Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 61: Technology, Social Isolation and Transhumanism

Transcript

Show 61: Technology, Social Isolation and Transhumanism · The Uncensored Catholic

0:47
Hey, y'all, welcome today's show. Get a little late start this week.
1:03
I've been on the road a lot, so missed a couple of shows,
1:07
but we'll try to catch up here. You know, I've been thinking
1:11
a lot about about people, about family, about community, and you know,
1:19
my family lived in this region in eastern North Carolina, South Carolina,
1:23
Virginia since the sixteen hundreds, and you drive through the towns and they all
1:30
have my family names. You know, it'll be like one town name after
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one side of my family, another town native from the other side of a
1:36
family. And I look at things these days. You know, when I
1:42
was a kid, it was just big farms that had been in family's,
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same family for a couple hundred years. You know, grandparents, great grandparents,
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children, grandchildren all live in the same communities, and everybody knew each
1:56
other. They went to church together, and they were strong resili you good
2:00
communities. And after NAFTA and the destruction of the family farm, and then
2:05
of course the baby boomers with their divorce culture just destroyed the family. And
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everybody has to get a college degree and move halfway around the world or at
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least two or three states away from their parents. And you know, they're
2:17
just small families, and a lot of divorce and a lot of breakdown of
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family leads to a lot of breakdown of communities. And now I drive through
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these towns and they're just depressing. They're just they're dead. And I think
2:37
if we're gonna have any any chance of saving this country. And you know,
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I'm an American, I'm speaking from America. I know you'd be maybe
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listening to me somewhere else in the world. And you know, I have
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a lot of friends to live in other countries, and they always say to
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me, America is the stabilizing force, the one that gets free peace and
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freedom to everybody else. You have to save America. I can't say I
3:02
am too hopeful about America and the way things are going. You know,
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the talctful said, as long as America is good, America would be great.
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Once America is no longer good, America would no longer be great.
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We're not good anymore. We have a divorce rate of almost fifty percent,
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and that's just down from more than fifty percent because well, most people these
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days don't even bother getting married. Illegitimacy is really off the charts, and
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you know. I'm sorry it may be a hard truth, but kids that
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are born into illegitimate situations are broken. Homes that don't have two married parents
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who love them and care for them and teach them are more likely to live
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in poverty, drug abuse, violence, in and out of jail. If
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you want to just destroy a culture, devalue marriage. So I've been thinking
4:00
a lot about that, and we'll get into that in a minute. You
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know how we like to do things here, start with a couple of the
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radio replies from the classic book, and then I'll get into the heart of
4:11
the show. And so he asked, having discussed previously the nature of free
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will, and as man truly free to choose, he says, if God
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knows all things beforehand, is that not the end of our freedom? And
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they answer no, God's knowledge does not make us so act. As an
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astronomer may be able to say there will be an eclipse of the sun.
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When the eclipse comes, no one says that it had to come because the
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astronomer said it would. The astronomer's knowledge was caused by the fact that it
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would come. The eclipse was not caused by the fact that he foresaw it.
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Rather, obvious, but it should be. But people get really tripped
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up all this kind of thing. He says, Then, if I am
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free, why would I give and no choice whether I should exist or not.
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One has to exist before one can be consulted, and then it's rather
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late to consult us concerning that which has already occurred. We therefore had no
5:13
choice in this particular matter, nor could we reasonably wish to have a choice.
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If a thing will necessarily be to my harm, I would reasonably wish
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to have an opportunity of declining it. But if you wish to send me
5:25
a thousand dollars, you need not consult me. You may say that life
5:29
entails great risk, and it does, but there is no danger if we
5:33
take certain means which are within the power of all God has placed us all
5:39
upon this earth, and we know that if we obey our conscience we can
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conscience, we cannot go wrong, and no one can force us not to
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obey our conscience. If men force us against our will to do things which
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conscience forbade, we are not guilty as long as we are as long as
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we sincerely refrain from willing that things should happen. So there's the old teenage
6:01
complaint. No one asked me if I wanted to be born, Well,
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of course not. There was no you to ask. And as he said,
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if someone wants to give you something good, they need not ask you
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if you want it. And for all life's challenges, what's the old saying.
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Where there's life, there is hope, there's there's always good that can
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come from it. So I was thinking about this passage. It's from Genesis.
