David M Comments
%user:name Comments
Did you know that God actually commands the use of images or worship? Yes, he does. Look at the Ark of the Covenant and what was on top of it: two HUGE statues of Cherubim. Also, in Exodus 26:1, God commands that images of Cherubim be woven into the the fabric for curtains in the Tabernacle. So, obviously God wants us to have images of heavenly creatures where we worship. The commandment just tells us that we are not to worship these images as we worship God.
It is interesting given the fact that Catholics have large families that the author here asserts, “The idea that sex was dirty and evil was an idea that crept into Christianity from early Catholic teachers."
Here's the issue. The natural end of sex is reproduction. Pleasure is not an end in and of itself, but is a natural result of sex, otherwise we wouldn't reproduce. When you bifurcate the purpose of sex into having two ends- reproduction and pleasure, then each of these ends should be able to be satisfied. If one of the purposes of sex is pleasure, it reduces man to animal instincts and then any sexual act should be acceptable if pleasure is the ultimate goal.
However, God doesn't condemn homosexual acts in the Bible arbitrarily. Sex that is not ordered towards its only end- reproduction, is sin. Contraception means "against conception". It is disordered just as homosexuality is disordered. Within marriage, there are alternatives to contraception such as Natural Family Planning which doesn't go against the natural moral law.
You said, "The Roman emperor Constantine the Great decided to make Christianity the official state religion to further unify and strengthen his empire. "
This is incorrect. Christianity was only legalized by Constantine (Edict of Milan).
Christianity didn't become the official religion until the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD under Emperor Theodosius I, long after Constantine was dead.