
†
by: Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo
There are
basically two ways to understand ourselves, as human beings,
and our surroundings:
A- To use our intellectual capacity, thus noticing:
1) Planet earth
and the universe were formed a long time before we existed;
the Natural Law does not depend on us, but we should
discover it, given the fact that at some point of the
cosmos’ history,
humans appeared on earth in the form of a family.
2) Our human
constitution follows a design that is not of our own making,
in which common and similar organs and systems are installed
for a specific function and goal. A
fundamental diversity between male and female
is obviously observed, as well as a structural correlation
between them, for the clear purpose of reproduction.
3) We also
observe a connection, continuity of composition, and similar
systems of functionality, between our human constitution and
the world around us, and may recognize, therefore,
the laws and rules of our existence and finality,
which direct us to our Maker and to our own fulfillment.
B- To abdicate the use of our rational capacity to observe and
connect the
phenomena of the universe in their marvelous design, thus
adopting such positions:
1) Our
existence and that of the cosmos is
an accident of happenstance.
No transcendent Maker, no primordial design, no ultimate
purpose, no finality. Most of all: no sin there, nor virtue.
We are born and die as dumb matter, the result of blind
forces.
2) In regard to
the human race and family: to be or become a
male or female is a matter of personal elective choice,
so is the composition of the kind of family to be formed by
two persons, so is the kind of marriage that establishes
that kind of family.
3) No laws rule
us or precede us; we freely establish the rules that govern
society and morality
without restriction from any natural or divine law.
The summary result:
Either we acknowledge God, the universal Father, fountain and
final destiny of our being, and act accordingly, as exposed in
proposition A, or adopt proposition B in which we end up
choosing ourselves to be our own factual god. Ourselves, being
no gods at all, end up most miserable and a destructive force
for our society.
Family and Fatherhood:
In our time and
country, which is a rich and mighty Superpower,
basic choices are presented to us,
similar to those presented to the citizens of the Roman
Empire, in comparable position of wealth and might. Healthy
reasoning, the collective conscience and wisdom of human
generations, confirmed and enlightened by divine revelation,
should guide us
to
recognize and abide by natural and divine laws,
in which the right order of society, the wellbeing of
community, and the fulfillment of individuals is based. The
Maker made the human family male and female, man and woman,
husband and wife; so they are made in their own constitution:
biological, psychological, and spiritual. Based on that
individual constitution is each one’s personal call and
mission in this world.
Fatherhood is where the initiative of new human life resides
with a principal responsibility for the whole family and a
rewarding blessing of