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The Lord God said, it is not good for the man to be
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alone. I will make a suitable partner for him. Well, you know
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the whole story of how God then made Eve from Adam's rib, and he
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said, at last, this is bone of my bone, flesh of my
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flesh, and that's the beginning. Well, it seems that our human relations
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have been disintegrating quite a bit lately. I would say our modern culture has
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become detached from human nature and really from nature itself. You know, I
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spent a lot of time in the woods. I'm a woodsman, I'm a
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gardener, I'm a wood carver, I'm a fisherman and a hunter, and
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I mean I live in nature. And you know, most people, to
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say the least say the least have very little interaction with the natural world these
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days, and I think the simplicity and profundity of a passage like this from
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Genesis is perhaps lost. You know, we live in a world where the
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individual is too often the center of his own universe or her own universe,
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whichever, and there is only his or her. There are not multiple genders.
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Impact had whole idea of multiple genders is a symptom of a great,
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you know, mental illness that comes from being attached from nature and reality.
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If you spend time in nature, you will see male and female animals.
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You don't have a whole lot of questions about the birds and the bees.
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If you spend time in a computerized fantasy world with a bunch of lunatics in
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a public school, you know, you may think you're a transgendered marmot.
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I don't know, but you're not. You're you're a boy or a girl,
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and you know, look down between your legs and figure it out.
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Anyway, we live in a world where the individual is too often the center
8:39
of her own universe. Just looking back in my notes, yes, I
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repeated myself. Sorry, the family is valued, no fault. Divorce has
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shredded the fabric of society. Children are only valued if they're wanted. More
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and more people are spiritual, but not religious, as they say, and
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if they're Christian, many reject what they call organized religion, and of course
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simple biology is rejected in gender identity. Whatever psychological, insane concepts that have
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no basis in reality. The institutions of society and government that we relied on
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only in generation or two ago are proving themselves untrustworthy and even harmful. As
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the general values of Christian culture are abandoned. We often spend more time online,
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living in a virtual world than conversing with real life friends and family are
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engaging in the physical world. Now there is much talk about Now there is
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much talk of transhumanism, a concept in which artificial intelligence would surpass human intelligence.
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Man would essentially build his own God and live forever in a cyber universe.
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The body and soul, the family, the community, and even the
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physical world are being devalued in favor of a dystopian future, devoid of even
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the concept of law. This is not new. In fact, this is
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the very sin of Satan, who rejected the authority of God in which to
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create his own loveless, individualistic existence, and set himself up as God.
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This has been repeated among men throughout history, from the Tower of Babel to
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communism. Now it's fueled not so much by ideology but by hedonism and ignorance.
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As Mark Twain may have said, a lot of people actually claimed this
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quote. History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I think
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there's a strong rhyming between transhumanism and the Tower of Babel, and the fall
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of Satan and the fall of man. You know, eat from the tree
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of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't listen to what God had to
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say. You will be like God's That's what the devil promised. But in
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this passage, from the very beginning of the Bible, we hear this very
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profound yet simple message. It is not good for the man to be alone
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man as a social animal. Simply put, we need community more than that,
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though, we need family. The nature of the Trinity is described as
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a family. Our Lord tells us of God the Father, But in modern
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America, only about half a kids even know their father, who have been
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raised with the Father and the home really less than half. Now, we're
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told in the Ten Commandments honor they father and thy mother. Yet how many
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kids grow up with the knowledge that their mother considered aboording them or raised them
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more by daycare in public schools, or they were raised more by daycare in
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public schools and by their own mother. We're told we're brothers and sisters in
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Christ, but many of us have no concept of family whatsoever. We're called
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the body of Christ, but many of us have no concept of love and
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unity that we're supposed to learn through familial relationships. As from the beginning,
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God provides us the answer. We can find community in the Catholic Church.
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We may find a spouse good luck I haven't been able to, But too
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often a Catholic church is not a very friendly place for single people. We
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go silently into Mass and watch all the families sitting together on their pews.
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No one speaks to us at all, except during the mandatory greeting, you
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know, give each other's a sign of peace. There's no opportunity to speak
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to anyone After the eu Chris, people begin leaving as quickly as it can.
