Freedom of Choice Incurs Responsibility

The State must construe according to the laws of Man, to its convenience and to public opinion, the Church must construe according to the Truth of Devine Revelation, and the individual – that is you and me – may construe according to his or her conscience.

This is not a very difficult concept to understand, but people’s vanity makes it so. We – that is you and me – tend to take credit for all the things that go right in our lives and, by the same token, we tend to shun responsibility for what goes ill. When things go wrong, we want someone else to blame and we forget that the choice that originated the misfortune is our very own; even if we delegate that choice to a third party. By extension, the State does the same. Each administration will take credit for whatever goes well, and then they'll blame the previous administration - or some global/social/economics phenomenon - for what went wrong. Natural as it may be, this attitude is entirely unfair and incorrect.

Whether our conscience is ruled by conviction or by convenience it’s our very own God-given right to free will that shall decide. Yet this necessarily implies that, when things go sour, we must take responsibility for our conduct. It is funny to me that most people in our society won’t do that. They will ardently pursue their own doom by behaving in certain unbecoming and/or irresponsible ways, and then they’ll blame fate - or some other party - for their destiny.

Take for instance the concept of “overpopulation” that is so diffused nowadays, and the proliferation of “Aids”, which are both somewhat connected. A lot of pseudo-thinkers overtly blame the Catholic Church for these social phenomena because we won’t brook our values to be corrupted by an ill guided popular belief that the use of condoms will solve everything. Let’s stop a while and think: Where is the problem originated? Is it originated in the midst of celibate priests who do not even contribute to populational increase and who frown upon the concept of “free sex”? Is it originated in monogamous couples and their families of between one and four children on average? Or is it originated in a population who has bought the idea sold to them by Hollywood and by secular society that the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake is what will make them happy? I don’t know about you, but the latter seems more conducive to irresponsible lasciviousness to me.

The point of the matter is: If you choose hedonism as a way of life, you are already behaving outside the indication of the Catholic Church, and therefore you have taken responsibility for your choice outside the prescription of the Church. Why then do you feel compelled to blame the Church you already disobeyed for not agreeing that you should disobey it again? Why blame the Church that said "don't do it" for any disgrace that befalls you when you do do it? It is not at all coherent. By extension, when society in general decides to behave outside the prescription of the Church, it cannot in fair mind blame the Church for the consequences.

If you are not yet convinced, take a simple fact into consideration: Asia harbours over 60% of the world’s population. It’s a simple fact. Easy to remember, but it is one not often discussed in the media. Now, couple this simple fact with another: Asian countries are not predominantly Roman Catholic. It’s another very obvious and very simple fact, but it is again omitted in the media whenever the subject of “overpopulation” is discussed. Now, with both facts in mind, you will soon arrive at the conclusion that the Catholic Church is not at all responsible for the size of the population of the Earth.

Then, why do we blame the Church for the ills that happen out of “free sex” even if the Church is not a supporter of "free sex"? There’s a good question! To find the answer, it is logical to think on whose best interest is the blaming of the Church. Who benefits from eroding belief in the Church? Funnily enough, it is the same people that sold you the idea that “free sex” is happiness. Coincidence? Again, this isn’t hard to understand: If your profit lies in a behaviour that contradicts the prescriptions of the Church – e.g. Selling condoms, renting motel rooms, selling x-rated movies, birth control pills etc. – wouldn’t it make sense for you to have people distance themselves from the Church? If people buy your idea, they’ll be buying your products as well over and over again. If they buy your products, and you advertise to sell more, then the media stands to gain as well; hence media support for your "theories". Does the Catholic Church advertise on TV? No. They don't make for very good advertising accounts. They don't contribute to the richness of media magnats and money makers, so they don't have a very strong say in the media.

Why do you let yourself be convinced? Simple: Because it is convenient for you to think that what you want – in this example: pleasure and free sex – is what’s good for you. It is convenient because you get what you want, and you feel good about it; at least until the bad of it hits you. Yes. You’ve read right. You’ll feel good until that dire moment when you discover you were lied to, and while someone made loads of money on your “free pleasure” you are left with sadness and defeat. You’ll be in hedonistic bliss until you unravel your destiny with a nasty surprise of some sort that would not have happened if you abided by a wisdom meant to help you live a good and fulfilling life. If you think I'm being dramatic, it's because your choices haven't led you to their ultimate consequence yet, or maybe you just don't care. This leads me to another funny thing:

It strikes me that people say “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” but they conveniently let themselves believe that there is such a thing as “free sex”. Is not sex more valuable on the market than lunch? Well, maybe not to some… Even so, the thing is: There’s no such thing as free sex. Free sex is a myth. Why? Because there are ALWAYS consequences; whether they are good or bad. If you are not acquainted with the principle of Causality, here's a brief explanation based on our example: If you pursue "free sex", then there is always someone getting a lot of pleasure, or someone getting romantically involved, or someone getting pregnant, or someone getting hurt in their feelings, or someone contracting a venereal disease, or a child being corrupted, or a family being destroyed; the list goes on. The point is "something" always happens as a result of "free sex". Nothing is absolutely free and there’s always a price attached. If you pick well, the price may be easy to bear. On the other hand, if you pick ill, that price my be steep.

So, next time you make up your mind about something, consider that you may have to remember that the onus of your decisions is your own. Consider that you will have no one to blame but yourself because ultimately, we each choose our own destiny.