Tag Archives: Commitment

Ep93 Encore: Sex before Marriage

June 23, 2023UncategorizedCatholic Church, Commitment, evil, God, Love, Passion, Pleasure, Promiscuity, Selfishness, Sex, Sexually Desirable, St. Augustine, Theology of Desirewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:51 — 9.0MB)

A high school listener asks, “Will I go to hell if I have sex before marriage?” Father Len offers some sober, surprising, and humorous answers and insight about passion, sex, and promiscuity.

Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

There’s nothing wrong with sex. It’s so natural. Nothing could be more natural. It’s part of the drive of life that God gives us.
Sexual passion is good. It drives us to seek each other out. It brings us together, but there’s something better.
Augustine’s highly promiscuous life taught him what was missing in his life.
Sometimes things are wrong, not because they’re evil, but because they’re not good enough.
Promiscuity is wrong because it can train you to use and hurt other people and not be committed.
Being sexual is part of what it means to be a human being, but the best part of being human is something greater. Commitment and love.
Passion and pleasure can be blinding, but also be very enlightening. True passion opens you up for God.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/

Ep91 Encore: Commitments, Happiness, Love and Having Kids

April 15, 2023UncategorizedAspirations, Butch Otter, Canada, Catholic, Christ, Commitment, Feelings, God, Hannah Arendt, Happiness, Howard Stern, Lauren Miller, Montana, Religion, sacrifice, Seth Rogen, Shackleton Expedition, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:31 — 27.0MB)

Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.

Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

“It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern
God asks of us that our lives be life-giving.
Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness.
Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness.
You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments.
“Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations.”-Hannah Arendt
Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever.
People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t.
The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments.
People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy.
Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away.
Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure.
Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness.
Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media.
The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children.
Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have.
Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like.
God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away.
Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is.
God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/

Ep68 Commitments, Happiness, Love and Having Kids

August 30, 2021UncategorizedAspirations, Butch Otter, Canada, Catholic, Christ, Commitment, Feelings, God, Hannah Arendt, Happiness, Howard Stern, Lauren Miller, Montana, Religion, sacrifice, Seth Rogen, Shackleton Expedition, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:22 — 26.0MB)

Reacting to why actor Seth Rogen says he and his wife don’t want kids, Father Len explains the relationship between making commitments, happiness, love, and having kids.

Support Wrestling with God Productions here: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

“It’s not an easy haul having kids. You can’t be narcissistic. You have to give yourself over to parenting. Kids have got to be the priority.” – Howard Stern
God asks of us that our lives be life-giving.
Living life for yourself, free from commitments, is an immature definition of happiness.
Commitments lead to greater happiness. Lack of commitments lead to greater unhappiness.
You’ll never find yourself through your feelings and aspirations. What defines you is your commitments.
“Without being bound to the fulfillment of our promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each person’s lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocations.”-Hannah Arendt
Being unable to settle on something means not being settled ever.
People willing to commit to marriage and having children almost always test out happier than those who don’t.
The world tells us self-fulfillment comes from being free of commitments. Truth says fulfillment comes after commitments.
People who avoid commitments and constantly pursue pleasure in pursuit of an easy life tend to end up bitter and unhappy.
Christ challenges us to not to choose the easy way, to make a sacrifice and give ourselves away.
Life is not supposed to be easy, but rather a great adventure.
Pursuing pleasure as happiness always ends up in unhappiness.
Each year since 1972, there has been a gradual decline in people’s overall happiness in the United States. This despite the average person spending 22% more on eating out and entertainment, living in homes that have doubled in size, having huge screen TVs, access to the Internet, and social media.
The moral question is not whether you should or should not have kids. The moral question is why you would not want to have children.
Religion challenges us to look at everything in life and decide what kind of life we want to have.
Once you fall in love, you can’t help but want to give yourself away. That’s what real love feels like.
God’s perpetual command is to make an offering of our lives, to give ourselves away.
Those who don’t know the power of commitment are yet to know what love is.
God is a trickster who tricks people into falling in love and willing to sacrifice everything for those they love.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/

Ep60 The History of Marriage and What Makes It Work

May 5, 2021UncategorizedAdam and Eve, Book of Sirach, Catholic Church, Christ, Commitment, Covenant, Dante Alighieri, God, Heaven, Judaism, Marriage, Martin Luther, Protestants, Religion, Self-Sacrificing Love, Song of Songs, The Bible, The Old Testament, Theology of Marriagewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:36 — 42.7MB)

Father Len explores the history of marriage, our changing attitudes and expectations about it, God’s expectations for marriage, and what makes marriage so difficult yet so worthwhile.