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Most often, all ministries and church activities are focused on children, young
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families, religious education, and the elderly. If your parish is in a
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college town. You may have something for college students, but that's about it,
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especially if you work for a living, because most things you know we
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could be involved in tend to happen on weekdays during working hours. Most volunteer
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opportunities seem to be oriented around the retired, at least that's been my experience,
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you know. I know, North Carolina is not like everywhere. Most
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of our Catholic population is either retirees who've moved in from the North or military
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families. But I've never been at a church where there was anything a single
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young man could do, where he could meet a single young woman if there
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was over the age of eighteen and under the age of eighty. Okay,
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we often hear homilies about how we must do more to help those who are
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lonely and either socially or economically or physically isolated, and we certainly should do
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that. I mean, the church is not supposed to be a country club,
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But you know what, how often do we think about those who are
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sitting on the pews with us. I mean, I would not wish for
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the church to become a social club. I appreciate mass, I appre appreciate
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the reverence during Mass. I actually, you know, really prefer the Latin
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Mass, even though I go to a nova sort of church. I think
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the One of God though, would be much better served if our church encourage
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more fellowship. I have to say, having been a Protestant, having been
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involved in Methodist and Baptist churches, they do a much better job in that
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regard. They have all kinds of activities, whether they're charitable. And you
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know, sometimes I get a little tired of me and asked for money every
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time I go to anything that involves the church. And it's really hard,
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especially you know, when you're younger and you're starting out and you don't have
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a lot of money. Everything you go, I mean, you go to
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a I think I said it last week Nights of Columbus fish Fry. No
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I didn't. I actually something else I didn't say that. I'll give you
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this example. I guess it was about two thousand and eight, and I
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was in my early twenties and doing working in journalism, and of course two
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thousand and eight hit, that was a great recession, and I basically lost
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everything ever night. And what do you do when you're in You're in trouble.
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You know, you go church more, you pray more. You should
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anyway, And I tried going to get involved in my church and it's during
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Lent and they had a nights of Columbus fish fry and the priest said,
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everyone go buy a plate and you know it'll go to benefit various charities and
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all that. And I'm like, okay, maybe you know I can talk
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to a few people, meet somebody after Mass. I'd be nice. We
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haven't really had any social interaction. And I went and got one piece of
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frozen fish and a handful of frozen fries and a coke and they charged me
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twenty five dollars, sat by myself. No one talked to me. Everyone
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was in their little family groups, and left having spent more money on one
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meal than was my boat grocery budget for the entire week. And I never
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went to another church event again. Not at parish. There was no place
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for a single working young man. There was. It was only for financially
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comfortable retirees. And if you think that was trough on me, well think
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about what it was for somebody who went in there with like a family of
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five or six kids. Because they weren't given discounts. You know, I
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know I priests, most of most of them are very well meaning, good
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people. But you know what if you were supported by your family through all
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of your school years, right, someone else was paying your way, and
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then you became a priest, and of course you take a vow poverty,
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but all your needs are paid for by the church. You probably don't understand
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what it means to struggle financially and have trouble paying your bills or much less,
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have trouble paying for your kids stuff. Now I don't have kids,
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but I can imagine there's young families that went in that same situation that I
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did, really had a tough time for That was two thousand and eight.
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That was a bad year for everybody. It's set the wealthy retirees who were
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doing just fine and we're running everything at the church. They didn't think about
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the needs of people like me or young families, and neither did the priests,
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because it's entirely foreign. The priest ever pays a bill, you know,
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they don't pay you know, there's there's an old saying that don't vote
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for a politician who's never signed the front of a paycheck. Well, you
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know, there are actually people that are calling the shots around here have never
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signed the front or back of a check. Everything. I mean, they
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work hard, and they deserve it because they work for the church, but
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I mean they're essentially getting a free ride, and it's not always easy for
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them to understand. And I know that's not true. I mean said,
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you know, for all, I mean, some priests do get you know,
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stipends and they have essentially a paycheck, but depending on what order,
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I mean, some of them actually just you know, don't really have anything
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much to do with money at all, and they don't understand the economic realities
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of life. And you know, I remember talking with the priests one time,
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very honest priests, very good priests came. He came to the church
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later in life. He had he had had a career and everything, and
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we were talking about Catholic charities and how they're just you know, really not
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doing moral things. And I said, I don't feel comfortable giving it to
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Catholic charities anymore. And he said, look, you know, I agree
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with you. They are they're they're enabling human trafficking and drugs smuggling. For
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what they're doing on the border, don't put any money in the second collection.
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You know, he wouldn't even have it at his church except from the
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bishop's insistence. But he said, and here's another thing you need to know.
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The Catholic Church has plenty of money. Don't ever feel bad because you
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cannot donate. They got plenty of The church has plenty of money. He
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said, what they don't have enough is people of good will and charity.
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Be a person of good will and charity, give where it makes a difference.
