Yeah if you take what 21st century jesuits and jews claim as face value it probably is. It is also a massive red herring because whether clerical celibacy is a dogma or not is not relevant to the discussion at all. Again, The Bible/Jesus establishes a hierarchy so that celibacy is preferable to marriage. It does not argue that the clerical body
must be celibate, and no such claim was ever made.
No, it is not a 'tried and true method'. It
depends. It depends on the people involved. If marriage is lived as ascetic practice of learning to love theosis can be achieved. Conversely, every sexual desire always contains a measure of objectification through fetish and fantasy, so it is never only purely about love. Thus marriage is a remedy that acknowledges that very few actually can live an ascetic life and likewise allows the couple to work through potentially destructive sexual desires ascetically.
Your blanket exoneration of marriage of 'tried and true' was wrong, is wrong and will be forever wrong within the context of Christianity,
even in the Orthodox Church. Achieving theosis requires work. And celibacy is the preferred path.
At least your simplistic understanding of the issue is in perfect agreement with our current time, where marriage is entirely destroyed. "Just get married Bro"
Sweeper wrote: ↑
December 11th, 2023, 12:42
I don't see how that can be the case. The core of gnosticism lies in the idea that material existence itself is evil due to the demiurge creating it. Anti-natalism then becomes a logical conclusion.
That is one branch of Gnosticism. There are many others. The common denominator is that Gnosticism values experience over authority, so it is on the other end from my position. The church is strongly influenced by Gnosticism as are many positions given here.