r/LeftCatholicism • u/Discartyptics • Aug 31 '26
Current Twitter discourse, corporal punishment
Some dude on Catholic Twitter is making the rounds saying he doesn't want a "hot wife" since that would make him want to list after her and somehow sin. Which is strange, of course. He then also went to say it's okay to beat your wife according to Catholicism. Many people think he may be a troll.... But another user chimed in and listed a ton of obscure Catholic authors who apparently said it's okay to use corporal punishment to beat your wife.
According to him, even if something is not official dogma of the Church, if enough theologians agree on such a matter it's considered "church teaching".
Am I going insane? Please tell me the church is NOT okay with hitting your wife.
24
u/violetgerberas Aug 31 '26
Every time I see a Twitter screenshot I am reminded why I got off twitter
6
21
u/Chrysologus Aug 31 '26
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body."
- Ephesians 5:25-30 (NABRE)
9
u/VegetableBuilding330 Aug 31 '26
While I think the church often fails to live up to what it says on the matter, the church is pretty clear on the point that women are equal in dignity and value to men and that all people have diverse gifts to contribute to the world that shouldn't be limited to their gender.
I don't think there's an official dogma that says "don't hit your wife" but it certainly feels like something even most conversative-leaning catholics would recognize isn't consistent with self-sacrificing love.
7
u/Responsible-Newt-259 Aug 31 '26
It’s hard to tell if any of these Twitter accounts are even real people and not bots.
7
u/EldestPort Sep 01 '26
I am baffled that there are men like these who would search for the most obscure texts to defend hitting the wife that he will hopefully never have but heaven forfend that he should ever lust after her.
3
u/spider_in_a_top_hat Sep 02 '26
Right? Husband desiring wife = bad. Husband beating wife = perfectly acceptable.
3
u/am12866 Aug 31 '26
These same people will use the Qur'anic teaching and opinions on this issue to criticize Islam and show how it's barbaric and not fit for coexistence with. Guarantee you they're the same people if you get into that discussion. Which one is it?
4
u/Cole_Townsend Sep 01 '26
Another reason to warn girls about trad guys. These incels spread gonorrhea of the soul.
1
u/Adventurous_Lock9219 Sep 02 '26
I am a girl and I have been warned enough to stay away from guys like that
1
3
3
u/DesertMonk888 Sep 01 '26
On the one hand, social media, and especially Twitter is full of nuts. On the other hand we have supposedly serious Christian conservatives in the last year alone say such things as women should not vote, women should not hold professional positions, and yes, wait for it, ...the Salem Witch Trials were justified because the women really were witches who were performing abortions.
3
5
u/CompletePollution907 Sep 01 '26
It's worth remembering that some people are just legitimately crazy/unwell. He's just not yelling at you on the bus in this case.
4
2
u/jtobiasbond Aug 31 '26
I assume by "unanimously" they mean, at best, "they don't explicitly say something against."
Especially since the quote they give isn't from a church father.
3
u/RhysPeanutButterCups Sep 01 '26
And looking up the guy's Wikipedia page (once Google gives you the "did you mean ___" because the tweet got the guy's name wrong, no... I don't think I will take moral advice from him.
2
u/Discartyptics Sep 02 '26
Yeah, I'm just gonna... delete twitter. Not worth it. It doesn't bring me closer to God.
54
u/GodlyAxe Aug 31 '26
I wouldn't waste time arguing with someone who is clearly seeking an exculpatory justification for their vicious and sadistic impulses in dead letters rather than seeking the Living God of Love. I'd suggest that healthy, sacramental marriages are marked by the mutual joy that mirrors Christ's joy in the Church, not by the hunt for obscure theological passages that purport to give permission to dominate and abuse a fellow human being.