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You know, don't feel you have to put that dollar in the plate
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if you don't think it's going to be used for a moral purpose. It
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was essentially what he was saying. And it came down to, you know,
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he was very upset about, you know, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi
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not being excommunicated. And he said, you know the reason and the Kennedy
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some of the Kennedy's, you know, like Ted Kennedy was a really bad
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dude, okay, And he said, the reason the church will not excommunicate
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him is because he wants it, wants their money. And here's a priest,
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a faithful Catholic, telling me, a faithful Catholic, the church has
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plenty of money. Well, now we've got diocese going bankrupt because they turned
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a blind eye to homosexuals who prayed on little boys. You can call them
20:21
pedophiles if you want, but they didn't seem to really mess with little girls
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a lot. Probably a reason for that, maybe because we made the church
20:27
a great, big closet and said, if your son seems to have homosexual
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tendencies, tell him to become a priest. Probably a bad idea. Maybe,
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Instead of listening to psychologists telling us that homosexuality is not immoral, we
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should have had serious priests counseling these people and telling them, explaining to them
20:49
that the Bible actually says a homosexual will not go to heaven. You've got
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a psychological issue if you have, say, sex attraction, and it's going
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to be hard. And yes, people do have that psychological problem. There
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are men who are born effeminate, there are women who are born more masculine,
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and some not all have same sex attraction and that is a psychological and
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spiritual disorder and it needs to be treated as such and not hushed up.
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But you know what, the Diocese of San Francisco wouldn't be going bankrupt had
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it not become a closet for predatory homosexuals. Yeah, that's totally politically correct
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for me to say that, But I'm just telling you what the Bible and
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the Catechism says treat people of. One of the ways we treat people respect
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is treating them honestly. And if the Bible says, and if the Church
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says this is a mortal sin, we don't need to be making it.
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Okay, that's it. But anyway, let's get back to when I was
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intending to talk about. So, I think as much as our focus should
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be on helping the poor and the needy and doing all our charitable works,
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we should also be looking at people sitting on the pews around us in the
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mass. How many people are sitting alone, young people, old people,
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people in between, people whose marriages have fallen apart. You know, maybe
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their spouse just left them or was abusive, you know, and they're probably
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going through a divorce and they really need to be getting annulled, you know,
22:42
to set things right. But they're just sitting on the pew. They're
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broken and lonely, and no one's reaching out to them. What about you
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know, widows and widowers, And I mean actually, in most of the
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churches I go to, there's a ton of stuff for the elderly. Now,
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I know that may not be true in all parishes. Like I said,
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there's you've got a whole church community from birth to the age of eighteen,
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and then you go off to a Catholic college, and then you're supposed
23:11
to get married. And then then you know, you come in and you're
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a parent of one of those kids that's going through Catechism and Catholic school and
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all that, and then nothing between the ages of say what twenty one and
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seventy or eighty, you're on your own. You're just really supposed to work,
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come in, kneel and put some money in the plate, and you
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know, just go away quietly and not demand anything. Right, that's great
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if you got that chance to get married, you know, if you're like
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me and God never brought the right woman into your life. Well, actually,
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some of the loneliest times in my life have been at Mass, you
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know, sitting there seeing the families together. Sometimes they're multigenerational, and you
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know, of course I miss that most of my families passed away. Seeing
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the young couples, seeing the young spouses, your parents with their kids,
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watching the children play, kind of being shunned by the the the older ones
24:25
that are running everything, you know, the ushers and and and all that
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been. Uh yeah, if you've been there, you know exactly what I'm
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talking about. Going to church can be one of the loneliest things you can
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experience. And the priest doesn't get that. You know, he's he's his
24:48
whole life's the church. He's celibate, and you know, does not have
24:53
the same concerns that you have. The older retirees they don't get that.
24:59
The young couples, they don't get that. And those of us in you
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know, in between the age of being kids or young parents and retirees just
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kind of drift in and out, unseen, unwanted. Essentially, it's at
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you better. They want that money in the plate. I can tell you
25:18
that much. Uh you know, first collection, second collection, Done you
25:23
for this charity, Done you for that charity. And oh we're gonna have
25:26
a dinner and you better be ready to pay. And there's gonna be a
25:30
concert and it's gonna be you know, one hundred dollars a ticket plus travel,
25:34
and then we're gonna have a pilgrimage and it's going to cost you several
25:40
thousand dollars to take part in that. And wait a minute, you've never
25:44
been to Rome. Well how can a Catholic never have been to Rome?
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Oh, you didn't get an all expenses paid for a trip when you were
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in your teens, and you didn't have a few extra thousand dollars to spend
25:59
when you're in your twenties. Yeah, that's the way it goes. It's
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just a matter of the people who are running the show are in an entirely
26:11
different place in life. Well, meanwhile, I mean, you know the
26:17
parish down the road for me, well, you know, next county over.
26:19
It's a largely Hispanic parish, mostly illegal immigrants, and we do tons
26:27
of fundraisers and charity drives to give them, you know, a free ride
26:30
on everything. Okay, I don't actually have a problem with that, but
26:37
again, shouldn't be people be treated equally. I mean, it's in that
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sort of the foundational principle of you know, they're neither june or gentile.
