The Case Against Monks

God created the world. He is the one who decides how we should live. God reveals His Words and His Will in Scripture. So it is to Scripture that we should go to see how we should live.

This conversation started when I said that monasticism was unBiblical, and I have laboured (having fun) over the last few posts to lay out my case, my reasons, deal with issues, etc. But I thought it worthwhile to lay out my entire case, all at once, to provide a framework for future discussion. So, here it is:

1. Marriage is normative

2. Exceptions to the norm need to be specifically justified

3. Monasticism is not a justified exception

There, that was quick, eh? Well, yes. Perhaps too quick. Let’s put out a longer form:

1. God is the creator.

   1. He created all things

   2. Designed all things

   3. Put in place rules for all things

   4. Provides rewards and punishments for obedience to his design

2. One of the things that God created was marriage

   1. He is its author

   2. He is its designer

   3. He put the rules in place for it

   4. He says who it is for, and who it isn’t for

      1. So it is God who decides who should marry

      2. God decides who shouldn’t marry

   5. Our job is to do the will of God

   6. God reveals His Will in His Word

      1. In his word he reveals His Will by direct commands

      2. In His Word He reveals His Will by examples of Godly men

      3. In His Word He reveals His Word by who and when He chooses to bless

3. God has revealed that marriage is normative and commanded

   1. He had commanded marriage in several locations

      1. A command to have children is obviously a command to marry

   2. He shows us multiple examples of Godly men having married

      1. He does not show us any direct examples of Godly men not having married in the Old Testament

      2. He shows us an exceptional future example of unmarried men in the 144,000 in the book of Revelation.

   3. He shows us multiple example of giving His blessings on marriage or via marriage

      1. He also shows us a negative blessing, ie a lack, on someone being unmarried.

   4. God specifically forbids forbidding to marry

4. God reveals that sex in marriage is normative and commanded

   1. He commands sex in marraige

   2. He shows Godly men having sex in marriage

   3. He shows us blessings related to sex in marriage

      1. And, conversely, curses on sex outside of marriage

      2. And curses on not having sex in marriage

5. God reveals that having children is normative and commanded¹

   1. In His Word He has commanded children in several areas

   2. In His Word He shows us multiple examples of Godly men having children

      1. He also shows us examples of Godly men not having children, and showing this as a lack, a problem.

   3. In His Word He shows us multiple examples of blessings coming on the Godly man via having children

6. God reveals that raising children in Godliness is normative and commanded

   1. In His Word He commands that children be raised in Godliness

   2. In His Word He gives us examples of Godly men raising Godly children

   3. In His Word He shows us multiple examples of blessings coming on a Godly man because of his Godly children

7. God reveals various exceptions to marriage in Scripture

   1. Physical disability

      1. At birth

      2. Caused by man

   2. Specific forbidding:

      1. Incest Laws

      2. A woman already being married

         1. With restrictions on divorce in order to remarry

      3. Various restrictions regarding priests etc

      4. Various other nations they weren’t allowed to marry

      5. Marrying ‘in the LORD’

   3. Conditional problem

      1. The curse of Jeremiah’s time

      2. The distress of the time of I Corinthians

         1. Even this distress was not a forbidding, but a warning.

      3. The exceptional time of the 144,000 in the Book of Revelation

   4. The presence of a gift of continence

      1. This is an addition to the issues in (c ) not an additional reason

   5. The example of the older widows in I Timothy 5

      1. Note that younger widows are specifically excluded

8. Monasticism is not among the exceptions given in Scripture

   1. Generally speaking monastics are not suffering from a physical disability

      1. If they were, they would, indeed, be an exception

   2. Generally speaking, monastics are not in the midst of some conditional problem.

   3. If they were, and if they have the gift of continency, that would be an exception

9. The vow that the monastics take is specifically problematic

   1. It means they are not merely ‘unmarried’

   2. It binds them despite any future circumstances

      1. Thus even if being unmarried might be appropriate now, they bind themselves even if it becomes inappropriate later

   3. They confuse the gift of continency with a vow of celibacy

      1. Thus they claim for themselves something only God can know

10. Modern timing of monasticism is particularly problematic

    1. We live in an age where marriage is under attack

       1. Divorce

       2. Dating

       3. Black Pilling

    2. We live in an age where childbearing is under attack

       1. Abortion

       2. Birth Control

       3. Pet parents

       4. Demographic Death

          1. We live in an age where most countries are not having nearly enough children to even reproduce themselves

          2. This death is accompanied by Godless philosophies that equate having children with destroying the planet

    3. We live in a age where parents are not raising their children in Godliness

       1. Lack of family worship

       2. Lack of church attendance

       3. Children leaving the faith in college

       4. Massive moves to liberalism

Reference

Please note that this post is a reference post, and subject to revision. I doubt anything will be deleted, but much could be added. For the most part references are not given, but there shouldn’t be a point where they don’t exist.

Links

1. To address the inevitable sophistic objection, in all cases where something is commanded, what is commanded is not success, but effort. God make it clear that He is the one who blesses the Godly man with a wife, children, and that those children follow Him. But attempting to avoid those things is clearly sin.