B
Baelor
Guest
I apologize for a lack of charity.Lying constitutes intentional distortion of the truth. Don’t claim to know my intentions. You don’t. You cannot read my heart. Your accusation betrays a lack of decorum, assumption of good faith, and basic Christian charity on your part.
You were right to do so – that statement is false.By all means, however, you should call me to task to clarify my statements, but I’m afraid you’re not going to disprove my original point, which was to correct this assertion:
“the reason the behavior is wrong is simply because it’s sex outside of marriage, since we know two men or two women cannot get married.”
Correct.Therefore, to assert that homosexual “behavior is wrong is simply because it’s sex outside of marriage” is incorrect. It falsely implies that homosexual acts are sins of equal moral gravity and depravity.
Correct.Homosexual acts are graver and more depraved than fornication.
The former intrinsically violates natural law in a manner that the latter does not.
I do not remember ever saying that. I said that relations must be broader than sexual or even immoral relations.This plainly illustrates the insufficiency of your definition. Now you are saying that the “relations” in the CCC’s definition refers to “the sexual attraction between them.”
I never presented that twist, so this is a straw man.If we take this new twist you’ve presented us with and apply it to the CCC’s definition, we get this:
Indeed, your straw man statement is manifestly meaningless.That this is absurd meaninglessness is manifest.
There is nothing in the CCC that suggests that, which should have been clear by my mention of every other reference of “relations” within the CCC. In no other place does the word have a negative connotation, and every time that it contextually refers to sexual relations it is modified by the appropriate adjective. Furthermore, the Church never condemns homosexuality, but rather homosexual acts.…but not limited to, the homosexual act itself.
Thus, although my original statement may not have been the Church’s wording, nothing the Church has taught through the CCC suggests that homosexuality involves anything inherently immoral.
Indeed.Note also that the CCC only ever uses the word “homosexual” as an adjective and never as a noun. Use of the word “homosexual” as a noun is extremely common, but informal and not strictly standard.
I disagree, because I value succinctness. If you have a single word that you would like to use instead of “homosexual,” I will gladly use it. But I will not say “a celibate who has same sex attraction” every time I want to say “homosexual.” Again, I have no allegiance to the term, but I want a nice alternative if I am going to stop using it.This sub-debate about the definition of “homosexuality” arose when you took issue with my assertion that referring to a celibate person with same sex attraction as a “non-practicing homosexual” was meaningless because a “non-practicing homosexual” is not a homosexual at all. I stand by that statement.
Furthermore, there is a double-standard here. We have a conception of straight persons but do not differentiate between those who are celibate and those who are sexually active persons, and yet we wish to apply an unnecessary distinction between sexually active homosexuals and inactive homosexuals. If we called all sexually active straight persons “fornicators,” perhaps I could get on board.
I disagree. I know no one who would assume that.If I were to say of someone “Jeffrey is a homosexual,” the person who hears this would not assume this to mean Jeffery is simply a person interiorly disposed to be attracted to members of his own sex, he would take it to mean Jeffrey is known to be attracted to members of his own sex because he is known to engage in homosexual activities.
A Catholic may also use it in another sense; Bishop Sheen’s usage is not binding upon the rest of us.As to how a Catholic may make use of “homosexual” as a noun, Venerable Bishop Sheen made clear, unambiguous use of the word to mean an actively homosexual person.
Stop trying to make this a moral issue when it is not.If it’s good enough for a churchman of his sanctity and intellectual standing, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be good enough for any Catholic.
Nonsense. It is used because the term homosexual is disliked, or that distinction is desired (although unnecessary), etc. There is no ambiguity whatsoever in “homosexual” and “active homosexual,” but those terms are not preferred, which is fine.The phrase “same sex attraction” is commonly used in Catholic circles for just this reason: the noun usage of “homosexual” implies an active homosexual, not merely a homosexually inclined one.