26:47
There's no other you know, slave nor free man. There's you know,
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that's that's sort of what the Bible says and what our church is supposed to
26:53
be about. But anyway, it seems like I guess I'll put it this
27:00
way. We should absolutely do very formal, very reverent, very religious Mass.
27:14
I'm not looking for any social interaction within the Mass. We should absolutely
27:18
volunteer and give to charity. I mean we should, that's our calling as
27:23
Christians as well. But you know, there's nothing wrong with a good old
27:26
fashioned church picnic either, just a chance for people to get together, you
27:30
know, bring a covered dish. That's what they do at Protestant churches.
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I'm told that's what they at least used to do at Catholic churches in you
27:38
know, the Midwest, people would have fish fries and covered potlucks and covered
27:44
dinners. If we could have some of that, really in every parish in
27:51
the country, we'd be a lot more like the Family of God. And
27:56
I think we'd see a lot more families Catholics meeting other Catholics and being part
28:04
of a church as opposed to you know, once you're out of school,
28:11
you're on your own. You know, if you didn't meet and marry someone
28:15
in at the Catholic college you were supposed to attend, you're on your own.
28:21
Until you get old, and then you're welcome again. That's the way
28:23
it seems to me. But you know, even even if you're in like
28:29
a tiny little parish and there's not even enough people would get together and just
28:33
have a potlock, which you know, I don't get that. I think
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we could at least have something where there wasn't a fee to get in and
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people could just communicate and get know each other and maybe be encouraged to do
28:47
a little fellowship. You know, the old adage a smile costs nothing.
28:53
It still it still rings true. So whether you're at the church or in
28:59
a grocery store, turn off your phone. Seriously, please turn off your
29:03
phone during mass. That is like the rudest, most horrible thing. If
29:07
you're sitting on your phone texting during the Holy Mass or the thing rings.
29:11
I mean that, you know, you know, when Jesus came in and
29:18
drove the money changers out with turning chords into whips. That ought happened to
29:22
anybody who's got a phone on during mass. Okay, Now, if there's
29:26
a family situation, it's emergency, put it on vibrate, walk out and
29:30
answer it. Okay, But I go to the grocery store. And I
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can't tell you how many times or you know anything. I just use grocer
29:37
store as an example. Go the post office, go walk down the street
29:41
walking my dog or something. People walking around on a cell phone. They're
29:44
totally unconnected. They're not interacting with anyone to get around them. I was
29:48
actually standing in line one time in the grocery store and there was a maybe
29:53
twenty five thirty year old girl, woman whatever, on a cell phone complain
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to her friend, another female. I could hear the voice about how she
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can't meet anyone. She's standing in a grocery store full of people. Here
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I am a single man, like five feet away from her. She doesn't
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see me because she's on the phone complaining how she can't meet a man.
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Here's an idea. Hang up the fricking cell phone, turn around, smile
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and say hi to the people around you. Yeah, revolutionary concept in our
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day and time. Right. That is the problem. We are becoming so
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isolated due to technology and the breakdown of the family. We need to take
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action, and you know, let's talk to her priests about it. Let's
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try to get some more just playing fellowship, not coming together to support a
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cause. Or a charity, no cover fee, just a chance for people
30:56
to meet each other. Okay, that would be great. But also in
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your daily life, speak to strangers. You know, keep an eye out
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for someone who needs a helping hand, looks lonely, you know, open
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a door for somebody. See an elderly person and say, and they're trying
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to get something off the high shelf, ask if you can help them with
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it. Just go through life speaking to strangers and being friendly, simple basic
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acts of human kindness. Just saying hello, that will probably do more for
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the body of Christ, that will represent Jesus better in this world. Then
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dropping a few bucks in the second collection, and then you know, rushing
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out of the parking lot and not having spoken to anyone except when you were
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commanded essentially to shake their hand during the Sign of Piece. You know,
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maybe that's just because I'm a Southern we tend to be a little more friendly
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and but I don't know, I don't know. I just think if we're
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going to combat transhumanism, we have to be more human. We have to
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be more humane. If we're going to combat atheism and etc. Secularism,
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we need to show more kindness and love to the people around us, and
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we're better to start than those who are sitting on the pews of your own
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church that you see every Sunday. Do you even know their names? I
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can honestly say perhaps only the priest at my parish knows my name. There
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has never been an opportunity to even meet someone enough to say, Hi,
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my name is Judson Carroll. I don't I just I don't think that's what
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I don't think that's what God intended about anyway. In the words of Saint
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Padre Pia, pray, hope and don't worry, and I'll talk to y'all
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next time.