Highlights, Ideas and Wisdom

Ancient marriages were rarely about love and had little to do with religion. Marriages were pragmatic contracts between families about such things as wealth, political alliances, childbearing, and, for poor and working-class families, acquiring a work partner.
Christ revolutionized expectations for marriage. Declaring it to be about unity, love, and becoming a true human being, having nothing to do with legal rights.
Modern expectations for marriage revolve around happiness. Finding the one person that’s going to make me happy until they don’t. Then, it’s time to find a new partner.
Marriage is a pathway to becoming the image of God, the image of love.
Marriage involves a death, dying to ego and selfishness.
“True love doesn’t make up for all your faults. True love exposes all your faults.” – Dante Alighieri
You can’t work on your faults until they’re exposed.
True love demands constant sacrifice.
Marriage is about sacrificing your ego and learning to think as two rather than one.
Unmarried people often have difficulty thinking about other people because they don’t have to.
Marriage is a way to holiness because it is about the way of self-sacrificing love.
God can save you, but your spouse gets you in the best shape to be saved.
Marriage gets you ready for heaven.
Marriage is about sacrificing everything for the sake of love.

Ep39 Commitment and Happiness

November 23, 2020UncategorizedBo Eason, Book of Ruth, Catholic Church, Commitment, Dan Gilbert, Happiness, Houston Oilers, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Marine Corps, Narcissism, San Francisco 49ers, Selfishness, Suffering, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:38 — 21.6MB)

Father Len explains the relationship between commitment and happiness.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Father Len shares the story of NFL football player Bo Eason and what he learned about commitment from fellow Pro Jerry Rice.
“There’s No Plan B for You’re A-Game” by Bo Eason
Commitment breeds commitment. Indifference breeds indifference.
There are two types of commitment: “even if” and “as long as.” Even if commitment never wavers even when there is trouble, hardship, sickness, sacrifice, and suffering. As long as commitment is always conditional on finding something easier and more pleasurable to do than keeping the commitment, like watching a favorite television show or going to a party.
Father Len shares a favorite “even if” commitment story from the Book of Ruth in the Bible.
Commitment leads simultaneously to suffering and happiness. Uncommitted people don’t suffer much pain, but surprisingly, it’s the committed people who are willing to suffer that end up happier.
TED Talk: “The Surprising Science of Happiness” by Dan Gilbert
Irish explains how commitment saved his marriage.
Father Len embarrassingly explains how watching the Oprah Winfrey show helped him understand why couples who live together before marriage have double the divorce rate of those who don’t.
“If you chase two rabbits… You will not catch either one.” – Russian proverb
People who are low on commitment are also low on control over their egos.
Bible symbolism: the number seven shows up frequently and is code for complete commitment.
Happiness and suffering go together.

Ep2 Sex before Marriage

March 12, 2020UncategorizedCatholic Church, Commitment, evil, God, Love, Passion, Pleasure, Promiscuity, Selfishness, Sex, Sexually Desirable, St. Augustine, Theology of Desirewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:49 — 7.2MB)

A high school listener asks, “Will I go to hell if I have sex before marriage?” Father Len offers some sober, surprising, and humorous answers and insight about passion, sex, and promiscuity.

Support Wrestling with God Productions: https://www.GiveSendGo.com/WWGProductions

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

There’s nothing wrong with sex. It’s so natural. Nothing could be more natural. It’s part of the drive of life that God gives us.
Sexual passion is good. It drives us to seek each other out. It brings us together, but there’s something better.
Augustine’s highly promiscuous life taught him what was missing in his life.
Sometimes things are wrong, not because they’re evil, but because they’re not good enough.
Promiscuity is wrong because it can train you to use and hurt other people and not be committed.
Being sexual is part of what it means to be a human being, but the best part of being human is something greater. Commitment and love.
Passion and pleasure can be blinding, but also be very enlightening. True passion opens you up for God.

We welcome your questions and comments:

Email: irish@wwgproductions.org
Text or voicemail: 208-391-3738

Links to Podcasts from Wrestling with God Productions

Wrestling with God Show: http://WWGShow.com
Life Lessons from Jesus and the Church He Founded: http://LifeLessonsfromJesus.org
A Priest’s Life: https://idahovocations.com/resources/video-podcasts/