What does Jesus have to say about living in sin and IVF?
IVF? What's that?
The Nationalist Party has locked away its conscience as it prepares the way for a cohabitation bill and legislation on artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation, embryo freezing and the like.
Jesus never pronounced himself on these matters but the Catholic Church has done so repeatedly, the Pope railing against living in sin on his recent visit to Croatia.
So why divorce? You tell me, because I am at a loss to understand. Of course, if our laws followed what Jesus said and what the Pope wants, it would make Malta quite literally a theocracy, but transgressions of human rights would necessarily be involved so that’s not going to happen.
Instead, the government is selective.
It’s a damn shame that Eddie Fenech Adami had to put in his two-cents worth as well.
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I have always maintained that moral issues should not be decided on the principle of democratic majorities but rather on the principle of what is morally right.
As a Christian I believe, on the authority of none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that divorce is morally wrong and therefore wrong for society.
Should one change this view because a democratic majority decides otherwise? Definitely not. It is now up to members of parliament to stand up and be counted when they come to vote on a divorce bill that will now inevitably come up for debate in parliament.
This will put to the test each member’s credibility on moral issues that will leave a permanent effect on the well-being of society.
– Eddie Fenech Adami, The Sunday Times, June 5
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In the same newspaper, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was quoted as having said: “It’s not up to our personal feelings any more…You can never, as a legislator, put your religious beliefs before the common good.”
The mistake he makes here is not to see that some MPs, the prime minister included, actually think that their beliefs ARE the common good.
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Messenger of the lord Eddie Fenech Adami, praise be upon him, never did know how to retire gracefully.
It would have been better to retain him as President of the Republic ad aeternum – this would have been the only Constitutional way in which he could have been stopped from expressing his views on this matter of public controversy. Does that rule not apply to “Presidenti Emeriti” as well?
If only Fenech Adami bowed out of politics when he ought to have done so! He’d be remembered for freeing the country from oppressive socialism and bringing prosperity. Now he’ll be remembered as the PM who became president, and the political relic who adamantly opposed divorce.
@ciccio Then we would have had him not sign the divorce bill passed through parliament on a matter of conscience, so probably not a good idea there.
Remember Rocco Buttiglione? His chances of being appointed as an EU commissioner were scuppered by his admission that he believed homosexuality to be a sin.
He hastened to add that he didn’t think it was a crime, just a sin, i.e. that he could see that there is a separation between church and state and that, as EU commissioner, he would observe the rules of the latter despite his belief in the former.
He didn’t get the job.
That still leaves him with the possibility of becoming a Cardinal – even a Pope, maybe.
Shame we can’t have a Maltese Pope.
Now imagine one of the two Tonios or Gonzi (or God forbid, Edwin Vassallo) being interviewed by the EP to become EU Commisioner. What would they answer when asked about divorce?
Can any one, for argument’s sake. point chapter and verse where Jesus said that annullment is permissible? Is it mentioned anywhere in the Gospel?
[Daphne – Jesus wasn’t a notary. Annulment is all about contract law – nothing to do with religion as such.]
If divorce is God forbidden, why is it permitted in the Orthodox religion and in other mono theistic creeds? Or is it that only the Maltese and the Phillipines are going to heaven?
“Or is it that only the Maltese and the Phillipines are going to heaven.”
Bugger. I was rather banking on some Orthodox crumpet in the hereafter.
Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
When two married people divorce and remarry they will still be living (with their new spouse) in sin.
Jammy buggers!
Baptism removes original sin – what sin ?
It is all very well for Eddie Fenech Adami and all the other MPs to hide behind their conscience but they need to realise that having a conscience and principles should not prevent one from doing what is right.
These old guys might actually believe there is a heaven and they are desperately hoping they can get in by voting No.
That is why religion is so dangerous when applied to anything that requires any form of rational debate and deliberation. Ironically, religion makes sense because it doesn’t make sense.
A religion with facts and truths would not be a religion but a science, or a philosophy. It is evident that every time religion is put in the spotlight in any political debate, we immediately see its true nature.
What emerge are undemocratic and irrational agendas with supposed universal truths. What worries me personally is how any action can be justified with the mentioning of the “true” judge of human action – God.
What struck me about the divorce referendum result was something very obvious that religious discourse in Malta makes you forget; that apart from being Catholics and Maltese, Maltese people are also human beings. In any case where one’s freedom for his own future is taken away from him, any individual would not give a hoot about the church, his neighbour, aunt, uncle, mother father, or anyone’s opinion.
If one feels that he needs divorce to be free and in control of his life, he will aim to attain that freedom.
What drives us is our will to freedom, and the referendum result reminded me of that, and in a way showed me that the Maltese population realised that religion is not their ultimate reality.
However, all of a sudden, things are going downhill again. The cause? Surprise, surprise; religious discourse. I think that religion is effective in people’s lives when it addresses religious needs through religious discourse, for those who need it.
Anything other than that is just a sick and twisted form of the very typical Maltese Superiority Complex which we suffer from so much.