meant that sex was to be treated as no other impulse in our nature has ever been treated by a civilized people. All the others, we admit, have to be bridled."  Although Lewis wrote this during his lifetime, his statement rings true now more than ever... sex is rarely reserved for marriage and has been reduced to pure physicality, even though God created it to represent much more. 

In his last paragraphs, Lewis makes his final points.  In one, he discusses the promiscuousness of women in current society.  He says he "has no sympathy for moralists who frown at the increasing crudity of female provocativeness."  After all, it is the men of society who created the physical standard that these women must face.  Time and time again, Christians condemn women who don't value modesty.  Our society is appearance-driven and materialistic, and those who buy into it shouldn't be reprimanded, but pitied.  Valuing the ideas of this world over God's is the greatest sign of discontent.  It means that these women have not found the only thing that can ultimately fulfill them, so instead they resort to attempt to fill this void with what the world promises.  Therefore, we should embrace them rather than condemn them, for we have found true joy, and as followers of Christ are obligated to share this joy with our broken world.

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