Ora
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Then I would say carry out that obligation with great wisdom because if you mis-choose your words or are overly harsh and drive the person even further from God, then you have done no better than someone who simply validates their lifestyle.**
I would not say Jesus was overly harsh in driving the moneychangers from the temple. His method may have had little effect, may even have driven them farther away from God, since it was probably yet another reason why he was made a victim of judicial murder.
We are not Jesus however, and do not possess His authority over places of worship, at least as part of the laity, and we’re not trying to chase moneychangers out of a temple, but simply trying to relate charitably to fellow sinners.
Of course your point is well taken. Sodomites are broken people, and they have to be put back together very carefully if they can be put back together at all.
But so are we all to some extent. We rarely see threads on how to “evangelize” or “cure” alcoholics, tax cheats, people with personality disorders, etc. We seem to focus mostly on sexual matters on the “moral theology” forum, and homosexuality in particular. There’s more to moral theology, and sin, than sexual sin.
But I think much of the problem with the world today is that outrage has been muffled by political correctness.Christians cannot pray in the classroom, but homosexuality can be advanced by the teachers, and has been advanced to the point of punishing students who object.
This isn’t really relevant to the discussion on how to relate to individual homosexuals. It’s a separate issue that perhaps merits its own thread.
wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=378181
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Here’s something I read recently in a book by Richard Rohr:**
Having read one book by Richard Rohr, I have tried not to read any more.
No doubt many do, from what I’ve read around here. Be that as it may, those three filters struck me as being a pretty practical guide to speak to anybody, and I wanted to give credit where credit is due. Because even if you disagree with him, he does have
some good things to say alongside the questionable ones, just as a homosexual person, sexually active or not has
some good in him or her.
And that’s the main thrust of my point, that we are to consider the
entire person in relating to them, not just their sexuality, and in any event, preaching to someone about their sexuality, without having walked a mile in their shoes, probably isn’t very useful.
So we should focus on our own inner conversion, lead as holy a life as possible, and let that holiness speak for itself.
I certainly figure that my own battles with sin are exhausting enough without taking the burden of others on my shoulders, in areas outside my competence. As someone said earlier on the thread, we’re not their therapists, so their sexuality shouldn’t really be relevant in how we relate to them unless they’re propositioning us… and then we need just politely decline and move on.
Certainly though, if a gay person does want us to somehow “validate” their sexuality or sexual activity, it’s because somewhere inside them there’s a seed of doubt. So we need to tread carefully lest we close the door entirely on their potential conversion, and shouldn’t use a sledgehammer to drive the point home. At least where I live I think I’d gain more mileage by simply taking them to the local abbey and let them drink in the beauty of the Gregorian chant, and hope the beauty of the Church sinks in and makes them more inquisitive.
Homosexuality is a cross to bear, and we should be helping them bear it… not by validating their lifestyle but being kind and gentle with them and maybe being someone willing to listen, to offer them a safe haven to be heard without being judged, or pressured.
