C
church_child
Guest
Well, I had my faith challenged yesterday, by, of all people, a very close friend.
Here’s the story: I have a female friend who decided, after previously “dating” a girl, to “go out” with that girl again. She misses her greatly and feels that the love they shared (and she hopes that they’ll have that again) was pure and beautiful. Of course, being a close friend, she wanted the opinion of “Father Tim” (that’s what she calls me now, jokingly, of course).
Of course, my mind immediately jumped to all sorts of things. I explained to her that while her intentions were good, and that loving is inherently an awesome and necessary thing, the way in which she is chooses to manifest that love isn’t in accord with God’s creation and natural law. I had a Moral Theology teacher in junior year of high school that used a Screwdriver Analogy to describe same sex attractions, and I told her about it and explained it. Basically, he stated that while it is completely possible to place a nail in a board and use the back end of the screwdriver to drive in the nail, the nail isn’t made to be hammered in by the screwdriver and the screwdriver isn’t made to hammer things. Does it work? Yes. Does it fulfull it’s purpose? No, and I tried to parallel the analogy so that it would make sense to her. I also told her that while what she was feeling wasn’t good, God still loved her and that wouldn’t stop.
Now, all of this she seemed to understand. What really got to her is when I started reading sections to her (2357-2359) in the Catechism about homosexuality and that she is called to be chaste until her same sex desires can be subdued by prayer and counseling. I also backed it up with Scripture, specifically Gen 19-1-29 , Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 6:10, and 1 Timothy 1:10. She then decided that she “had to go” and hung up on me.
So here’s my question: Did I just beat someone into submission with theology, or was that the correct way to deal with that situation? I’m trying to teach firmly, but with love, and use my Catholic identity and my position as a college seminarian to teach my friends and bring them to God, but I want to make sure I’m doing it the right way. Comments on the situation and/or my handling of it would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.
Tim
Here’s the story: I have a female friend who decided, after previously “dating” a girl, to “go out” with that girl again. She misses her greatly and feels that the love they shared (and she hopes that they’ll have that again) was pure and beautiful. Of course, being a close friend, she wanted the opinion of “Father Tim” (that’s what she calls me now, jokingly, of course).
Of course, my mind immediately jumped to all sorts of things. I explained to her that while her intentions were good, and that loving is inherently an awesome and necessary thing, the way in which she is chooses to manifest that love isn’t in accord with God’s creation and natural law. I had a Moral Theology teacher in junior year of high school that used a Screwdriver Analogy to describe same sex attractions, and I told her about it and explained it. Basically, he stated that while it is completely possible to place a nail in a board and use the back end of the screwdriver to drive in the nail, the nail isn’t made to be hammered in by the screwdriver and the screwdriver isn’t made to hammer things. Does it work? Yes. Does it fulfull it’s purpose? No, and I tried to parallel the analogy so that it would make sense to her. I also told her that while what she was feeling wasn’t good, God still loved her and that wouldn’t stop.
Now, all of this she seemed to understand. What really got to her is when I started reading sections to her (2357-2359) in the Catechism about homosexuality and that she is called to be chaste until her same sex desires can be subdued by prayer and counseling. I also backed it up with Scripture, specifically Gen 19-1-29 , Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 6:10, and 1 Timothy 1:10. She then decided that she “had to go” and hung up on me.
So here’s my question: Did I just beat someone into submission with theology, or was that the correct way to deal with that situation? I’m trying to teach firmly, but with love, and use my Catholic identity and my position as a college seminarian to teach my friends and bring them to God, but I want to make sure I’m doing it the right way. Comments on the situation and/or my handling of it would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.
Tim
