SHW, cherry picking scripture is an easy way to avoid dealing with the complexity of the world we live in, I have to agree with Alisa’s post # 642 on this one. I do agree with you that Jesus hasn’t changed over time but hopefully our understanding of his message continues to grow.
Benadam, you make a great point regarding sexuality not being the entirety of who we are as human beings. Thank you for bringing this up, I do agree with you that sexuality isn’t the whole of who we are but I don’t believe that we can/should expect people to deny any portion of their identity whether it be their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc.
CoG, regarding your comments referring to homosexuality as a genetic addition or affliction of some kind. You should really check your science on that one. The only thing you got right there was that our experiences change our brain chemistry (not our genetics). As for understanding the intent of God, your confidence is concerning.
You do bring up this argument that marriage is for the sole purpose of having children. By this logic we shouldn’t be allowing heterosexual couples that aren’t having children to marry. The reality is that many heterosexual couples don’t have children because of health (fertility) issues, age, or even choice (sorry, I know the ‘c’ word can be scary for some Catholics). The reality is that society has realized there are other purposes to marriage (and I don’t just mean the secular benefits). The Church has also recognized that marriage is not only for procreation (Vatican II anyone?). That’s not to say that many gay couples aren’t having and raising children. Often they are the only ones eager to take in the children who are products of reckless heterosexual sex who find themselves abandoned to the foster system. I think we should rethink this insistence on procreation and start encouraging some of the heterosexual couples to also adopt the children that need homes.
Sendonaman, You’re right that no one has heard requests for campaign donations during Mass, which is what makes it so upsetting that the Catholic Church jumped into the prop 8 campaign in California. (
sfgate.com followed this well) I know that my money as well as many other Catholics wouldn’t have been in that collection had we known the archbishops intentions.
Your comment:
“All one has to do is imagine two men in bed sodomizing each other to know something just isn’t right.”
isn’t worth responding to, but it does say a lot about the maturity of your reasoning. As for your comment that:
"The failure of a treatment doesn’t mean homosexuality is normal. By your line of reasoning, disease would be normal because bleeding didn’t work.”
Actually a more accurate example of my reasoning would be when the nuns finally realized being left handed wasn’t a sign of the devil and stopped beating left handed children in Catholic schools. If you’ve been at Mass weekly for the last 60+ years I assume you’re old enough to remember that time. You example includes an inappropriate use of
disease, like previous uses of
psychological illness. Homosexuality fails to meet the criteria for both of these (the APA figured this out in the 1970’s) .
And in your post # 704 “This arrangement represents the distilled knowledge and experience of all those countless generations and cultures.”
Really? You’re going to go with the “it’s always been like this” argument. That was pretty much the argument against ending slavery and racial segregation too. By this argument we would still be bleeding to cure actual diseases.
Ladybri77, Thank you for your comments. I am impressed with your thoughtfulness and resolve. You make a good points, that celibacy is a choice that some (gay and straight) believe is God’s will for them. It’s not for everyone gay or straight, and I think it’s up to each of us to try and understand what God’s will is for us. There are many gay and lesbians who don’t chose celibacy and believe it is not a sin but God’s will for them. They also are remaining in the parishes and forming lifelong committed relationships, having children, sitting on committees, being Eucharistic ministers, etc.
I believe we find God’s peace in living what we understand to be His will for each of us and I hope that’s what you’ve found in your choice of celibacy. As for bad relationship experiences, there are plenty of bad experiences in heterosexual relationships as well.