I don’t see that the definition provided “proves that homosexuality is a sin”, period, as Canadianguy stated at the beginning of his post. The definition provided illustrates that, in one sense of the word, it is a sin (when it refers to “behavior”).
Right - I think the point is that it’s legitimate and accurate to state that homosexuality is a sin.
As the CCC makes clear (2357-59), homosexual attraction/desire is …is not something they have freely chosen.
I don’t think the CCC says that, does it? I know ex-gays who have told me that they chose their identification as homosexual. This brings us to my previous questions – what indicates that a person is a homosexual?
I think we’d say that a desire to have sex with someone that you’re forbidden to have that kind of relation with is a sin.
“homosexuality” is used to refer to same sex attraction - or sexual desire for the same sex.
Again, I’d use a comparison of a married man who desires to have a sexual relationship with another woman. Or an adult who desires to have sex with a child. No “behavior” has transpired, but it’s still a sin.
And in that sense, it is not a sin, in and of itself. It is a disordered sexual attraction.
I don’t understand how a desire for pedophilia, for example, could not be sinful – even if it’s not acted upon. This desire comes from the mind – it must somehow be permitted there. That permission is a sinful act. Now we could say that the “disorder” is mentally uncontrollable and therefore not sinful. That means it’s a mental disorder/illness. So, we could accept such things by saying “all homosexuals are mentally ill”. Certainly, acts that are experienced through compulsion or non-conscious impulses are not sinful – but that kind of compulsion is something more than an ordinary temptation.
Again, it’s very much the same as compulsive thoughts about having sex in any other forbidden avenue. If we’re saying that this is a condition that should be given medical treatment, then that’s quite different than merely saying it’s a temptation.
Regardless, I hope we can all at least agree that referring to people with same sex attraction as “homos” - as one poster did - is unacceptable.
I guess it depends. I still do not understand enough about why we call people with sex-compulsions anything at all – but there’s a “community” of such people who insist on being called “gay”. They also call themselves “queer” – which was a term of derision and now is used as an identifier. Why not “homo”? What does it refer to and how do we know?
What makes a person a homosexual? How is it scientifically proven that a person is this thing?
As I see it, the term is self-declared and it follows in 99.9% of the cases from gravely sinful behavior which is justified and then claimed as a defining characteristic of the person.
Can a doctor insist that a person who has never had sexual relations with anyone is a homosexual – merely because the doctor thinks there are “same sex attractions” present?
